Product of 17 months work
07-12-2008 | 10:34 AM
#41
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Hey, USMC - you are probably not posting much because you are flying this neat little machine! Just curious on what you are finding now that you have flown it more than once, does the airplane have any quirks that you are getting to know, or any performance issues that you are happy/unhappy with? Has your Dad been able to fly it yet?
Also, what was it like being a test-pilot for something you built? I know you have time in lots of high performance Taildraggers, but was it different flying something that has never flown before, and that you and your Dad built with your own hands?
Looking forward to hearing more - great looking project.
Also, what was it like being a test-pilot for something you built? I know you have time in lots of high performance Taildraggers, but was it different flying something that has never flown before, and that you and your Dad built with your own hands?
Looking forward to hearing more - great looking project.
07-12-2008 | 08:49 PM
#42
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Hey, USMC - you are probably not posting much because you are flying this neat little machine! Yes, that and this darn whole having to work thing
I did manage to log 5 hours though before I left for this last trip which I got home from today (midnight)Just curious on what you are finding now that you have flown it more than once, does the airplane have any quirks that you are getting to know, or any performance issues that you are happy/unhappy with? Things have been going well, it appears that rigging will be an on going issue. The airplane flies more or less hands off but it is still not quite there and that will take a while between all of the control surfaces. The combinations of adjustments are near endless. I have been finding that the plane takes off, climbs and lands far better than I ever expected which is nice. Speed has been slower than I expected but I also have a suspicion that my airspeed is not accurate because of a possible static leak which I will look into this weekend. I only expected around 95-100 on the speed and I have been showing around 85 which does not appear to be an accurate reading. It is louder then I expected and I find at full throttle it is difficult to communicate on the radio because my mic picks up the ambient noise, not sure what I will do about that yet, havent looked into it. Has your Dad been able to fly it yet? He has not by his own choice. He has around 90 hours TT since his ticket in October of nearly two years ago of which 10 hours is in the past year so he may take a cub up for a few landings before he hops in the plane, he is not in a big hurry. The plane needs 40 hours flown solo before it can carry occupants and I would prefer to fly them off and then fly with my father as dual given to show him all of the characteristics of the plane and the quirks I had to figure out.
Also, what was it like being a test-pilot for something you built? To be honest I did not end up being a test pilot. My wife put the squash on that and I was away on a trip for the actual first flight, we had someone who does that sort of thing fly the first flight. I have flown all of the subsequent flights and to be honest I really was not too nervous. I was involved in every step of the build so I felt more confident than any plane I have flown because I literally know about every nylock nut, cotter pin and safety wire on the plane.I know you have time in lots of high performance Taildraggers, but was it different flying something that has never flown before, and that you and your Dad built with your own hands? It was different than anything I had flown before and does not really compare. It is not in the same class as landing a pitts (difficult) or landing an extra or an american champion series (easy) it was probably closest to a piper cub in a sense that with very minimal effort it just seemed to want to track down the runway on landing and it felt very longitudinally (is that a word?) stable. In the air I would say it was more like a super decathlon in its climb rate as well as the tightness of the controls. Overall I did not find it to be a difficult transition.
Looking forward to hearing more - great looking project.
I did manage to log 5 hours though before I left for this last trip which I got home from today (midnight)Just curious on what you are finding now that you have flown it more than once, does the airplane have any quirks that you are getting to know, or any performance issues that you are happy/unhappy with? Things have been going well, it appears that rigging will be an on going issue. The airplane flies more or less hands off but it is still not quite there and that will take a while between all of the control surfaces. The combinations of adjustments are near endless. I have been finding that the plane takes off, climbs and lands far better than I ever expected which is nice. Speed has been slower than I expected but I also have a suspicion that my airspeed is not accurate because of a possible static leak which I will look into this weekend. I only expected around 95-100 on the speed and I have been showing around 85 which does not appear to be an accurate reading. It is louder then I expected and I find at full throttle it is difficult to communicate on the radio because my mic picks up the ambient noise, not sure what I will do about that yet, havent looked into it. Has your Dad been able to fly it yet? He has not by his own choice. He has around 90 hours TT since his ticket in October of nearly two years ago of which 10 hours is in the past year so he may take a cub up for a few landings before he hops in the plane, he is not in a big hurry. The plane needs 40 hours flown solo before it can carry occupants and I would prefer to fly them off and then fly with my father as dual given to show him all of the characteristics of the plane and the quirks I had to figure out.Also, what was it like being a test-pilot for something you built? To be honest I did not end up being a test pilot. My wife put the squash on that and I was away on a trip for the actual first flight, we had someone who does that sort of thing fly the first flight. I have flown all of the subsequent flights and to be honest I really was not too nervous. I was involved in every step of the build so I felt more confident than any plane I have flown because I literally know about every nylock nut, cotter pin and safety wire on the plane.I know you have time in lots of high performance Taildraggers, but was it different flying something that has never flown before, and that you and your Dad built with your own hands? It was different than anything I had flown before and does not really compare. It is not in the same class as landing a pitts (difficult) or landing an extra or an american champion series (easy) it was probably closest to a piper cub in a sense that with very minimal effort it just seemed to want to track down the runway on landing and it felt very longitudinally (is that a word?) stable. In the air I would say it was more like a super decathlon in its climb rate as well as the tightness of the controls. Overall I did not find it to be a difficult transition.
Looking forward to hearing more - great looking project.
07-26-2008 | 07:37 AM
#43
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Hey USMCSGT - I had a great idea for you to burn off the remaining time on your new plane...you can do a x-country to Kansas City! By the time you get here the time will hopefully be burned off and you can check me out in it. Barring that, you could fly it to Blakesburg, IA for the Antique Airplane Association fly-in or to Hanover, IN for the fly-in at Lee Bottom Flying Field. Any of those would work - just trying to help.
07-26-2008 | 01:13 PM
#44
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Thanks for the suggestion but you are limited to a 25NM radius around your home base. Luckily I am on the coast so I fly to the coast and then 25miles south to Gloucester and then 50 miles back north to Kennebunk and then hit all the grass strips in between doing landings. The coast provides the worlds longest emergency landing strip.
07-27-2008 | 03:04 AM
#46
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Up to 16 hours and enjoying every minute of it. I am slowly increasing the winds I fly in and venturing more into the paved strips and some of the shorter stuff. Working up in steps until I get alot of hours in the plane. I cant just go buy a new one if I break this one so I am extra cautious.
07-27-2008 | 05:50 AM
#47
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Sounds like a great plan - and it is informative that you are taking this approach. You have lots of high-performance taildragger time, and you are flying a relatively simple airplane yet you are not taking for granted that you could handle any/all situations and are approaching it in a systemized, thought-out manner. There may be a lesson in that for people who buy/build an airplane of their own. Thanks for the update.
07-27-2008 | 11:51 AM
#48
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Rule #1 in taildraggers:
You are NEVER experienced no matter what you flew or how long you flew it or where you have flown into.
The guy who did my tailwheel endorsement has over 20,000TT with 3/4 of that in tailwheel and around 7000 in the T6 and he groundlooped it the week before I moved out of CA.
You are NEVER experienced no matter what you flew or how long you flew it or where you have flown into.
The guy who did my tailwheel endorsement has over 20,000TT with 3/4 of that in tailwheel and around 7000 in the T6 and he groundlooped it the week before I moved out of CA.
07-27-2008 | 04:57 PM
#49
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Jun 2006
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Rule #1 in taildraggers:
You are NEVER experienced no matter what you flew or how long you flew it or where you have flown into.
The guy who did my tailwheel endorsement has over 20,000TT with 3/4 of that in tailwheel and around 7000 in the T6 and he groundlooped it the week before I moved out of CA.
You are NEVER experienced no matter what you flew or how long you flew it or where you have flown into.
The guy who did my tailwheel endorsement has over 20,000TT with 3/4 of that in tailwheel and around 7000 in the T6 and he groundlooped it the week before I moved out of CA.
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