Sid,

Glad to hear you got to fly her. Twenty-six plus years... that's a LONG time
to wait for that moment. Sorry it wasn't perfect but it sounds like any
repairs can be done without sanding! Maybe someone has a nice used trike
gear they'd sell you cheap. I have a KR2 in my garage that will hopefully
fly someday. Keep us posted.

Thanks a bunch,

Paul Childress
Jefferson City, MO

-----Original Message-----
From: KRnet [mailto:krnet-bounces at list.krnet.org] On Behalf Of Sid Wood
Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2013 9:30 PM
To: krnet at list.krnet.org
Subject: KR> First Flight

Made the first flight with N6242 this morning.  That's 26+ years of steady
building, modifying, sanding, painting, fixing and tweaking coming together
for 10 minutes of flight with 2 laps around the patch.
Winds were supposed to be calm as reported by AWOS; not true at any altitude
above 20 feet.  My pitch trim was set for neutral, but soon as flying speed
was reached, got immediate pitch up, which of course, I immediately over
corrected.  Nearly lost it, but managed to keep going while holding lots of
forward stick.  Started to encounter more gusts a few hundred feet up with
more PIO.  By 1500 feet was getting better control, but still gusty.  Still
had full down trim and holding lots of forward stick.  At 2000 feet oil temp
spiked at 240 degrees F and oil pressure was dropping off.  Reduced throttle
to idle to glide to an airport landing.  Was to high and fast over the
threshold.  The low morning sun washed out everything on the Dynon during
final approach.  I did not know if the engine had enough oil for a go
around, so pressed for a landing on the 4200' runway.  Estimate the first
touch was about 80 knots half way down the runway with more PIO.  The third
bounce bent the nose strut and trashed the wheel pant.  Got to taxi speed
with about 100 feet of runway to spare.  Taxi back to the hangar was
uneventful except for the fear induced adrenaline shakes.
Inspection at the hangar revealed the nose strut bent at the curve up from
the pivot.  The wheel pant had asphalt scratches indicating a classic
wheelbarrow touchdown and had been destroyed.  Engine oil was at the full
mark on the dip stick.  Heat in the cabin during flight indicated inadequate
airflow through the oil cooler; excessive air duct length may be the
problem.
The elevator trim tab would not extend beyond the neutral point using the
cockpit control.  The Nyrod shaft on the trim tab seems to be jammed to keep
the elevator in the full up position.  My right triceps still aches from
holding forward stick so hard for so long.  Troubleshooting is still ongoing
to fix the elevator trim.  Will also need a new nose strut and maybe a new
oil cooler.
My intent with persisting with the climb was to get enough experience with
the controls to calm down the PIO for landing.  Engine oil over heat
preempted that training.

Sid Wood
Tri-gear KR-2 N6242
Mechanicsville, MD, USA




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