Ok, excellent suggestion on building the airplane to the forward end of the cg limit. Just exactly how does one do that? And still follow the plans?
Sid Wood Tri-gear KR-2 N6242 Mechanicsville, MD, USA --------------------------------------------------------------- I put another couple of hours on N891JF (a fairly stock KR2) late this afternoon, and I was thinking that there is nothing special about flying this plane. Yes, it will run circles around a 172, and it takes more runway, but it's just not difficult at all. It's just....different! What gets people is when they try to fly it with a CG toward the aft end or aft of the safe range, and then it's not just a handful, it's trying to kill you. The solution is pretty dang simple...build it with the CG near the FRONT of the range, because as passengers and baggage are added, the CG is going to move aft. Jim Faughn built N891JF to be right on the front end of the CG range with him and full fuel, and I'm even lighter. There's no hint of instability, obviously, and it's really not twitchy in smooth air (which is where I climb to for any cross-country). It will gain or lose a couple of hundred feet in a minute if you're not paying attention, so you need to pay attention! One common characteristic with KRs is a lack of longitudinal (roll) stability. They will typically drift off left or right and just keep on increasing the bank into a dive...so don't fall asleep at the stick. Other than these details, they are very similar to "normal" airplanes, but the V numbers are different, of course. And has been said many times, stick movement is pretty much limited to just "thinking" about it, while at cruise speed...slight pressure exerted on the stick, with no discernible movement. About the only time real stick movement happens is on takeoff or landing, unless you like to do the occasional roll. Stalls are very gentle, and give PLENTY of warning. N891JF rattles the elevator hinges long before you get to the stall, and it doesn't break, it just mushes down a little. You'd have to be oblivious for it to sneak up on you and lose more than 20' of altitude. I did several today, most a little less than 50 mph TAS with the belly board down. Turns do not significantly alter the stall characteristics, just increase the speed a bit. And it slips beautifully...just stomp the rudder pedal and correct flight path with ailerons, and it's a real hoot of an elevator ride. But a KR can lull you to sleep in calm air and practically flies itself with minimal input. But even in calm air you can't spend a lot of time to fold a map with no hands on the stick, because moving arms and legs changes the weight distribution, and the plane will react accordingly. But that shouldn't be a surprise. With a dual stick setup, I fly with my knees when doing such things as taking sunset photos. With one stick that's a lot more difficult, bordering on yoga. As Troy Petteway once told me, "taildragger KR's are the easiest of the taildraggers to land", and I see no reason to argue with that. It's not like flying an F-16, but it is a different mindset than a C-150. My EAA flight advisor had me fly a Cub (for the first time) the morning of my first KR flight, but my time would have been better spent flying the KR earlier in the day in the calm air of the early morning. I guess my best advice would be to get a little (even ten minutes would help) stick time in a KR before flying yours for the first time, and keep in mind to make very subtle stick movements. And go to altitude to ascertain stall speed, then approach a long runway at maybe ten percent higher than that and just wait for the speed to bleed off and let the plane gently settle onto the ground. If this plane were so difficult to fly, I wouldn't climb into it at every opportunity and just fly around the neighborhood for two hours like I did today. Eight takeoffs and landings, some stall and cruise speed testing, a great sunset unfolding, and more dinosaurs liberated. See attached image... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com http://www.n56ml.com
