Brian, Congratulations, now you know that first flight feeling, great isn't it!
Brian Kraut wrote: > I am happy to report that N93PC took its first leap into the air yesterday > afternoon since I bought it and rebuilt it. I had everything planned for the > past few days and I snuck to the airport during a long lunch so my wife > wouldn't be worried to death. I gave a co worker the phone number to the > tower and asked him to call and see what happened to me if I wasn't back in a > few hours. > > The worst part of the flight was the drive to the airport. I had more > butterflies in my stomach than when I got married or when my son was born. > My legs and arms were numb and tingly and I was cold and shivering even > though it was about 85 degrees. After I landed I noticed that my entire > shirt was drenched with sweat. > > The flight itself was pretty uneventfull. I spent more time on the ground > than I wanted because the airport was pretty busy. I had to wait for three > other planes in front of me when I got to the runup area and I had to wait > for three to land after I got to the hold short line. The tower wanted to > get everyone else out of the pattern so I would have two runways to myself > just in case. > > Takeoff was pretty simple. I had been doing high speed taxi runs for a week. > This was the first one at full power so the tail came up pretty quick and > the plane was very easy to control. When it wanted to fly I just pulled back > a little and off I went. I had flown some with Mark Strothers and Jim Faughn > so I knew exactly what to expect in the air. The plane was well behaved and > easy to fly. I climbed at about 85 knots and started a left turn at 600'. I > pretty much just kept going around with left turns up to 2,500' and stayed > over the airport. I would have gone up to 5,000, but the ceilings were at > about 3,000. > > The oil temperature did get close to redline about 2,000', but the CHT stayed > about 40 degrees under red line. I suspect that this was from the long > ground run followed by the climb. The temps were a lot better after I > leveled off and reduced power. If anyone cares to comment on weather or not > it is normal to get near redline after a 2,000' climb after running 20 > minutes on the ground on an 85 degree day it would be appreciated. > > Once I got to altitude I pulled back to about 2,500 RPM and just kept going > in rectangles. I found that the KR really likes to turn left with just me in > it. I planned on normally keeping my wing tanks empty unless I was on a long > cross country, but now I think I might just keep the right tank full when I > fly alone. I made sure that the engine was still happy at idle and I did a > few approaches to stalls just until it started to get mushy. I was pretty > surprised at how much the KR would slow down and still keep flying. My > airspeed indicator got down around 45 knots, but I don't know how accurate it > is yet and I didn't look at the GPS. > > After about 40 minutes I got cleared to get back in the pattern when I was at > 2,200 feet over the departure end of the runway. I throttled back to about > 1,500 and went out a bit before I came back on downwind. I had to do a few > circles to loose some altitude on the long downwind because the KR glides so > good. I did try slipping some and the KR seemed to slip pretty good. I set > up a long final that was high enough that I could glide in if I had to. > > The landing was pretty easy. I had a lot of grass before the runway so I got > low after crossing the airport fence and I had a landing on the airport > secured and I kept in a little power so I could touch down right at the > threshold. I started my flare a little late, but I only did one 6" bounce. > After I was on the ground I raised the tail again until it slowed and I was > home free. I have read alot about KRs floating forever in ground effect, but > I didn't get much float at all. It landed pretty much like a Cherokee, > probably because I was able to get a slow stabilized approach long before the > end of the runway. > > My overall impression is that the KR is a joy to fly and I can't wait till I > fly it again. I still can't get the KR grin off my face. > > > > _______________________________________________ > see KRnet list details at http://www.krnet.org/instructions.html > -- Adrian VE6AFY Calgary, AB CA [email protected]
