airb...@comcast.net (I couldn't find a signature in that message) wrote: > After reading, and also hearing about the kr2 and all if it's > problems..from engine..to landing gear ...fuel system..etc > I am surprised that after all of the years that have past, the kr2 still > hasn't yet been refined , as to have one being built with all of it's > problems being resolved, from past builders and also flyers as well. > It seems to me that something is always going wrong when changes are made. > > Maybe you should stick with the original design that has been proven for > many years
I think you missed the mark by about 180 degrees on that one. Those who build to the original KR plans are doomed to fly a plane with retracts that fold up upon heavy landings, is potentially unstable at the aft end of the CG range, and can only hold a passenger if it's a child or a double amputee. This list could be substantially longer but I'm not going to waste the time on it. As the builder of one of the most heavily modified KRs out there, I'll argue all day all day that I have a better plane than if I had I followed the plans. I don't see my plane having "something always going wrong". The fact that I've probably put more hours on my plane in a year than any other KR pilot in history would seem to substantiate that. I can't think of a thing that I've had to modify since the day I took it to the airport. Ask Bill Clapp what he thinks of his plane. He put a lot of time in the stock KR2 and now flies his constantly, and I know what he thinks. I believe that anybody that builds a stock KR2 exactly by the plans today is making a mistake. Many of the changes that have evolved in the KR series over the years have been largely brought about by builders who'd already built one by the plans, knew what needed to be changed to make the plane more comfortable or easier to fly, and then built another one with improvements. These sucessful improvements were imparted to other builders through the Newsletter and the web, and now new builders are reaping the benefits without having to build two of them. The only significant change in the plans in the last thirty years was the KR2S plans from about 1992. Do you know where they came from? Roy Marsh's improved version of the KR2! He saw what others were doing with stretching the plane, and with the help of his aeronautical engineer son, built the plane from which the KR2S molds were pulled. If you talk a single person into building by the plans (especially in the width department), I believe you have done them a disservice. I assume from this post that you are either building or flying a KR2 that was built precisely from the plans. If not, you owe us an explanation, and if you are, you have my sympathy... Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama see KR2S project N56ML at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford email to N56ML "at" hiwaay.net
