KR fliers and soon to be fliers,
I hope the discussion on stalls has been a fruitful one. Please no one out there think I am saying the plane should not be flown to approach to stall or full stall. My point is to present a word of caution on flying full power stalls. It does not take a great deal of inattention in the KR to find oneself in a place one did not expect. At full power there is no extra margin for error, and inattention here could be deadly. Not everyone's experience, comfort level, or skill will react properly to seeing a face full of dirt after rolling inverted if the plane is not kept in balanced flight. The effort to keep a KR in balanced flight approaching full power stall as Jeff points out is different for each airframe built due to the diversity of builders. Basic aerodynamics says that as AOA increases approaching a full-power stall, less and less of the rudder and tail will be in free air to counter both the helical prop wash and the torque of the engine. With the tail of the KR as small as it is in stock form this can pose a problem if the plane is not flown smoothly. I have zero doubt Jeff flies safe and even less doubt he can fly the KR to a full power stall without great risk. His tail has been increased in size over the stock plans, and his wing's trailing edges have been modified as well should help. Based on his experience he surely did the same flying before the modifications, but his skill level is also probably above many of ours. I agree that pilots should regularly fly their aircraft outside of the straight and level regime to become comfortable with how the plane operates outside "normal" flight regimes. Jeff forgive me as I am not trying to put words in your mouth. Mark Langford again is a good example of why these things are important. He has had two engines croak on him in flight, has departed his plane from a full-power stall, and landed on a freeway. For myself, I have had one real engine out landing, lost a brake after landing in a strong crosswind (which lead to a high-speed toboggan ride off the runway), and been in a plane where a split second of improper control input caused a beautiful KR2 to crash and flip upside down. Others out there have had some equally exciting events in their aircraft, both KR and others. Go out and fly your plane! Think through what you are going to do and go do it! Just be safe, because someday when I do get to fly to The Gathering, I want to meet you all. IHS, Dave "Zipper" Goodman
