I think I had about 15 hours of tailwind time (mostly in a Champ) when I flew my plane for the first time. I'd have made a pretty good landing if I hadn't cut the throttle all the way back and "dropped it in" from about 5' up. I did about 60 runs up and down a 5000' runway to get the feel of the ground handling of a KR in the few days prior to first flight though, and I think that helped a lot. I'd go to the airport early in the morning and give it full throttle until the tail came up, then chop the throttle and hold the tail up as long as possible until it slowly settled back down, brake as necessary to stop at the end, then turn around and do it in the other direction. You'd be surprised how many of these runs you can do in ten or fifteen minutes in a plane this quick. Some people say taxi testing is a really bad idea, but it worked fine for me, and I'm convinced it made a big difference in my proficiency while landing, and in how comfortable I felt on my first flight. Leave the wheel pants off if you plan to taxi test though, to keep the brakes cool.
Troy Petteway has flown just about everything ever built with a tailwheel, and he swears the KR is one of the easiest to land. When he flew mine he said it was even easier than a regular KR, probably because of the longer "S" fuselage and overhanging tailwheel, which gives it more authority. My gear is also wider (in violation of the Diehl instructions), and that doesn't hurt either. I've never thought for a second that I was about to ground loop that plane, but then again I don't live out west and land in 30 mph crosswinds either... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
