Sam’s first flight was enjoyable reading. So I guess I’ll throw mine in here as well.
Somehow I became friends with the Tulsa gang. Martin (Marty)Roberts, Dan Diehl, and others. Steve Alderman was there in his KR at Riverside Airport in Jenks Oklahoma. We were at Dan Diehl’s hangar and Marty said, “Victor I’m going to let you fly my KR”. At that time it had the O-200 in it and it was a tail dragger. I got in and Marty starts telling me how to fly it as he is standing next to with Steve and Dan. Steve asked “Victor you’re not scared?” My reply was No to which he said “you should be”. I taxied out and with a crowd of people took off. I went out to the south and felt the little plane out and though what a good flying little bird. I slowed the airplane down to see how it was going to react on approach and decided it was time to go back before Marty started to think I had stollen his airplane. The landing looked as if I had been flying the airplane all my life. I wheel landed in front of that same crowd and taxied back. They all wanted to know what I thought of it. My impression was that it flew exactly like the early Glassair tail dragger that I had flown except it did it on less power. In fact I think the KR actually handled better than the Glassair TD. After that Steve and Marty both let me fly their KR’s as much as I wanted. Eventually I rolled and looped both of them and really came to love the KR. I was fortunate to have had the overall experience that I had before flying Marty’s KR. Still I think the airplane is very easy to handle. Today I own N47MG which has a 1700cc VW. It is a sweetheart to fly as well but not as stable or nearly the performance of those O-200 powered birds. If you don’t think you have the experience to handle it do as Sam did. Taxi it, hop it down the runway etc. Be sensible and safe on that first flight. Do it when it’s calm and most of all when you are ready. Then tell us all about it. Victor Taylor CFI > On Jul 17, 2022, at 04:58, Samuel Spanovich via KRnet <krnet@list.krnet.org> > wrote: > > My first time flying my KR2S was back in 2018, about a week after I > purchased the plane and towed it on a trailer to its home in Mississippi. > This was fairly early on in my flying career (~200 hours or so) and I > certainly was a little intimidated at the new bird. After all, the KR2 is > known to be a sporty little thing, that is a little sensitive in pitch, and I > figured it would be a massive leap from flying a 172 (what I got my PPL in). > > I took about a week to get the wings on, start it up, and taxi it around on > the ground. I even did some high-speed taxi testing on the runway to try to > get a feel of how the differential brakes handled (again something I’ve never > used before). > > One day, while getting ready to perform another high speed taxi test, I > figured I’d run up the engine a little bit more than usual to see how much it > would put me in the back of the seat. I ran the little Revmaster up (which > was bone stock at the time), and started seeing 20 mph. Then 30 mph. Then 40. > Before I could blink, 50 mph. > > Better start slowing down, I told myself. > > Nah, keep going. > > 60 mph > > Better do it now. > > Keep going!!! > > The heck with taxi’d testing........I’m going flying. > > 80 mph - rotate. > > At that point, I pulled the stick back and had my first flight in a KR, and > it didn’t take me long to realize what a great bird it was and how well it > flew. The engine ran nice and smooth, the weather was gorgeous, and despite > what I had read, it didn’t seem to be too overly sensitive in pitch. > > I did notice that the plane performed a little differently than a Cessna 172. > Roll rate was quicker, climb rate was slightly higher, but most importantly, > the ride quality was much, MUCH more of a roller coaster ride. While the 172 > I had been trained on would handle most bumps with relative ease, my first > flight in the KR2 felt like I was on a buckin’ bronco. The 80-90F > temperatures in the south didn’t help. Still though, I wasn’t scared or even > remotely discouraged; honestly I just embraced it. I had my own airplane, > flying high in the sky, with just me, with almost no clouds in the sky, > enjoying the beautiful scenery that Mississippi has to offer. > > I cruised around for about an hour, enjoying the sights, listening to the > little engine purr like a kitten, and taking in that I was now officially a > true aircraft owner. However it eventually hit me that I would have to get > this thing on the ground, and that I had a total of zero landings in this > airplane; I dialed up the tower for Key Field and requested to perform touch > and goes for Runway 1 (which is a 10,000 foot long runway, much shorter than > their 4K foot runway primarily used for GA traffic). The reply I got back > from them was nothing short of hilarious; “Experimental > 6399U........Roger........report....um report a left downwind for Runway 1”. > I’m pretty sure the thought such a small aircraft requiring that long of a > runway absolutely blew their minds, but I wasn’t sure just how far down the > plane would float, and I wanted to have every inch of runway available in > case things got squirrely, especially for my first time. > > I recalled what the seller had told me when I bought the plane: “it’s speeds > are very similar to a 172, you climbout about 80-90 mph and come in over the > numbers around 80 mph”. I figured I would add 10 mph for my first time, and > saw 90 mph over the numbers before I pulled power back. WOW did I float down > the runway. I definitely was glad I had that 10,000’ runway because I’m > pretty certain I didn’t touch down until about the 5-6k board. I immediately > retracted the speed brakes and off again I went. I did about 4x more > landings, each time floating significantly less and less, before making a > full stop, then proceeding to go into the FBO to have some ice cream and hot > dogs. > > At this point I called my wife, and explained to her that I had taken the > plane flying (when I left the house I had no intention of flying, just more > ground testing), so when I told her that I had landed in Key Field (just 15 > minutes from our house), she immediately got in the car to come see me and > come check out the little bird in action. While she didn’t end up going > flying with me that particular day, I did get to show off a little bit on my > next takeoff going back to my home field; taking off again on the 10,000 foot > runway, and staying in ground effect about 10-20 feet off the ground, until > reaching the end of the runway, then pulling back the stick to begin climbing > out. I’m fairly certain I saw 120-130 mph on the airspeed by the time I > reached the end of the runway. > > When I finally returned to my home field, the landing was uneventful and by > far the smoothest one I had out of the 5 that day. I taxi’d the plane back > towards my hangar area, put it to sleep, and then drove home with a big smile > on my face. > > That was the day I became a KR2 pilot. One of the most thrilling, exciting, > fun flights I have ever had. While it may not seem like anything real > special, it’s always going to hold a special place in my heart; as I’m sure > most of you can relate, it was my first flight in a KR2, in my airplane, and > was the tip of the iceberg of opening myself up to experimental aircraft > ownership. > > V/R > > Sam > > Sent from my iPhone > >> On Jul 16, 2022, at 8:04 PM, Lulubelle Pitts via KRnet >> <krnet@list.krnet.org> wrote: >> >> Does anybody have any stories of flying a KR-2 for the first time, be it >> scary, exciting, or fun? >> -- >> KRnet mailing list >> KRnet@list.krnet.org >> https://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet > -- > KRnet mailing list > KRnet@list.krnet.org > https://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet -- KRnet mailing list KRnet@list.krnet.org https://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet
