Glad you threw in your story as well. đź‘Ť On Sun, Jul 17, 2022, 4:47 AM victor taylor via KRnet <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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 < > [email protected]> 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 < > [email protected]> wrote: > >>  > >> Does anybody have any stories of flying a KR-2 for the first time, be > it scary, exciting, or fun? > >> -- > >> KRnet mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> https://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet > > -- > > KRnet mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet > > -- > KRnet mailing list > [email protected] > https://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet >
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