I sold my KR, 211LF, three months ago to a young flight instructor at
the local university, Zach Martine, that did not have tailwheel time.
His friend did a solo demo flight to check out the KR as I was no longer
current. Tristan had no prior KR 2 experience but made the flight
safely doing a self checkout. My only specific instruction was "don't
get below 80 mph on approach, do wheel landings, and go have fun". His
write up below confirms my 20 years of hype on what a great flier my KR
has been for the 800 hours of flight time I've enjoyed since first
flight in 2003. Tristan was only the second person to ever fly my KR and
now Zach has soloed and that makes three of us, a unique band of
brothers. My KR is unique in several ways so in flying your KR, as
always, YRMV..........
Larry Flesner
=================================================
On 6/13/2023 10:27 PM, Tristan Joost wrote:
Hello Mr. Flesner,
My name is Tristan Joost, I was the one that test flew the KR2, and
then trained Zach to his tailwheel endorsement in it. You asked me to
do a write up on the KR, and while I know it has been awhile, I
personally wanted to get more time with the plane before I gave a
write up.
That being said, now that I have spent more time with the KR and
gotten comfortable with it, I really do enjoy flying that airplane.
While she is a little touchier on the controls than I was used to
flying before, once I was comfortable with it, she does exactly what
you tell her to do. No other plane I have flown has been that precise.
She taxis better than any other tailwheel I have flown before. You do
not have to dance on the rudders to keep it on centerline at all, she
tracks straight comfortably, even with some speed. When taking off,
while bringing the tail up, she doesn't fight you like other
tailwheels I have flown, and tracks straight with just a small amount
of pressure on the rudder pedals. She is extremely comfortable and
smooth to fly once trimmed, and is a great cruiser. On approach, all
you have to do is point her at your aiming point and she will track
straight to it every time, even with decent crosswinds. The belly
brake does not take away any controllability. Landings, once I had the
sight picture down, are extremely smooth, and at no point in time did
I feel it try to kick on me or want to start a ground loop. While in
other tailwheels, you have to have the "happy feet" on takeoff and
landing, with the KR, all you need is just a touch of smooth
application of pressure on the pedals, and the plane will track
straight and smooth every time.
All and all, I have to say that the KR2 has been one of the nicest
tailwheel airplanes I have had the opportunity to fly in, and if given
the opportunity, I would have bought it for myself.
Thank you for the opportunity to fly this airplane. It has been a
pleasure working with you and Zach with it, and I know he truly
appreciates that plane, and will take good care of it.
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