My baby finally Flies!

[Ultralights]

well, its been a long few months, with numerous things going wrong and needing attention but today, she Flew!! logged 2.5 hrs this afternoon at Cessnock! and nothing went wrong or broke......:big_grin:

 

except the choke cable snapped.......

 

but a quick check everything was ok, and the now removed choke cable will cause no issues, the flight went well, climbs at about 800 FPM with the 18 deg prop at 6300 RPM.

 

the air was calm with a slight crosswind, but she feels very firm in the air, control forces are pretty heave considering, about the same as a Piper warrior or similar. she can be trimmed up to fly pretty much hands off, but there is still a slight roll to the Left but no where near as bad as the first time.

 

Steep turns are a breeze being very easy to maintain height, though the roll rate isn't the fastest!

 

Aileron Authority isn't too bad, as said before, about the same forces needed as a Warrior, and the trim on the stick makes it uncomfortable to move the stick side to side to get full deflection

 

Rudder is about the same as a Jabiru, but only move through a range of 15 degrees, so sideslipping is difficult.

 

Elevator authority is Fantastic! especially at low speed with flap, as the power increase provides plenty of prop was over the elevator.

 

Landing is easy with power on at Full flap, and with the wing being so low to the ground, the ground effect is very noticeable and makes for smooth landings!

 

now for the niggling issues to be resolved....

 

1, the roll issue, wont take long to fix with a adjustment of rigging

 

2, it tends to steer left when on the ground, again, some adjustment needed of the control linkage to the nose wheel

 

3, ASI Over-reads terribly! rotate at 60Kts indicated, cruise at 100Kts indicated and at speed below 60 Kts there is noticeable rapid sink,

 

according to my GPS its over reading by about 20 Kts. though there was a slight easterly today and the GPS wont be that accurate.

 

the solution i am told is to change to a more accurate ASI, the old one is from 0 to 160Kts, my new one to be installed tomorrow is 0 to 120Kts. and over the next few weeks i will move the pitot tube from the gear leg to the nose of the pod.

 

the Pitot static tube passes through the engine bay and i am told the heat in the engine area effects the reading... but apart from that...

 

Im HAPPY! tomorrow i cant wait to take her all over Nelson bay area, and if everything goes well, i might head off to Hoxton or The Oaks during the weekend! ;)

 

 

[pylon500]

Our local VAMPIRE is going out to The Oaks for a weighing this weekend, come and join the fun!!

 

Arthur.

 

 

[Guest Teenie2]

Ultralights, what prop did you end up fitting?

 

 

[Ultralights]

I have ordered a Prop from Richard Sweetapple! $420! Very happy with that compared to the other options, at the moment i am still using my old 3 blade bolly prop, that has been repaired last week at work, and i want to get a few hrs in it so i can compare the performance with Richard when we fit the new prop when it arrives.

 

as for rotation, i just hold the stick back and wait for it to lift itself off when it gets to flying speed, about 65 Kts on the dial. i have pretty much been ignoring the ASI when flying, fortunately it has good feel and translates what its doing through the stick well, so the ASI isnt needed that much

 

 

[Guest Teenie2]

Have you got Sweetapples Tel number?

 

 

[Ultralights]

sure, its 0732452579

 

 

[Guest Teenie2]

Thanks

 

 

[crazy diamond]

Kinda hijacking the thread but whats the diff between sweetapple props and bollys??

 

 

[Guest brentc]

Sweetapple props are timber and like a Jabiru prop.

 

Bolly props are carbon fibre with machined alloy hum in 2 or 3 blade, however not suited to a Jabiru.

 

 

[Ultralights]

and a large $$$ factor difference also...

 

 

[Ultralights]

speaking of Props, who makes this ???