Try taxiing in a crosswind,real easy at first, because this
is what appears to get conventional drivers the first time.
I watched a banner tugger learn to fly a Stearman and
land it just about perfect every time. The first mild crosswind we had he
drove it through the segmented circle.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Colin & Bev Rainey" <crain...@cfl.rr.com>
To: "KRnet" <kr...@mylist.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 9:36 AM
Subject: KR>First flight & over controlling
Larry & netters,
I can relate to the over controlling or lack of proper inputs in a new
aircraft. If I can take alittle time from everyone, maybe this example will
help to inform the first time flyers of any aircraft, but especially the
test pilot of his own KR, what he might experience.
I was getting my taildragger endorsement, flying with a CFI/Examiner
friend of mine, in a Citabria. This was my first time with a stick where I
would be PIC. The sight picture was not too much different on the ground
because I don't see much in a C172 on the ground anyway. I am very short at
5'5" and have my seat all the way down in the Cessna, so the lack of
visibility did not bother me. The different placement of the controls
within the cockpit WAS alittle to get used to. We taxied out, did the
runnup, and went to take off. Now one must remember that I was current, and
flying 7 days a week at least once a day. Yet when we taxied out onto the
runway, I was still all jittery inside like a little kid on Christmas Day!
I advance the throttle, rolled a couple of hundred feet, brought the tail up
on instructions from Steve in the back, and the plane left the runway. I
became so caught up in the difference in the way it felt, how it looked
outside, and the change in climb rate, that I forgot to check airspeed and
completely forgot about maintaining the traffic pattern, or even wind
correction for upwind in the pattern. And on top of everything this
aircraft made the 12 th different aircraft type that I had flown to date.
You would think that flying a new aircraft would be somewhat routine after
this many different ones, but it wasn't. As a matter of a fact I was very
caught up in the basics of flying it, and probably would not have seen
anything wrong with the instruments for several minutes after they
registered such information to me. This is an important impact of
information overload that occurs during this first initial orientation that
I pass on to other new KR drivers. Like Larry Flesner pointed out, he is so
focused on his landings that he still doesn't know his touchdown speed.
This is my point. And if you have never had time in a tandem seat aircraft
before, and you build a center seat KR1, you will add to the experience by
suddenly being sitting on the axis of rotation in bank, and this will
initially feel very different as well. All these different sensations and
events happening at once will cause a great deal of distraction and
dramatically lower your ability to cope with even the most routine
additional tasks because of being nearly on overload. This is why it is
recommended that if you are not current, have someone else test fly your
plane for its first few flights, and then get current before you attempt to
transition into your airplane.
Landings in a taildragger are even more strange to get used to because
you have to do exactly the wrong thing for a tri-gear setup, which is what
most aviation trainers are tri-gear, and that is to land level on the mains
for the wheel landing, in order to have the proper amount of control in
crosswind situations. It is my understanding from recent posts that the KR
really just about always needs to be wheel landed due to its tendency to
want to float if you try to flare it to a 3 point.
The purpose of this post is to hopefully shed some light on the
specifics of why several of us are recommending a slow gradual testing
period leading up to the first flight, instead of having that accidental
first flight with virtually no familiarization with the airplane. It may
seem to delay the thrill, but I believe that Larry and several others can
attest to the fact that they were just as thrilled, and probably had a LOT
less anxiety when they finally went airborne the first time. I would also
add one more note to those approaching their first flight, especially if
they are low time. When I am teaching a new student how to land an
airplane, I will typically introduce them to the flare attitude at say 3000
feet and have them get the airplane right on top of the stall, then power up
and do it again over and over until they are comfortable with the low speed
handling, and attitude/sight picture of the airplane. If we are just
staying in the pattern the first few attempts at landing are made where we
fly the plane into ground effect, and then I set the power at about 25% and
tell the student to just fly in ground effect, and tell them don't let the
airplane land. This gets them used to allowing the airplane to lose its
flight speed and quit flying, instead of trying to force it to land at a
certain time or place. Now they are getting a feel for what the airplane is
going to do in ground effect in alot greater volume then they would with ten
landings, because instead of seconds in the flare, they spend a full minute
or so in ground effect. Usually the airplane will kiss the mains once or
twice but stay in ground effect allowing the student to build skill in the
control necessary in ground effect, what I like to call the point of
transition, where the airplane transitions from flying to taxiing. I also
tell them when they go on their first cross countries to another airport to
plan on NOT landing the first time they make the approach, but rather get a
feel for conditions and leave in enough power to fly down the runway in
ground effect. If things look great, pull the power and touch down, if not,
go around and try setting it up again. AOPA published a statistic that
documented the fact that a pilot who goes around when a landing isn't right
has an 80% greater chance of making a good landing the second time around in
a familiar airplane, due to the experience learned from the first approach.
These are important things to mentally rehearse before that first flight.
All too often we get caught up with having to make every landing work, and
always touch down. On your first few flights you need all the pressure OFF
of you as you can take off, so don't add mental strain by feeling like you
HAVE to land this time around and so forth. Make several passes and educate
yourself on how your airplane behaves in ground effect. As Larry Severson
pointed out, just because you have hours, or are even current, as I was
here, doesn't mean you are proficient in this aircraft. Take it slow and
deliberate. If you will remember, your first lessons went the same way, one
bite at a time.....
Sorry it got long, but felt it was important.....
Colin & Bev Rainey
KR2(td) N96TA
Sanford, FL
crain...@cfl.rr.com
or crbrn9...@hotmail.com
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