Mark, Are trying to wear out your wheel bearings, get it up there, or are you looking to see what a ground loops is like? Just curious ;). Just keep control and you will be all right. Good Luck and Happy Maiden Flight! Adrian
Mark Langford wrote: >KRnetHeads, > >Keep in mind that as of sunset yesterday, I felt ready to fly my plane. So >this morning I went out to get some MORE practice, and had 20 high speed runs >in before the FBO opened at 8AM. I guess I'm crazy, but I was giving it full >throttle, tail came up in 20-30 feet, then I'd back off to maybe 2000 rpm for >a few seconds, and then to idle and coast tail up most of the way down the >runway, with the goal of dropping the tail with a thousand feet of runway left >so I wouldn't need to touch the brakes at the end. If it looked like I was a >little short of making the 1000' marker, I'd add a little power to get me >there. Whoever came up with that one was right on the mark. It's just like a >takeoff, and just like a landing, one each for every run, and a little fun in >between. I am tracking the centerline pretty well, and have gotten to the >point of thinking "is that all ya got? That's all there is to it?". These >are probably famous last words, but I feel like I have complete control over >the airplane on the ground, but I also have more than 75 taxi runs under my >belt, so that shouldn't be a surprise. It's kind of funny...late Monday I was >thinking "I shoulda built a tri-gear", but today I'm thinking "I'm a better >pilot". Of course the winds have been fairly calm too, and I should probably >find some wood to knock on. > >One thing I can say already about those big flaps is that regardless of >whether or not they do anything in the air, they add at least 2000' to this >5000' runway. It makes a huge difference in ground roll with them down. If I >start thinking I'm too close to the end, I'll drop them and it really starts >slowing down, and it's amazing how much slower I can go with the tail up with >the flaps down. It's kind of cool how I can just let it coast and keep moving >the stick further and further foward til I hit the stop, and then the tail >slowly drops. This happens at maybe 20-25 mph, so it's entirely controllable. > The tail dropping happens closer to 35 mph with no flaps. I could ground >loop the thing at that speed and just laugh about it! Funny thing is that I >haven't come anywhere close to a ground loop so far. > >The neat thing about going out early (or staying late) is that I could "back >taxi" doing the same routine, and there was nobody around to care. Bottom >line is it takes maybe a minute and a half to do a run, and then do a U-turn >and make another one. I announced them all on the radio though, so there >would be no surprises. > >After the morning runs I went through the controls and tightened everything up >again (the rudder had loosened due to me pushing on both pedals at the same >time), and went home to get my floor jack so I could check the wheel bearings. > While I was home I got a call from the "director" to tell me the world was >basically on fire and I needed to be there pronto to help put it out. I just >left work, so things are a little hectic. So there will be a little delay in >the first flight, but I'm ready for it... > >Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama >see KR2S project N56ML at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford >email to N56ML "at" hiwaay.net >-------------------------------------------------------------- > >_______________________________________ >Search the KRnet Archives at http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp >to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@mylist.net >please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html > > > > > -- Adrian VE6AFY Mailto:cart...@spots.ab.ca http://www.spots.ab.ca/~cartera
