As everyone seems to have an opinion on how to takeoff and land a KR, I'll throw in my observations after 142 hours of flying mine.
First, on liftoff and touchdown speeds, I could'nt tell you exactly what mine are. I seldom watch the ASI at that moment. On takeoff, after coming in with full power and picking up speed, I raise the tail, maintain directional control, and I can feel when the airplane is ready to fly. A slight back pressure on the stick will bring the mains off and it's flying. If things feel a bit "mushy" , you're a bit slow so keep the nose down. At 5 feet or more above the runway I'll check my ASI and establish climb speed. Several times things have felt a bit "mushy" on liftoff and when I checked the ASI it was indicating 50 mph. I lowered the nose a bit and it qiickly jumps to 60 or 70 so we can see that the ASI is not your best reference at that angle of attack. At 65 / 70+ mph my ASI seems to stablize and becomes an accurate reference. I would not advise anyone to try flying off from a three point attitude except mayby those KR's with the original short retracts. Anyone with fixed gear will be just above the stall and you'd best be very careful. I have longer than standard gear and I've computed my three point attitude to be approx 12 degrees, just a few degrees below the wing stall angle. You won't catch me trying any three point takeoffs! So, now you're flying, how will you land that thing. I think anyone that can fly Jim Faughn's discription of "how to land a KR" will not have any problems. I'll just add a few observations of my own. First, the KR is a slick little bird and my opinion on why we don't see more of them flying is that the pilots are not comfortable with the approach and landing phase of flight. The quickest and easiest solution, I think, is to just add drag to the airframe during the approach and landing. It makes the KR an entirely different airplane on landings when you do. When I land my KR without the speedbrake, I'm approaching a bit nose high, it's hard to maintain a stable airspeed, and it feels like I'm trying to balance on a beachball or something. With my speed brake full down (near 90 degrees) , I add two feet of flat plate area to the KR and it it becomes a different airplane. At idle power, my rate of decent will increase 300 to 500 fpm. This requires me to carry a bit of power (about 1300 rpm on my 0-200), gives me over-the-nose visibility all the way into the flare, and greatly helps in stabilizing my airspeed, An honest 70 mph over the numbers is all the airspeed you need when flying solo. I try to have my airspeed nailed when I start my flare and I never look at it again during the landing. You need to have you eyes out the window at that point and flying the airplane. If you flare a bit high, let the airplane settle and begin the flare again as you get close to the runway. Don't start "hunting" for the runway by moving the stick back and forth. That's a good way to get yourself in trouble. Hold it off the runway as long as you can but personally, I'm not comfortable taking mine to a full three point attitude. When the mains touch you need a slight forward movement on the stick to hold it on. The primary reason for this, other than you may have dropped it in from high enough above the runway and you're getting springback from the gear, is that when the mains contact the ground and you begin transfering weight from the wing to the gear, the balance point of the airplane moves forward and the tail will start to settle. This is for a tailwheel configuration, of course, and a tri-gear is just the opposite. In other than a full stall, three point landing, the wing could start to generate enough lift to put you back in the air. On my KR, once I can no longer hold the tail up with forward stick, I'm below flying speed and I can firmly plant the tail and begin braking. As to the wing low or crab approach in crosswinds, I prefer the crab on final and switch to the wing down just before the flare. I think the crab is a more comfortable approach, especially if you have passangers, and it gives me an idea how much wing-down I'll need in the flare. The effect of a crosswind always seems to be less in ground effect but don't ignore it. Gust will give you more trouble as you are constantly changing control inputs. To fly a KR, or any airplane for that matter, I think (I know) you have to have a clear mental picture of each phase of flight, especially the takeoff and landing, to be successful. Set in the KR and make motor noises until you have the process planted in your head and it becomes second nature. You can't be thinking about what to do next in actual flight. As always, your results may vary !!! :-) Larry Flesner
