NetHeads, Today I flew my plane for 3.1 hours, continuously (except for taking on a little fuel), and did 15 pretty decent landings, with several being nothing short of squeakers! Up until number 13, I'd never registered more than 1.5 g's on the meter. Number 14 was just about full stall, so that's my excuse for that one. My new A&P buddy Chris said I was the only guy he knew who judged landings by number of g's on the meter, but he supposed that was better than using the Richter scale!
The first landing got a "niiiiiiiice laaaaaanding" over the radio from the medflight chopper pilot....the same guy that told me I needed help last weekend. Later he was flying in from a mission and commented that I looked a whole lot more comfortable than before, and I had to agree. I had a little adrenaline buzz on the way to the airport, because I'd only done two landings by myself up until today, and they were both near-tragedies. I was actually wondering about things the undertaker does to you as I drove out there. I left the airport today with a huge smile on my face...thinking, "I've got this licked now". Thanks to all that've helped, especially Bill Clapp. For the first time, I let out a big yell after one particularly squeaky one! Sorry Jim, I forgot to call you until I was on final the first time around, and it was too late then! I remembered it all though, and I came dragging in there barely flying, slower each time, but rarely looking at the ASI. The Corvair is running great, without so much as a hiccup so far, other than the time I pulled the mixture out instead of the throttle, and the prop came to a stop on crosswind! I now have 28.6 hours on the hour meter, although the engine has more hours than that on it. I also did a little flying around today and did a 2-way speed check with the GPS, and the result was 173 mph top speed, but with no spinner, and no wheel fairings, and no aileron or flap gap seals, and the engine will only turn 3200 rpms at that speed. It climbs out at 3080, which is about what it'll do static on the ground. I definitely have too much pitch from whatever this Sterba prop is (it's labeled 54x66, but I think it's been repitched to a 52x60). That's down in the 110 hp range, so after I get my fairings on, I'll get another prop with less pitch. Average CHTs were 345F after doing wide open for 15 minutes, oil presure was 45 psi, and oil temp never exceeded 200 degrees F. The EIS tach function has gone haywire, reading as high as 5500 rpm when I'm doing only 3200 rpm (courtesy of the Tiny Tach). I tried to recalibrate my static ports with some .1" thick blocks of aluminum but it was too much. VSI now reads descending all the time, airspeed reads low (stall is an indicated 38mph), and altimeter reads low. Static ports are not an exact science, apparently. Fortunately, Bill has taught me not to care what any of those things read, so I don't care. If I can fly tomorrow (weather permitting) I'll try something less drastic, like some .062 welding rod behind the ports to see if that's a little closer to what I need. I'll get there. Bottom line is that I'm no longer afraid of this thing and feel like I'm going to make it as a contributing KR pilot and Corvair tester after all. I'm with ya... Mark Langford [13 N56ML flying hours and counting] Huntsville, Alabama see KR2S project N56ML at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford email to N56ML "at" hiwaay.net --------------------------------------------------------------
