Rich, I have about 250 hr on my Diehl system, and have had no squawks at all. I removed the stock KR retracts before the first flight and installed the Diehl system, so I have no experience with the original retracts to compare to the fixed system.
>From: "Rich Meyer" <cpt...@npcc.net> >Reply-To: KRnet <kr...@mylist.net> >To: "'KRnet'" <kr...@mylist.net> >Subject: KR> Changing gear -- from retractable to tri-gear (Mike >Geogheganandothers?) >Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 22:55:34 -0500 > >Mike, > A year and a half ago you posted about converting your project from >a "non-modified" (really? Is there such a thing?) "KR2 on retractable >gear" >to tri-gear. > > After a year on Krnet (I lost my heart to KR) and a year on >Sonextalk (my brother-in-law and prospective partner in building did not >want to get into fiberglass work), my brother-in-law and I became the >silly-happy new owners of N26LT this week. I thought we were going to get >a >Sonex kit when we could afford it, but we found this KR for sale with 300 >hours on it, a HAPI VW 1835, and when he convinced himself he could fit in >it with seat dropped to the max, we bought it. Our plane is a >"non-modified" (really?) KR2 on retractable gear. We want to remove the >retractable gear and make it a tri-gear. We would like to talk to anyone >who has been through this conversion about the process. > > You said you had a single piece Grove gear made up. I thought there >was a bracket available to mount spring gear on the main spar in the wing >stubs? What have others used for the main who mounted tri-gear? > > Oh, and it's great to be back on Krnet! Next year we hope to make >it to the gathering. Thanks, > >Rich H. Meyer >Cptcsd at npcc dot net >Phone 574-642-3963 >Cell 574-202-3920 > >------------------------------------------ >-----Original Message----- >From: krnet-boun...@mylist.net [mailto:krnet-boun...@mylist.net] On Behalf >Of Michael Geoghegan >Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 2:43 PM >To: Krnet >Subject: KR>First flight for low time pilot (long) > >Netters > >My name is Mike Geoghegan. I have been a member of KRNET for about 4 >years. >I have posted to the net on a few occasions but for the most part I have >listened and gathered a great deal of information which I have used in the >completion of my kr2. > > > >N47MG is a close to plans built kr2. About 4 years ago I rescued a boat >stage project that had been sitting in a barn for 10 years. It was going >to >the dumps or my garage and since I was looking for a project to take up >some >of my spare time I put it in my garage. I had started down the road toward >a private license in 1980 and got about 20 hours and solo when, due to >children, work, and everything else I had to stop. Well now with the last >child off to college I was ready to finally get that license. The kr >project would keep me busy and when finished, I would have a plane to fly. > > For those of you who are not low time pilots I can make this post short >and >tell you that I am flying N47MG and I will be providing photos for everyone >to see as soon as the weather in Vermont gets a little warmer. I hope that >will be soon. > >The following is a recap of my experience getting my plane in the air with >very little flight time in my log book. The project was a non modified >tail >wheel kr2 on retracts. I won't go into detail on the completion of the >project except to say that I stuck to the plans and ended up with a dry >weight of 598 lbs. There were a few things I did in the completion >process >that I would recommend to others. > >1. Be sure to balance ailerons and elevator. The elevator balance >is important because without it your elevator trim won't overcome the >weight >of the elevator. > >2. Don't short change the importance of both aileron and elevator >trim. I installed what was then Mac servos in the elevator and the very >smallest one in the left aileron so I could see it off to my left. It is a >12 inch piano hinge with a piece of 12 x 2 inch sheet metal attached to >the >trailing edge of the aileron. The servos are controlled by the four >buttons >on the top of the stick. (also a Mac product) With the use of both trims I >can fly this plane hands free for short periods of time. > >3. The engine that came with the project was a 1700cc vw. It was >mounted as a hand prop setup and it had a posa carb installed. I rebuilt >the engine and when I got to the point of testing it I ran into a lot of >trouble with the posa carb. Suffice to say that after many hours of >testing >I lost my patience. I bit the bullet and bought an Ellison. I also >purchased an accessory case with starter and alternator. The Ellison is >fantastic and the starter is much safer. > > Now to the hard part. I finished my project in September of 2002. Got >the >airworthiness certificate and it was ready for testing. I did some low >speed taxi testing to maybe 25 mph but I didn't have my pilot certificate >yet so I was not going to be able to fly it anyway. I found a test pilot >with lots of tail wheel time that was willing to take a test flight. In >October of 2002 he showed up for an inspection and a half hour later he got >in and took off. The test went very well. Climbs, steep turns, stalls, and >a picture perfect wheel landing. He made it all look very easy. The only >thing I had to do was increase the surface area of the aileron trim so it >could hold the plane level hands free. > >After the test flight I had to take my check ride and get my certificate. >Once I did that I now had a tail wheel kr2 ready to fly. I know that there >have been some conversations on the net about not needing a tail wheel >endorsement to fly an experimental but you have to be a fool to think that >you don't need any tail wheel experience to successfully fly one. Since >the >test pilot I used was not a CFI and I couldn't find anyone to give me the >tail wheel experience I proceeded to do a lot of taxi testing myself. >After >about 6 hours of time trying to keep the tail up and the plane straight and >almost loosing it on a number of occasions I did the smart thing and >converted the plane to a tri gear. I purchased a Diehl nose gear assembly >and I had a single piece Grove gear made up. I put Tracy O'Brian brakes on >the gear and fabricated toe brake pedals to operate the hydraulics. The >main gear installation was really pretty easy once the brackets were made >up. > >After two or three taxi test sessions it was obvious that for me the change >to tri gear was the right way to go. The plane felt very comfortable. It >had familiar handling traits on the ground and I had no trouble keeping it >straight under throttle. On the fourth taxi test everything felt so good >at >50 that instead of slowing I followed through with a little more speed and >back pressure. The plane absolutely leapt into the air. I corrected with >a >little forward pressure and within two oscillations I was climbing 700 fpm >at 80mph. Talking about a thrill! I played with the trim as I was climbing >and got settled so I wasn't holding the attitude with the stick. At this >point I would like to voice my observations about pitch sensitivity. I >only >have about 100 hours logged mostly in a 152 but first hand experience can >be >very valuable. In my opinion the kr2 is not pitch sensitive. What I have >found is that the kr2 is very stick sensitive. That is to say that I only >use a fraction of stick to control the plane. I have found that if I trim >properly I can fly with two finger tips on the stick. If the plane is not >trimmed properly then I find myself using too much control input and end up >over correcting. The plane responds so well that you can almost think >about >banking and it will. Now to bring you back to where I left you last. I >was >climbing out on the first flight. What a joy to feel the response of this >plane. I spent some time at altitude trying different speeds and flight >attitudes including some slow flight. Again, the trim control helped >greatly. I did not feel comfortable trying any stalls but I did have a >good >idea of the stall speed from the first test flight. The big problem now >was >how do I land this very sensitive plane when I was used to the yoke of a >152. The answer is not very smooth and not very pretty. It was inevitable >that I would end up over correcting on final. I was able to enter final at >80 mph but I was all over the place. The problem was that I kept telling >myself "fly the plane" when I should have let it fly itself. All of my >input was too much. Well, I made the runway and I made it to a full stop >and I didn't have a heart attack but it was close. As I was rolling out >one >of the locals who was holding short, watching my landing, got on the radio >and asked if it was my first flight. After my affirmative reply all he >said >was "It looks beautiful". I got out and kissed the ground. > >Every flight since then has been much better and I got a chance to grease >one right in front of my CFI. Always a good thing to do. >Here is some data: > >Dry weight is 598 lb >Engine is VW 1700cc >Carb is Ellison EFS-2 >Prop is a Sterba 52 x 42 >Header tank only - 16 gal >Fuel consumption is 3 to 3.5 gal per hr >Climb is 700 fpm at 80 mph >Max speed is 130 mph @ 3600 rpm >Cruse is 115 mph @ 3200 rpm >Landing approach @ 80 mph >Numbers @ 70 mph >Touch @ 60 or below >No flaps or speed brake and not much float. > >Since it has been a very cold winter here in Vermont I have spent some time >putting on wheel pants and doing misc. work as I wait for some good flying >days. I hope to fly off the test hours this spring and by then I will >really know more about the performance. I also hope to build a larger >displacement VW and get some more speed out of her. Turbulence really >moves >this plane around a lot because it is so light. I'm not sure how long a >period of time I could spend going fast and getting thrown around so much >but on a smooth day I can see this plane going fast! > >I hope this has been helpful to those low time pilots trying to make some >decisions on their projects and maybe it will help the high time pilots >prepare for their first flights. > > Regards, > >Mike Geoghegan > >Moretown Vermont > >N47MG > > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________ >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
