Hi Jeff After posting I did realize that There are a lot of pilots who have other experiences. But, in the old days 84 all we had was the news letters, and seeing a KR was limited to Oshkosh. My first flight was a mistake. We had all been told to have lots of hours on the engine to ensure it would perform as required without worry and to get lots of taxi practice. I had about 10 hours when my first flight occurred. As most TD pilots will agree, the hardest part of flying a TD is the transition from tail down to tail up and vise versa. On my first flight, on a 50X5000 foot runway I applied TO power and began the first of three transitions, all at full power. As I went to lift the tail for the third time, I had both airspeed and angle of attack. The plane popped into the air and I decided to fly rather then attempt landing for the first time without the pleasure of having flown the airplane.
This was all we had. Everyone continually talks about getting a ride in the KR. You're not going to get enough to make you a good KR pilot. Regs how require a TD endorsement. As all the comments have indicated, even with the KRnet, getting a ride or quality time in a KR is still not likely to happen. After building a KR you have to get in and get to know every switch, knob, control, gauge ect. so that it/s use is automatic. In the 21 years of flying the KR, I say that it's just another low wing aircraft. Another point is that the average KR is not a high performance Aircraft. Most KR's are fixed gear and only fly about 150 at best and stall at around 52 mph. If built correctly, it will have a gentle straight stall. The old builders of the KR were motivated by Bang for the Buck. It seems that today's builders by and large have more resources (money). After fight training, I could not afford to keep renting aircraft and decided to build the KR. During my time building, I was only able to fly a few times, I needed to finish the KR for affordable flying. After 10 years in the KR, I had 3 hours with an instructor in a Cessna 205 Bird Dog (WarBird) and learned a few things to make the transition easier. All of which were mentioned in the current or past threads on this subject. Although the KR is unique, cute, quick, it is stall just a light low wing aircraft. Orma Southfield, MI KR-2 N110LR 1984 See Tweety at http://www.kr-2.aviation-mechanics.com See other KR spces at www.kr-2.aviation-mechanics.com/krinfo.htm
