Dan said, > I think that might be O'l Blue (N4DD).
I guessed that would the the highest time KR. Do you see any obvious structural stresses (from time and hours flown over the years) Dan? Off the top of my head, I can think that wood rot (such as can affect the Bellanca wing) would be something to watch long term. Corrosion of the WAF's and/or attachment bolts another. I've heard of separations at the firewall, but that must be a construction issue (wasn't built right to start with). These problems aren't inevitable or even common though . . . so I wonder how come N4DD is the only KR with a significant number of hours on it? ******** > "the 3rd one (around 1991) was doing some fast taxiing with full aft stick, in gusty conditions, when it suddenly leaped off the ground to about 50 feet, apparently stalled, and slammed back to the surface . . ." Thanks for the story on that Ed. That must have been quite a ride while it lasted. What a helpless feeling! On slow roll out with the stick full back I've had a wing lift on gusty days. Even had the entire plane take off and slide over a few feet then come back down. Scary. You have to instantly reduce the AOA when this happens or you can wind up in the weeds or worse - like the fellow above. Incidents like this are why with conventional gear we get a lot better feel for the wing and what it's doing than is possible with a tri-gear. With either one though, the flight's truly not over until it's in the hanger. Shame about Steve's plane. In the years I've been familiar with and interested in KR's, I've seen it happen over and over - the guy whose "previous plane was a Bonanza" or who "flew fighters in the Air Force", or "retired from United" comes to pick up their new KR and fly it home. They don't want to be advised of how to do things and if they listen, it's just to be polite. Sometimes they get part of the way home and sometimes they don't even get off the airport. About five years ago a fellow came to pick up a nice tri-gear in Oregon. The owner was an airline pilot who could not fly for two years for medical reasons and didn't want to let the plane just sit. The buyer came in from Chicago and didn't even want to go around the patch with the seller. Deal done, the seller got in to fly it home and taxiied it full throttle into a hanger. He blamed it on the brakes, I recall the seller telling me on the phone. He was sick about it - to see his plane pretty much destroyed. I imagine the buyer wasn't feeling too happy either. The taildragger KR really does a wonderful job teaching stick and rudder skills. There's probably plenty of planes just as good at doing this, but I would wager there's none better. (Oh well . . . maybe a Pitts.) ************ So . . . looks like the highest time KR is N4DD at "well over 2000 and close to 3000 hours". For the communal record of "KR facts" I think it's an interesting question . . . KR longevity. Except for Old Blue, none have made it past 1500 hours even though many hundreds (thousands?) have been built since 1971. I wonder if other old Experimental designs such as Rutan's various models also seem to top out over time at around 1500 hours? I do think there are some pretty high time Long-EZ's around. That spreadsheet of yours Mark clearly has no more room for additional fields, but TTAF would be a good one to add if you ever redo it. Mike ____________________________________________________________ BUGS? Target them with the best in Pest Control. Click Here. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTGQSqxHqfTJHkKELxQ928bWUoE3uAtHTJutrZi5CJKU87yDl3z4p6/
