Larry, my wife and I built our Challenger II about 21 years ago now and we've thoroughly enjoyed it. We flew it to OSH in '02 from south western South Dakota meeting up with other Challenger folks along the way for the trip which was a hoot!! Sure, it took us a day's worth of flying time but who cares? The next year I flew it to Erie Air Park for the first factory fly-in and I took the prize for farthest flight of 702 miles. I also met Challenger folks along the way while my wife drove since she stayed behind due to her mom having some surgery. That little Rotax 503 just purred along as easily as any Lycoming or Continental. I'm fortunate that I can keep it at home so don't have to deal with airport stuff although I am within the airport's Class D airspace so have to call them whenever I go flying. I've routinely flown into a couple of radio control model group's fields to visit with the guys and they love it. Sometimes out to our daughter's place to land on a gravel road and taxi up their driveway for a visit. I never could do that kind of flying in a rented plane. Some have gone for rides with me but not out of their field. Since I live in a rural area, I use a mowed 16' x 1100' area in a pasture for my strip but only about 800' of it is usable due to power lines on one end and trees on the other by our house. However, that 800' gives me plenty of room. The Challenger will slip like crazy if you want. Here's a video my wife took a couple of weeks ago of my slipping in over the power lines. I taxied into my back yard which butts up to the pasture. https://app.box.com/s/cz0yt75jnougptfyt277h0w3pjsm6ay5
Larry, you'll find the Challenger to be a lot of fun, probably just as much as in your KR but in a different way. Here's a story I wrote for our EAA chapter newsletter back in '03 if you want to take a few minutes to read. It was great fun. http://www.challengers101.com/QC_Fly-In.html While I sometimes regret not finishing my KR2-S, I have no regrets about building and flying my Challenger which I fly even in the winter with heat piped into the cabin. I'm reasonably comfortable down to about -10F with the doors on. Otherwise I leave them off for the spring, summer, and fall seasons. I'm sure you'll enjoy your Challenger when you get it finished. Jim HaywardRapid City, SD -----Original Message----- From: Flesner via KRnet <krnet@list.krnet.org> To: Mike Stirewalt via KRnet <krnet@list.krnet.org> Cc: Flesner <fles...@frontier.com> Sent: Fri, Oct 16, 2020 5:40 pm Subject: Re: KR> Challengers, etc. On 10/16/2020 1:36 PM, Mike Stirewalt via KRnet wrote: > I suppose if medical issues are involved going to a category of aircraft > that doesn't require medicals can be a solution but other than that, I > don't see any correlation between age and ultralights. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ People tend to call anything with an exposed cable or tube an "ultralight". T.V. news last week reported two killed in ultralight accident. Unless the aircraft had a letter of deviation and only used as a trainer it was not an ultralight. The term ultralight now days is a total misnomer. Very, very few of the rag wingers flying are single place, weight less than 264 pounds, and carry a max of 5 gallon fuel. Very few of them were EVER legal. Anyway, I'm moving to "LIGHT SPORT" for the experience as well as the drivers license medical at some point in 3 1/2 years when my "basic med" expires. 15 years and 750 hours in my KR have been awesome. A fast and cheap traveling machine that follows my thoughts in flight. But flight in the KR at 3500 to 7500 feet cross country I can't see anything closer than 2 mile radius as the wing and fuselage block the view. Before I give up flying I want to experience more hours in the air down low enjoying the scenery and smelling the corn and clover, enjoying the golden light at dusk lighting up the little country churches and cemeteries, old barns that are leaning a bit and cattle grazing the hillside. There's more to flying than getting there in a hurry and that's the part I'm seeking to find. A couple of flights in a two place Quicksilver planted a bug. Challenger, by the way, claims the Challenger will handle 30 mph crosswinds. I'm certain I'll never try to verify that. I once did 20 / G30 at 90 degrees to the runway in the Tripacer but I wouldn't even consider trying that in the KR. If I were to encounter a 30 mph crosswind with the Challenger I'd simply land in to the wind at less than 10 mph in probably 50 feet or less. Why would you even try a 30 mile per hour crosswind landing in an airplane with a 35 +/- mph stall speed? That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Each of us have our goals / reasons to fly. Too many never see those goals realized. How many times have you heard someone say, "yea, I've always thought I'd like to get my license but never got around to it"? Or, "yea, I'd like to build an airplane someday". Too often we take our freedom to fly and the joy and experiences of seeing the world as few other do without giving it a second thought. We pilots are some very lucky dudes. Think of how lucky you are the next time you're looking down at the world from 5000+ feet. OK., back to my recliner. Need to rest up for the trip back to the airport tomorrow................. Larry Flesner _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org
