I very much agree with the idea of not stuffing two people in a KR for training purposes. My previous standard KR was WAY out of CG with just two normal-sized people in it and my KR wasn't badly built - an engineer with McDonnell Douglas built it - built three of them in fact - and had the added weight of the Maloof prop out front but was still very tail heavy with two people. Most early KR's tended to go tail heavy with two people. Trying to develop familiarity with a plane that has such a tendency toward aft CG doesn't sound like a good idea. Not to mention, two people each with heads canted toward the center because the canopy had such poor headroom made for an unpleasant ride for both pilot and passenger, quite aside from trying to do any flight familiarization.
With the many improvements that have been made to the standard design - wider cockpits, longer fuselages, problems the original design had with two up have been eliminated of course but still . . . with two people and marginal horsepower seems asking for trouble. It's never been a two-place plane . . . really. It's a very cool one person plane. Long runway to eliminate concern of running off the end, either with an abort or with a long landing, plus no controller distracting things . . . if a person has any skill at all at flying, the KR is not quirky or difficult. 90% of newbie problems are simply from trying to touch down while the plane still wants to fly. That ends up with bent nosewheel struts and broken props . . . happens all the time, not just with KR's. Speed control is so important and finding that comfortable spot with a new plane is always a bit nervewracking. It takes a lot of self-discipline those first few flights while getting a feel for where the approach speed should be. This isn't just with KR's. I think everyone, flying a new plane for the first time, has a hard time keeping their approach speed down. Slow flight with a few stalls is a great thing to do on that first flight. Neither of my KR's did anything in the stall except mush. It's a gentle wing (if built correctly and nothing is out of whack) with no bad habits. Generations of KR builders/flyers have gone through this and gained the benefit of true stick and rudder skills with this forgiving airplane. There's no need to treat the KR like it requires some special training. It's about as honest an airplane as any of us will ever fly. Just slow down before the wheels. If you have to wait for it to slow down, just wait. That's exactly the reason to use an extra long runway while in the familiarization phase. Putting two people in a KR for training purposes seems a recipe for an unpleasant experience . . . although, come to think of it. familiarization flying with Jim Morehead was not uncomfortable at all . . . so I'm all wet. Depends on the plane I guess. Jim's tri-gear plane was just as comfortable with the two of us in it as a Piper Cherokee 140. I sure had some unpleasant experiences with my first (standard design) KR when I had another person in the cockpit though. With such an aft CG, if one doesn't die first, one learns to become a pretty good pilot. MikeKSEE ________________________________ -Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html -Change list delivery options at https://list.krnet.org/list/krnet.list.krnet.org/ Affinity List Info Board -Search recent KRnet Archives at https://list.krnet.org/empathy/list/krnet.list.krnet.org/ -Search John Boyea's decades of archive at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/
