Another motivational First Flight video

Well this is a little late for posting, but I found while building, a little motivation was always a good thing. I didn't have a good video of Black Magic's first takeoff, as I was in the chase plane. A friend however, did video the first liftoff, and first landing, performed by Kahuna in Black Magic. As briefed, Mike was going to quickly get her off the ground, test the ailerons then perform a 45 degree turn and climb to altitude as quickly as possible for safety reasons. No editing was done to the video so it is raw footage.

BTW Kahuna, that light elevator is a treat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYCeLfJCW6s

Keep poundin em gang, it will become an airplane!!!

Not exactly a conservative first take off. Looked a lot like hot dogging to me.
Tin Man

Tin Man, to the contrary it was a very safe, well briefed takeoff. The idea was to get the airplane off as soon as possible and check the ailerons. The 45 degree turn and climb brought the airplane immediately over much more favorable landing terrain and would have allowed 3 different landing directions. Going to be a little bold here and state you need to know the facts before making such a statement as you did. I reiterate, the takeoff was briefed, understood and performed according to plan. Don't let this turn into a safely thread or I'll ask the motivational thread be removed by the mods. It was safe.

Safe Take Off

I think I would want to know if the ailerons are OK 10 feet up rather than 1000 while I still have runway ahead of me.

The three irrevokable laws of aviation.

Nothing replaces:

1. The runway behind you.

2. The altitude above you.

3. The fuel you left on the ground.

A perfect example of the first law.

Way to go Dana and Kahuna.

Dave Nellis

BlackRV7 said:

Tin Man, to the contrary it was a very safe, well briefed takeoff. The idea was to get the airplane off as soon as possible and check the ailerons. The 45 degree turn and climb brought the airplane immediately over much more favorable landing terrain and would have allowed 3 different landing directions. Going to be a little bold here and state you need to know the facts before making such a statement as you did. I reiterate, the takeoff was briefed, understood and performed according to plan. Don't let this turn into a safely thread or I'll ask the motivational thread be removed by the mods. It was safe.

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Sounds like damage control to me. I'm think any respectable test pilot or the FAA might disagree. To each thier own.
Tin Man

You are going to get blasted!

Dana,

That was a great video of your first takeoff. Don't let the Safety Nazi's get to you. As soon as I saw your left and right rolls, I understood exactly what and why you did it.

That is the problem with this and all forums is that everyone's risk level is different and what is acceptable to some is completely reckless to others.

People, please don't trash Dana for his test plan. If you are adverse to this type of test, then simply don't do it. Those of you who are to follow, you have just learned something from this thread. Now it is up to you to plan your first flight according to your comfort level.

The trick is to do what Dana did, plan your flight and fly your plan. Don't improvise. He did not, he flew his plan. You may not agree with it, but he flew his plan.

Knowing the terrain thanks to flying in to several of your fly-in's, I understand the turn. Gotta give that one to ya. Your test pilot knows what he's comfortable with. Nice plane, and congratulations.

BTW, looking forward to our first arrival in the RV instead of the Tomahawk.

Bob Kelly

Good video!

N941WR said:

Dana,

That was a great video of your first takeoff. Don't let the Safety Nazi's get to you. As soon as I saw your left and right rolls, I understood exactly what and why you did it.

That is the problem with this and all forums is that everyone's risk level is different and what is acceptable to some is completely reckless to others.

People, please don't trash Dana for his test plan. If you are adverse to this type of test, then simply don't do it. Those of you who are to follow, you have just learned something from this thread. Now it is up to you to plan your first flight according to your comfort level.

The trick is to do what Dana did, plan your flight and fly your plan. Don't improvise. He did not, he flew his plan. You may not agree with it, but he flew his plan.

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I'm with you Bill, Kahuna is no rookie and he was the guy flying.

Great video Dana and BTW, I love the color!

The first thing I thought when I saw this video was, "After all that time and money, you didn't want to invest in some transition training?" At a glance it looks like there was ridiculous overcontrolling right after takeoff.

ShadesOfGray said:

The first thing I thought when I saw this video was, "After all that time and money, you didn't want to invest in some transition training?" At a glance it looks like there was ridiculous overcontrolling right after takeoff.

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The man that was flying has a couple thousand hours of RV transition training under his belt. Read the details, the test pilot was Kahuna not Dana. Those moves were on purpose and for a reason.

Yeah, I know, I was just saying it looked like overcontrolling.

Maybe (most likely) I'm ignorant, but what is the point of this aileron test? If they line up and center correctly while on the ground (quick visual check), and move the proper direction with the stick (also a quick ground check), why wouldn't they work in the air? The only thing I can think of is some kind of load induced binding.

Worth checking vigorously 10' off the deck on the first flight? I guess so since the test pilot has so much experience...

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

As we fast forward, that just might be me now

As I get closer to finishing my 40 hours, I'll post a detailed thread on thoughts, likes, wants, really no squawks to speak of so far.

Trust me, there are no dislikes at this point.....unless you figure in my inability to properly use them alerans, alarems, allarins, oh, heck them turny thangs that make the airplane turn and stuff Well, then again, that uppy/downy thing on the back of the aeroprane and come to thik of it that thar rubber thang you move within yer feet, besides that I think I got this thang figered out.

Mark at the Possum Factory, watch out I'm heading your way shortly!!

As you can tell, I've had too much tax season, bring on April 16th.

Keep pounding gang, these airplanes are a BLAST!!

Well, don't know who you are since you didn't sign your post and I'll not speak for Kahuna except to relay the following: Mike has followed my build and had seen the airplane prior to first flight. Before he would fly it, he flew in on Friday evening for an inspection. He wanted all inspection panels removed, cowl off, flashlight, inspections mirror, rear baggage panel removed to see the bellcrank. One of Mike's statements was, he realized some things could go wrong but didn't want anything to go wrong with the control surfaces. He was adamant about this issue. Remember, in the last 6-8 months or so, while Mike was doing a test flight, he had to shut the engine down and dead stick the first flight airplane to a safe airport landing. Once again, perform your initial flight per your test plan. That is what we did, we flew it according to agreed upon flight parameters and were satisfied with the results. Once again, plan what you are going to fly and fly what you planned.

teookie said:

Maybe (most likely) I'm ignorant, but what is the point of this aileron test? The only thing I can think of is some kind of load induced binding.
Worth checking vigorously 10' off the deck on the first flight? I guess so since the test pilot has so much experience...

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