(Second) First Flight 7965A

I am pleased to report that N7965A is back in the air again. After the engine failure in December, the engine finally got IRAN (to the tune of $10k), but in the interim, I decided to move the third wheel to the back. This afternoon wasn't ideal (a bit of crosswind and some thin rain showers in the distance) but I just couldn't wait any longer since the last several days the weather has been garbage. Second first flight went well - a bit bumpy up there, but no squawks and I got in the first 5 or so landings all at once.

Great thanks to Bill Repucci, Mike Ice, Cameron Kurth, and Greg Vouga, who have all gone before and provided important advice on the changeover. Also thanks are due to the local RV crowd (Bob Mills, Dan Ross, Steve Barger, Walt Murphy) for moral support and air time during the last several months while I've been airplaneless.

Not too many folks get the opportunity to do their first flight twice - I've still got the RV grin this afternoon. Now to get my Phase I completed (again) and go somewhere in the air for fun!

Cheers,
greg

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greg Arehart said:

I am pleased to report that N7965A is back in the air again.
Cheers,
greg

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Good to hear that.

Now, if the weather would just cooperate ...........

Congratulations Greg - that was FAST work!

Let's see, five landings...I'm guessing you only had to wind up the key about halfway for that?

Paul

Greg,

You are more than welcome for all the help!

Welcome to the Dragon Tail Club!

How do you like it with the little wheel in the back? Hopefully it lives up to all the hype as one easy tail dragger.

Congrats Greg,

Pictures???

As the post title says... The weather on this side of the hill hasn't exactly been benign either, though cloudy = cool, so putting in some long hours before the heat comes. Congratulations on a successful flight! How long is Phase 1 rev2?

Greg Arehart said:

I am pleased to report that N7965A is back in the air again. After the engine failure in December, the engine finally got IRAN (to the tune of $10k), but in the interim, I decided to move the third wheel to the back. This afternoon wasn't ideal (a bit of crosswind and some thin rain showers in the distance) but I just couldn't wait any longer since the last several days the weather has been garbage. Second first flight went well - a bit bumpy up there, but no squawks and I got in the first 5 or so landings all at once.

Great thanks to Bill Repucci, Mike Ice, Cameron Kurth, and Greg Vouga, who have all gone before and provided important advice on the changeover. Also thanks are due to the local RV crowd (Bob Mills, Dan Ross, Steve Barger, Walt Murphy) for moral support and air time during the last several months while I've been airplaneless.

Not too many folks get the opportunity to do their first flight twice - I've still got the RV grin this afternoon. Now to get my Phase I completed (again) and go somewhere in the air for fun!

Cheers,
greg

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Glad to hear everything is working out with the T/W. I'm really enjoying mine since the conversion also. Those landings will smooth out. Wheel landings take a bit of practice and they still bite me every now and then after ~50hrs. They get easier every hour though.

Greg
RV-7

Awesome Greg! We can now show you the secret -9 handshake. Welcome to the rarest of all RV's club!

Photos

Here's the contrast:

New look (without gear fairings):



Old look:



I got in 3.1 more hours of test flying today (low and fast over the playa to break in the new cylinders) and may get some air-to-air shots tomorrow, weather permitting. Only 5 hours required, so I'll be free to travel soon.

Cheers,
greg

Awesome Greg! Glad to see your bird back in the air. Anytime on the help. When you get your 5 hours flown off we will have to go get some $100 pancakes.

Very nice.

I take it gear leg fairings & wheel pants are on the short list? Getting the tailwheel support weldment into your assembled fuselage must have taken some choice words. I know what a pain it was getting it into my quickbuild fuselage, without being concerned about paint or drilling out rivets.

What prompted the switch?

Lars,

Yes, I need to get the fairings redone. Hopefully in the next few weeks. Actually, getting the tail weldment in wasn't as bad as I had expected. Drilling the gear legs was much more stressful (making sure they were aligned properly etc.).

I decided to change because I could! Actually, the prompt came from the fact that I had the engine repair to do anyway plus I fly into some less than perfect strips up north, so I wanted to obviate the nosewheel issue. And flying into those strips will be easier with larger tires (and nosewheel won't allow that). Part of my modification is a longer gear axle that will take 6" wheels, thus able to take a larger tire (without fairings of course). Once that is completed I will probably post a thread. And of course, I wanted less visibility over the cowl

I also, in part, have always wanted to fly a taildragger and figure this will make me a better pilot, at least on or near the ground! Eventually, I am thinking about building a cub clone or Highlander or some such thing for off-field work, and having the taildragger experience will make that transition less daunting.

cheers,
greg

Greg Arehart said:

I also, in part, have always wanted to fly a taildragger and figure this will make me a better pilot, at least on or near the ground! Eventually, I am thinking about building a cub clone or Highlander or some such thing for off-field work, and having the taildragger experience will make that transition less daunting.

cheers,
greg

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Greg,
Out of curiosity, how much Taildragger time did you have before making the conversion? I'd love to have a 9 but With .8 tailwheel time and no idea where to rent one to build time I'm probably going to go with an A model.
Jeff

Jeff,

Simple answer: zero. Probably what prevented me from doing this originally - I figured that the challenge of building an airplane that was sufficiently different from what I knew was enough to dictate not trying to stretch myself far enough to go with a tailwheel also. In retrospect (if I had it to do over again), I would build the taildragger from the start. Kind of like "build the plane you want, not the one others (or your mindset) wants you to build." If you decide early on, it will save you several thousand dollars (and you know how I know that number!).

I took a few hours training in a Decathlon (local) and flew around the pattern for a while in Bob's Super Six (with Bob of course!) before taking mine out. Of course, I do have the advantage of a runway that is 9000 feet long and 150 feet wide, but really, the tailwheel is not that intimidating once you try it. More of a mindset than anything else. I'm certainly not proficient at this point, but am confident that I'm not going to kill myself either!

I would think there is someplace relatively local that you could find instruction. Alternatively, take a week of vacation someplace where you can include several hours of instruction. And there are likely to be RV pilots locally who would at least let you fly along with them (not official training) to get used to the RV. Of course, there also are several RV transition folks listed on Vans website that would be good to take a few hours from anyway.

cheers,
greg

1911pilot said:

Greg,
Out of curiosity, how much Taildragger time did you have before making the conversion? I'd love to have a 9 but With .8 tailwheel time and no idea where to rent one to build time I'm probably going to go with an A model.
Jeff

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As it turns out I happened to stumble on a school at Henderson when I was looking for tailwheel training here in NorCal a couple of days ago. For some reason this outfit showed up in my Google search: http://www.monarchsky.com/

Don't take that as a plug for the school- I know nothing about them, but they do list a tailwheel endorsement as one of their training options. As was pointed out to me, it's worth asking them if getting the endorsement from them means "now we'll rent our Citabria to you", or if that requires more dual

And yeah, you can take away from the above that I don't have a tailwheel endorsement yet either, despite the fact that I'm building an RV-7. I followed the same advice that Greg gave out in his post

Thanks Guys, Thats good food for thought. One of my main worries is flying of my Phase 1 before I'm totally comfortable with the tailwheel. I'm still saving up for my wings on pay as you go build so I've got plenty of time to decide. This really makes me want to plan on a tailwheel or at the very least setup the fuse for both right out of the gate.
Jeff

Jeff,

I agree with Greg 100%; build your dream, the rest will fall into place.

As for doing your 40 hours with limited tailwheel time, while possible, you will have to pick your days. Thus your 40 hours may take longer, in terms of days, to complete.

Greg was lucky in that as a low time TW pilot, the plane was already proven and he only had to focus on the landings and takeoffs, not the aircraft or systems. (Other than breaking in a freshly overhauled engine.)

This would be a case where I would get someone else to do the first five to 10 hours for you, and then you finish the Phase 1.

I have around 100 hrs on my o-320 -9 now, I can tell you it is much easier to land on the mains(wheel land) than to do a 3 point landing,,,just get it close to the runway and "feel" for the ground using very light stick movements. Don't pull back on the stick after it touches the ground. I actually push forward a little to keep it stuck to the runway.
Ease the tail down after touchdown as it slows...it is easy once you figure it out. 3 point landing attempts always end up in a bounce(or 3) for me unless the speed and height above the runway(no more than 6 inches) is perfect at the flare which is extremely difficult to do. It lands nothing like the planes you took taildragger training in. The bigger wing on the 9 is a different animal than the other RV's also. This is just my experience and I cannot speak for everyone but this is what works for me. I took transition training with Jan Bussel in his rv6 taildragger.