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N524AP Takes Flight!

apkp777

apkp777

Well Known Member
Yahooooo!! First flight is over!. That was one of the most stressful ordeals I have ever been through.

First flight had some issues. Shortly after takeoff I realized my airspeed was dead. No worries. As a CFI I train all my students to fly without ANY instrument reference. Still sucks to have any failures. Then 30 minutes in, my wing transition fairing seal let loose and starting pounding on the fuselage. Yikes, that'll get your attention. So it was Pan Pan and precautionary landing with no airspeed indicator. Probably the best landing I have ever done. ASI's are WAY overrated.

Quick trouble shoot of the ASI/Pitot system revealed that the AOA and Pitot lines were crossed when the local Avionics shop did my Pitot/Static Cert. Also a couple of quick pop rivets to the the fairing seal and I was back in the air. Second flight was AWESOME. What an incredible machine. The RV-9 is just as advertise, well balanced, great performance and a pure pleasure to fly! I'll go to 6 Flags if I want to go upside down.

Many thanks to all the VAF folk who put up with my mindless postings and aimless ponderings. This site really helped me to learn and the think through some things I could have not done otherwise.

Especially thanks to my wife Kellie, who "ran the show" for the past couple of years while I was working tirelessly. Also, Jeff Point my EAA chapter Pres. who provided some great guidance. Bill Repucci for answering many many questions and Chip Frietag, Smitty, Mike Shipper and a few others for letting me read their build logs online.

I am going to post (whether you like it or not) in detail all my thoughts (and now results) of building an RV. Give me a couple of days. Hey, I got a plane to fly!
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bsacks05 said:
Hats off to you Tony! The RV9 is a fantastic machine. :D

(and they fly upside down, too)
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Ditto for me Tony. You did a great job and we all look forward to hearing more about your impressions.

(and don't tell anyone they can fly upside down, Van's doesn't like to hear that!)
 
Fantastic

Congrats. I have been following your progress and hope to do the same with my -6 very soon.
 
WELL DONE!

Tony:
Great to see another 9 in the air. The more you fly it, the more you're going to love it - especially cross country and instrument flight. If you're ever around SE Michigan, look me up. The adventure begins.
Terry, CFI
RV-9A N323TP
 
apkp777 said:
Thanks Bruce, I don't know if you know this, but it was your plane that made me decide on the -9.
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It's good to be a positive influence on someone other than my kids!

N659DB is approaching 500hrs and I am still lovin' every minute. Before my first flight I had about 150 hrs TT as a pilot. The -9 has taught me precision and finesse and has saved me from some dumb@@@ mistakes.

Congrats again!
 
First flight

Wonderful work Tony. Enjoy phase one and keep those posts up. Hope to see your plane soon! - and someday get a ride.
 
Part I - Flight Testing Report

Thanks all for you feedback. Much appreciated.

I thought I would give an initial report on my first 5 hours flying.

First, let me say that in all my years as an A&P I never saw a plane come out of the factory or heavy maintenance that did not have squawks. Mine is no different.

Taxiing the -9 is very cool. Definitely has a sort of Hod Rod/Low Rider feel to it. However, the forward visibility has been a little bit of a challenge. I am still waiting for my Classic Aero interior to arrive, which will be a bit taller than the yard furniture pads I am using now. Also, the bell style tailwheel I ordered will help as well.

The takeoff roll, or should I say the lack thereof, is awesome. This IS a short field machine. Yesterday I took off in about 3-400 feet and by the end of our 5000 ft runway I was at 2900 ft. And that was just a Vy climb. OAT was 80 8kt headwind.

The plane handles beautifully. Perfect control. The -7 I did my transition training in was much more twitchy. It was an awesome plane, don't get me wrong. Just slightly different.

Cruise numbers won't start rolling in for a while. I have been running it pretty low, high power and no leaning. Been seeing CHTS 350-420 mostly. Oil temps 205-210. I am pretty satisfied with that. The CHT's are out of balance, as I get into flight testing I will work on that. As you might expect #1 and #2 are cooler. Airspeed was a bit low at first. Yesterday I climbed to 4500 and at about 70% power, no leaning, no gear fairings I was right at 140 kts TAS. My fuel consumption may not be accurate as it was indicating 12 gph. That may be a bit high. I will do some testing on that.

Landing is pretty straight forward. It does require that you stay ahead of it. Like all fast planes you have to plan your descents in advance. Those that are transitioning from 172's and Pipers. I would recommend that you enter the pattern at FULL power, then practice slowing it down. Up until now all my approaches have been high and fast. This is on purpose as I have not determined the installation error of my airspeed indicator yet. Once I start doing slow flight, stalls and speed tests, I will adjust accordingly. Still I haven't had a problem landing. Just have to let the speed bleed off. It's not like a Cherokee when you come in hot, it'll float half way down the runway. This thing will slow and with it's short field performance still lands in the first couple hundred feet. I'd say its and honest airplane to land. You can screw it up. Don't rush it let it land when its ready and don't over control. I prefer full stall landings and haven't done many wheel landings yet. I will work on landing techniques later. Because of the high nose, I have really had to use my side view for landing. Something I admit I don't have a ton of experience with.
 
Part II - Flight Testing Report

Part I was all the good stuff. Now the depressing stuff. I do have some bugs to work out.

1. One of my brake lines is seeping. FIX - I ordered all new braided stainless lines.

2. I don't use brakes very much but I had one hang up. It appears that the right pedal didn't fully return. FIX - I ordered return springs and will check the bolts for overtorquing.

3. RH brake is now chirping. Probably glazed from dragging. FIX - May have to resurface the rotor.

4. MAJOR problem with the Skyview. I won't report just yet on this as it is unclear what the cause is. Once that is determined I will advise. As I mentioned in my initial post, when I had my pitot system certified the AOA and Pitot lines were reversed. As a result I had no airspeed on my first flight (that was fun, not) It's possible this affected the ADAHRS. I will give a full report later on what took place. Dynon is great and they will get to the bottom of it.

5. My SL30 Nav is intermittent. I have my antenna installed under the rear emp. It's possible there is some interference. I am not sure. FIX - Check antenna coax, install temporary antenna (in the cabin). Try to isolate.

6. Carb temp sensor not even close. FIX - check wiring, get new sensor.

7. Fuel Pressure - indicates high 10psi. FIX - Check sensor

8. Fuel Flow - High FIX - Adjust installation

9. Tip up is leaking and whistling. - FIX - try a different seal. At last resort use a TARGA.

10. RH strobe inop FIX- Pull wing tip and test.

11. This one I am really embarrassed about. Electric Trim Reversed. One day I go to the garage and hit the trim switch and thought, whoops it's going the wrong way. So I reversed the wires and indicator and went on. It was right originally. FIX- don't work on the plane until 3rd cup of coffee. Then swap wires back to original orientation.
 
Looks like your plate is full of a lot of little stuff, Tony, not a big deal.

Congrats on completing and flying the machine. It is a monumental achievement, you've joined a very exclusive club.
 
Congrats Tony!!! I've been having a ball with my -9 as well. Been stretching her legs a bit and flying x-country legs approximately 45 minutes in length. Took my 16 year old daughter to Pilot Pete's in Schaumburg, IL last night. Great food! But even better to finally have the opportunity to share the experience of flight with her. She LOVES it!! Hope you get the same satisfaction and pride out of your project. Fly safe!!!
 
Part III - Making the -9 decision

Recently I was asked "why did you build a -9 and not a -7?" It was a honest question and having just spent some time in a -7 it made me question my own decision. Two years ago when I made the decision (with my wife's blessing) to build an RV, I went to Van's website to see what my choices were. I hadn't yet discovered this forum and only knew one person who had built an RV. Back in 2000 I was able to catch a ride in his RV -6. I was tremendously impressed and thought the -6 would be a great choice of kits. Looking at Van's website I realized there were lot's of choices.

I started flying when I was in high school, and shortly after graduation I had my first introduction to aerobatics. On a primary training flight with a new instructor in a standard C152 the instructor looked over and said "you wanna go upside down?". I remember my exact words IS IT SAFE? He responded that he was an aerobatics instructor and it would be fine. So first we did a couple of spins and then a couple of barrel rolls. We initiated a loop, but stopped at the top and spun out of it. All of the maneuvers were pretty cool at the time. However, deep inside I realized that it wasn't the type of flying I wanted to do. I really didn't like it.

So now making a decision on a plane, aerobatics wasn't a big factor. What I did want was a good cross country airplane with a stable IFR platform with good handling. Being a CFI and having two children who both would like to get a pilot's license, I wanted a plane that would be good for them as well. The -9 seemed to stick out as the best plane to fit MY requirements. Initially I was thinking a -9a, but the look of a taildragger really appeals to ME. Plus the -9 is slightly faster than the -9a.

So on or around 8/1/08 I ordered my -9 emp kit.
 
Tread drift warning

Tony,

My question is why do so many people build a -7(A) and not a -9(A)?

The performance difference in minimal and what gets me is how many people build a -7(A) and never so much as roll it. It would seem to me that those people are the perfect candidate for the -9(A).

The argument the -7(A) is stronger is BS because most everyone has spent time flying a Cessna or Piper with the same G limitations as the -9(A) and never thought about it.

Go figure.
 
Thread drift warning continued

A few years back at Oshkosh I was talking w/ Tom Green about this very thing. I mentioned that, in my experience and opinion, about half of the people who were building 6, 7 and 8s would really be better served by building a 9/ 9A. He kind of chucked and responded, "at the factory, we put that number closer to 90%."
 
sprucemoose said:
A few years back at Oshkosh I was talking w/ Tom Green about this very thing. I mentioned that, in my experience and opinion, about half of the people who were building 6, 7 and 8s would really be better served by building a 9/ 9A. He kind of chucked and responded, "at the factory, we put that number closer to 90%."
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And I would have been one of those who have aerobatic capability but never done any.
 
N941WR said:
Tony,

My question is why do so many people build a -7(A) and not a -9(A)?

The performance difference in minimal and what gets me is how many people build a -7(A) and never so much as roll it. It would seem to me that those people are the perfect candidate for the -9(A).

The argument the -7(A) is stronger is BS because most everyone has spent time flying a Cessna or Piper with the same G limitations as the -9(A) and never thought about it.

Go figure.
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Even though I have only 5 hours on my -9, and only done a few steep turns thus far, I can say that the airplane is HIGHLY maneuverable. It has fantastic control and not even a close comparison to any Cessna or Piper I have ever flown. I really think if you are going to do hard aerobatics AND you install an inverted oil/fuel system with parachutes to boot, then the -7 would be a great choice. Otherwise, the -9(a) will do just about anything you want it to do.
 
Part IV - Flight Testing Report

Today I was able to accomplish a few things. First, I tried out my new Bell style tailwheel. It's a huge improvement over the stock Van's. FWD visibility is greatly improved as is ground handling. Van's should ditch their design. Second, I was able to test the crosswind capability a bit. I have pretty strict personal minimums and I am still limiting my crosswinds to 7kts. Before today I wasn't able to test in those conditions. It handled so well I really found it unnoticeable. The new tailwheel helps in the 3-point landing as it's not such a "deep" attitude. Also, I was able to test some of the structural integrity. At about 120kts I hit, what I would describe as moderate turbulence. Let me tell you, in an unproven aircraft, that's about all I would want to experience. As expected the plane handled it just fine. The pilot suffered a bit of distress.

I was able to install the return springs on the brakes. I have yet to replace all the lines.

I have a few items on the "short" list to address. 1. Whistle sound from tip up. 2. Brake lines 3. R&R the ADAHRS. and 4. Work on high fuel pressure.
 
Part V - Flight Testing Report

Yesterday I reached 10.1 on the tach and it was time to do my first oil change. I considered this my first maintenance milestone. I haven't cut open the filter yet, but I did filter the oil from the sump and nothing unusual appeared. No, bits of safety wire, rod nuts, shop rag remnants, nothing but oil, precious crude.

The first ten hours were really spent getting comfortable. If something catastrophic was going to happen it was likely to happen during the first ten hours. High oil temps had my attention more than anything. Although now (around 12 hrs tach time) it seems to have stabilized and is coming down. I am usually running in the 190's, but in the climb or running hard, it'll go over 200. My plan is to wait till I have about 25 hours on it before I do anything drastic (install louvers). I still have a little cowling work to do that I think will help to bring them down. Also, the gear fairings should speed me up a bit and that should provide more cooling air.

The airplane really performs well. Today we had 80 OAT and a little crosswind (20 degrees at 11kts). I saw 2350 FPM briefly at 75kts. Normally I climb at 90 kts at about 1700 FPM until 500 ft then 100 kts at 1000 FPM. It's clear that this is a great climbing aircraft. Albeit that it is light with a flight test weight of about 1469 lbs.

Cruise performance is preliminary at best. Since I don't have the gear fairings installed I am not paying too much attention to it. Still it does seem a bit slow. I was hoping for about 140kts in my current configuration, I am seeing more like 130kts. I am not complaining. It'll still get me to where I want to go. I will start to get the gear faired this weekend and hopefully have some new numbers soon.

Again I am going to say that this is an "honest" airplane. You do have to fly it. While it is REALLY stable and the trim system works perfectly, I still find that my pattern and landings leave something to be desired. I have botched a couple landings. It remains very pitch sensitive in ground effect. I have greased quite a few, but bounced a couple as well. Crosswinds are no more complicated than a Cessna, but pitch sensitivity is more of a challenge.

For the next 20 hours or so my plan is to complete my POH. I am waiting till the gear fairings are done (hopefully this weekend) to get going with that.

All of my squawks have been fixed except for my intermittent Nav reception. I will work on that after the gear fairings.

My interior is supposed to be delivered on Monday. That'll be really nice. The lawn chair cushions are getting pretty old.


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Part VI - Flight Testing Continues

Continuing to fly almost daily. The hobbs is at 25.9. Had an issue yesterday with one of my EGT's running wild. I re torqued all my intake hardware, checked the plugs and found one plug wire that appeared to not be fully seated. It flew fine today. #3 still leads the rest on initial power reduction. I will keep an eye on it. It's well in the "green" at about 1400-1450, but the others are about 1200 or so.

I found myself struggling to find a good approach configuration. A poll here on VAF helped. Several good ideas and I have played with them all. Right now here is what I am doing. 1600 RPM on downwind. AS 75kts. A-Beam, power to 1200, wait for Vfe and then full flaps, pitch and trim at 65kts. 45 to the threshold turn base and shoot for 60kts on short final. Landing is not bad. As with any tailwheel you have to keep your feet active. It handles crosswinds very well, but you really have to "plant" the tailwheel. Recovery from botched landing is really basic, add power and in less than 1 second you're flying again. Of course my botched landing practice was all on purpose right! :)

I was able to get the gear leg and wheel fairings installed. On the first flight after the plane did an very nice left turn the whole time. To bad some destinations require right turns. Anyway, I landed and found one of the gear leg fairings was clocked wrong. There's no real science to installing them, seems like you just gotta tweak it. Once they were aligned it now flies true. And faster! I picked up about 9kts. I still don't have the transition fairings installed, I expect they'll give me a couple more. I now can fly at about 145 TAS at 8000 DA. That at 65% power and 9gph.

I connected my manifold pressure to my P-mags. Immediately I noticed the engine was smoother and quieter. It seems my fuel flow is down about .8 or so.

Now that the fairings are done, I will get into full fledged flight test mode and start dialing maneuvers and performance.

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Brantel said:
Tony,

How you liking the Skyview??? It looks great!!!
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Loving Skyview. I had a couple of bugs initially. No problems now. I am anxious for the next software release.

I am also really anxious to get out of my 40 nm sand "box".
 
Phase I complete!

Just a final post in this thread to say that I finished my Phase I flight testing. Last Wednesday I crossed the 40 hour mark. It took about a 30 days to fly off the time. Although I have to say that I probably still consider myself in "flight testing phase 1.5". There's lots I didn't discover about the flight envelop in the the 40 hours. Those of you that have read my posts know that I had oil temp issues for 10-15 hours. That really consumed much of my attention early on. Then it was fiddling with gear leg fairings, that was another 5 hours. 20 hours were spent figuring out why I can't fly my RV like a Cessna. The balance of the hours was spent doing stalls, steep turns and looking out the canopy while flying a 40nm arc across SE Wisconsin.

Thursday I was able to take my first passenger up. Kurt N., my flight instructor. I wanted him to critique me and help me make some adjustments if necessary. He loved the plane. Friday I took Ken K. (RV9) up and flew for several hours (transition training sort of). Saturday was spent with another RV9 guy. Then later that day took my son up. Today he and I went to our first fly-in (friends of East Troy). It was great. Aaron loved it. We went out and I gave him some of his first dual in the plane. He just turned 15 and now has about 2.2 hrs in his log book. I am making him fly 2x the hours on flight sim (I think its valuable) for every one hour actual. I hope to have him solo on his 16th birthday and get his private on 17th.

All in all the plane is performing VERY well. I still have a laundry list of things that I want to redo, but for now I am just going to fly. Winter comes early and with vengeance here in WI and there'll be plenty of time for "maintenance" then.

I hope to get it painted in January. At some point I may try to get a LODA to provide transition training. I am not sure that I want the liability for that? For now I'll go pro rata and do it for fun!

My wife and I have several destinations on our calender. She loves to fly with me and we plan to go up to Fish Creek in Door County, WI sometime this week for lunch. Other destinations this year we hope to make:

Omaha (Friends)
LOE (RV gathering)
Carolinas / Georgia / Florida (look for a retirement destination)
Vermont (this fall)
Indianapolis (friends)
 
Oh, and one more thing. I just bought 7 cases of Wisconsin's fines ale. If you are up at OSH, look me up I'd love to offer you one.

I will be somewhere in Scholler (maybe in the ditch next to HWY 41).
 
apkp777 said:
Oh, and one more thing. I just bought 7 cases of Wisconsin's fines ale. If you are up at OSH, look me up I'd love to offer you one.

I will be somewhere in Scholler (maybe in the ditch next to HWY 41).
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That's exactly where we camped last year. Save me an ale.

Nora, T, and I spent the afternoon shopping in preperation for OSH. That shopping included some ale as well.
 
Great report, Tony ...

... and thanks for the update ! It sure helps the "incentive" to hear great Nine and Nine-A reports from those flying. Hope to see you at OSH. I'll be there Wed thru Friday.
 
Wow! Are you climbing at 500fpm at the same time?
I like the 178mph ground speed with a 10 knot headwind. Not bad for a climb prop.
 
chipf said:
Wow! Are you climbing at 500fpm at the same time?
I like the 178mph ground speed with a 10 knot headwind. Not bad for a climb prop.
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Chip,

The "500" above the VSI is the preselect bug. The actual VS is 0 and would be indicated in the marker currently residing at 7030. The climb prop probably gives me the same TAS but the difference is the 2880 rpm. I'd rather be at 2700 at WOT. Catto is going to repitch it for me this fall if I can ever stop flying for 10 days to ship it out to him.

You're gonna love your -9A. I think its an amazing airplane and I could be happier and have no regrets.

You are making great progress. You'll be flying in no time. Keep it up!
 
Father/Daughter

Those of you who have teen age daughters will appreciate this more than others. At 17 my daughter is quickly growing up.

Today we flew together for the first time in my RV and had a great time.

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I AM A PLANE by Kaylie Phillips (Tony's daughter)

Depending on the time of year
the type of weather
or the hour of departure
you're view will always be different.

A snapshot in time is only that,
one part of the world around you.

Your heart races every time,
because you helped build this,
will it last?

The horizon line is like a picture in the distance
and the runway is your future.

You need to race down because everything is specific with time and speed.

Finally the wings catch air and off you go.

The people below grow smaller and smaller,
until they cannot be seen

A glance to the left and your sight is covered in white.

A glance to the right displays clear sky and checkered ground.

You cannot help but be enamored by the views.

This is the world as it should be seen,
through the wide vision of a pilot.

Through the eyes of a runner taking in everything,
and through the pen of a creator,
who has nothing pre determined.
 
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Paint

Well, after about a year of flying and over 170 hours on the hobbs, N524AP is getting ready for paint! I will be using Gene Mason of North Carolina to paint the plane. I thought about doing it myself, but figured I'd surely be in over my head. I will fly the plane down to him next week and hopefully he will be done just before OSH.

I may be looking for someone to fly it back to Wisconsin/OSH from NC.

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Well, I dropped the plane off on Friday with Gene Mason in Wadesboro, NC. He's a super nice guy and the glass air that he had just painted that was still in his hangar was flawless. I am told that it'll "take about 3 weeks". Oshkosh is in 4 weeks, so if all goes well, I'll fly in for my first time.


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