It Is DONE!
After 3 years and 2500 hours of work...
...Presenting Rudi's RV 'Zulu-7' i.e. ZU-LUZ
Thanks to my wonderful wife Anel, my endearing daughter Anri and my AP inspector Steve Boshoff!
SHE FLIES!!!!
Dolph and Chalkie came out in their RV6's for the test flight early Thursday 3 July. Both Dolph and Chalkie is very active in the RV Community in South Africa. Chalkie even flew the Yellow RV6 shown below from SA to Oskosh and back.
Test pilot briefing Checking out the instrument and switch controls etc.
LIFT-OFF good feeling (but ugly no wheel pants..)
This is what it is all about
: One BIG RV-Grin!
TEST FLIGHT #1:
Chalkie flew for about 1 hour, flat out above the airfield then come down. (Remember wioth new motor on highveld in South Africa 6000ft ASL one needs flat out to develop enough power for it to run-in i.e. 75% @ 7500ft). What A feeling when Chalkie reported all is fine, no problems a couple of minutes into the first flight!
Back on the ground we pulled the cowls and inspected, no leaks, no problems or 'serious' issues. We made adjustments the Throttle Arm to allow it to idle lower, and put a bit of sponge in the MAP pipe to stop it jumping all over the place. Like every other RV that is build right, it has a bit of heavy wing that we will sort out during the next 25 hours. CHT on first flight high as expected for new motor. We ran it without wheel pants and fairings to increase drag for new motor to work harder on highveld.
TEST FLIGHT #2
Cowls Back on, and we went out, me essential crew monitoring engine instruments closely, once again flat out for 2 hours. The 100km proving flight radius CAA gave me is just too small. We were all over Special Rules East. CHT starting to come down, but still high. Back home done inspection everything is fine, nothing to do or fix.
PROVING FLIGHT #3
On Friday Allen came to assist, once again, 2 hours flat out, one person watching aircraft vitals other flying special rules east all over. (I need a bigger area!) CHT's coming down nicely. Back home I pulled the cowls, inspected, everything fine, no leaks, but noticed the oil dip stick pipe slightly loose. Pulled the dip stick, resealed it, tighten up, and lock wire it. Pulled the floor boards, removed the aileron trim so that it does not interfere with our efforts to 'fix' the slightly heavy wing. Inspected the control column, all fine, pulled the rear baggage panels inspected elevator bellcrank connections all fine.
PROVING FLIGHT #4
Cowls back on and Allen came to help some more on Sunday, 1.3 hours. CHT's down nicely so the motor is starting to settle. We started exploring slow flight characteristics, the stall speeds, stall recoveries all as expected and nothing out of the ordinary. We also started to 'load' the airframe, at one stage we pulled 2G's, during our test.
Then we started to do some circuit and bumps for me to start my conversion, only managed 3, before we ran out of time.
So far 6.5 hours since test flight. It's a lekka plane! (lekka = South African Afrikaans word meaning wonderfull) Coming from a Microlight and Rotax world it is a bit overwhelming and you get sensory overload, new airplane, new motor, new engine procedures, new instruments, but I am starting to feel more comfortable in it with every minute that pass with me in the seat.
http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...&postcount=320
My panel proved to be very functional...the clean simplicity makes it a plus. The 2 Dynons with switching and split screen functionality proved very valuable during this time. Both Pilots configure what they want to see independantly. Allen likes it so much, he is getting an itch to redo his ;-)
I can't wait to get more flight time between Allen and Chalkie's busy schedules.
A BIG thank you goes to Chalkie for the Test Flight, Allen for helping me with the Conversion, and Dolph that came out to witness the test flight.
Till Later,
Regards
Rudi
Done and First Flight: Rudi's RV ZULU-7
nice ...
Linear Mode
