...emailed to me by Mark
Well folks, N2D is now officially an AIR-plane. The FAA signed me off last
Friday and yesterday morning (Wed. Feb 15) I woke up to calm winds and I
said to myself, it's time to go flying. I get out to the airport, push it
out of the hangar, do a careful preflight, and can't think of any excuse
not to go. Don my nomex flight suit and helmet and strap myself in.
"Clear Prop!" Engine lights off and the plane comes alive with a brief
shudder and rumble as the vibration ripples through the aluminum airframe.
Taxi out to the end of the East Tees and dial up ground control: "Cedar
Rapids Ground, RV November Two Delta, Experimental...." Feels good to say
that. Tell them I'm ready to do first flight and want to depart Three-One
and circle the airport to 4000'. No problemo. After the run-up I call
Tower and they give me "Position and Hold Three-One, regional jet landing
Niner."
I move out onto the runway, line up with the centerline and wait. I
haven't really been apprehensive about flying this bird but as I sit there
for a few moments, it sorta hits me that I am about to take off in an
airplane that has never flown before....that arrived as boxes of parts and
I assembled in my garage. I think to myself, ya know, this is a little bit
crazy... My thoughts are interrupted by the Tower calling out "RV Two
Delta, cleared for takeoff..." I take a deep breath and push the throttle
forward very slowly. I don't bother looking much at the airspeed, since I
don't know if it will be accurate. I just wait until it has that 'ready to
fly' sorta feeling and pull back gently on the stick. And up we go. I
realize I still don't have full power in so I open it up all the way and
feel the constant-speed prop bite in and lunge skyward. Now I am just
hanging on for dear life and hoping nothing bad happens until I can get a
little altitude and catch my breath.
Well, nothing bad happens and eventually my brain catches up with the
airplane. Before I know it I am pushing the nose over at 4K.' My CHT's
arre getting a bit high from the climb but nothing out of limits. I wiggle
the stick side-to-side a bit. The wings rock back and forth briskly in
perfect synch with the stick. Gotta love that fighter-like control
response. Flies like an RV....
I circle lazily above the airport for a while, adjusting my oil temp
control and keeping a close eye on all the engine vital signs. Everything
looking good. I peer down on the poor schmucks in the regional jets
landing below me and try not to feel smug. Ok, back to the task at
hand....need to do a few stalls just to see if my airspeed is working right
at low speeds. I head northwest out over the open farmland. After some
more maneuvers I pull the power back slowly to idle....nose coming
up....watching the ASI. Slight buffet and clean break at 50 kts with flaps
up. Try another one with full flaps...breaks right at 45 kts. Beautiful.
Power back in to 24-squared....gotta run it hard for proper break-in. I
glance at the flight timer and am surprised to see that an hour has gone by
already.
Time to head back to the aerodrome. I check my six for enemy fighters and,
seeing none, key the mic and tell Cedar Rapids I am ready to return. They
come back with "Wind 040 at 9, left base for runway niner, cleared to
land." I run through my landing checklist. Grip the stick a bit tighter.
Realize that I'm getting close to the field and am still way too high.
Pull the power back to idle and feel the deceleration as the constant-speed
prop and short stubby wings do their thing....get 'er slowed down enough to
throw out the flaps, turn final, add a touch of power back in to maintain
70 kts and arrest the high sink rate. A bit of turbulence tossing me
around. Nearing the ground now...power all the way off....flare....and
touchdown. Whew! Not a greaser but not bad either. Big relief as I roll
down the runway, all in one piece...
Taxi up to my hangar, shut her down and just sit there for a while letting
it all soak in. Quiet satisfaction. Engine making that tick, tick, tick
sound as it cools. Lovely airplane aroma of heat, oil and avgas. Nobody's
around for picture taking, back-slapping or champagne but that is fine.
Some guy changing a light bulb outside the hangar comes by and says "nice
airplane!". I don't tell him I have just completed its first
flight....just smile and say "thanks."
Speaking of thanks, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the following:
God, for blessing me with the freedom and resources to make this
dream come true
My patient and supportive wife Kathleen--and my kids--who have
sacrificed a lot to allow me to do this project
Alan Kritzman for all his help, encouragement (prodding?) and
camaraderie
Jerry Esquenazi (T-6A IP at Moody AFB) and Karl Heidrich (Wright-Patt
AFB) for going out of their way to help me duplicate the beautiful paint
scheme on T-6A
Everett Coleman for kindly donating his way-cool short N-number to me
Everybody at Vans Aircraft for the great design and support
Countless others--too many to name--from EAA Chapter 33 and the sport
aviation community who have shared their time, hardware, advice and
lessons-learned, resulting in a much better airplane than I could have
built without them!
Hope I can get lots of good flying wx in the weeks/months ahead....I have
38.7 hours to go before I can get out of my test area...
--Mark Navratil
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
RV-8A (s/n 80583) N2D, 1.3 hours flying!!
<menavrat 'at' rockwellcollins.com>
Well folks, N2D is now officially an AIR-plane. The FAA signed me off last
Friday and yesterday morning (Wed. Feb 15) I woke up to calm winds and I
said to myself, it's time to go flying. I get out to the airport, push it
out of the hangar, do a careful preflight, and can't think of any excuse
not to go. Don my nomex flight suit and helmet and strap myself in.
"Clear Prop!" Engine lights off and the plane comes alive with a brief
shudder and rumble as the vibration ripples through the aluminum airframe.
Taxi out to the end of the East Tees and dial up ground control: "Cedar
Rapids Ground, RV November Two Delta, Experimental...." Feels good to say
that. Tell them I'm ready to do first flight and want to depart Three-One
and circle the airport to 4000'. No problemo. After the run-up I call
Tower and they give me "Position and Hold Three-One, regional jet landing
Niner."
I move out onto the runway, line up with the centerline and wait. I
haven't really been apprehensive about flying this bird but as I sit there
for a few moments, it sorta hits me that I am about to take off in an
airplane that has never flown before....that arrived as boxes of parts and
I assembled in my garage. I think to myself, ya know, this is a little bit
crazy... My thoughts are interrupted by the Tower calling out "RV Two
Delta, cleared for takeoff..." I take a deep breath and push the throttle
forward very slowly. I don't bother looking much at the airspeed, since I
don't know if it will be accurate. I just wait until it has that 'ready to
fly' sorta feeling and pull back gently on the stick. And up we go. I
realize I still don't have full power in so I open it up all the way and
feel the constant-speed prop bite in and lunge skyward. Now I am just
hanging on for dear life and hoping nothing bad happens until I can get a
little altitude and catch my breath.
Well, nothing bad happens and eventually my brain catches up with the
airplane. Before I know it I am pushing the nose over at 4K.' My CHT's
arre getting a bit high from the climb but nothing out of limits. I wiggle
the stick side-to-side a bit. The wings rock back and forth briskly in
perfect synch with the stick. Gotta love that fighter-like control
response. Flies like an RV....
I circle lazily above the airport for a while, adjusting my oil temp
control and keeping a close eye on all the engine vital signs. Everything
looking good. I peer down on the poor schmucks in the regional jets
landing below me and try not to feel smug. Ok, back to the task at
hand....need to do a few stalls just to see if my airspeed is working right
at low speeds. I head northwest out over the open farmland. After some
more maneuvers I pull the power back slowly to idle....nose coming
up....watching the ASI. Slight buffet and clean break at 50 kts with flaps
up. Try another one with full flaps...breaks right at 45 kts. Beautiful.
Power back in to 24-squared....gotta run it hard for proper break-in. I
glance at the flight timer and am surprised to see that an hour has gone by
already.
Time to head back to the aerodrome. I check my six for enemy fighters and,
seeing none, key the mic and tell Cedar Rapids I am ready to return. They
come back with "Wind 040 at 9, left base for runway niner, cleared to
land." I run through my landing checklist. Grip the stick a bit tighter.
Realize that I'm getting close to the field and am still way too high.
Pull the power back to idle and feel the deceleration as the constant-speed
prop and short stubby wings do their thing....get 'er slowed down enough to
throw out the flaps, turn final, add a touch of power back in to maintain
70 kts and arrest the high sink rate. A bit of turbulence tossing me
around. Nearing the ground now...power all the way off....flare....and
touchdown. Whew! Not a greaser but not bad either. Big relief as I roll
down the runway, all in one piece...
Taxi up to my hangar, shut her down and just sit there for a while letting
it all soak in. Quiet satisfaction. Engine making that tick, tick, tick
sound as it cools. Lovely airplane aroma of heat, oil and avgas. Nobody's
around for picture taking, back-slapping or champagne but that is fine.
Some guy changing a light bulb outside the hangar comes by and says "nice
airplane!". I don't tell him I have just completed its first
flight....just smile and say "thanks."
Speaking of thanks, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the following:
God, for blessing me with the freedom and resources to make this
dream come true
My patient and supportive wife Kathleen--and my kids--who have
sacrificed a lot to allow me to do this project
Alan Kritzman for all his help, encouragement (prodding?) and
camaraderie
Jerry Esquenazi (T-6A IP at Moody AFB) and Karl Heidrich (Wright-Patt
AFB) for going out of their way to help me duplicate the beautiful paint
scheme on T-6A
Everett Coleman for kindly donating his way-cool short N-number to me
Everybody at Vans Aircraft for the great design and support
Countless others--too many to name--from EAA Chapter 33 and the sport
aviation community who have shared their time, hardware, advice and
lessons-learned, resulting in a much better airplane than I could have
built without them!
Hope I can get lots of good flying wx in the weeks/months ahead....I have
38.7 hours to go before I can get out of my test area...
--Mark Navratil
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
RV-8A (s/n 80583) N2D, 1.3 hours flying!!
<menavrat 'at' rockwellcollins.com>
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