pmccoy
Well Known Member
Phase 1 flight test period has been completed. Yes, I am out of the box. For the first 40 hours of flight, I have been restricted to an area between Victorville and Barstow out over the Mojave Desert in Southern California. It?s hot. It?s bumpy. There is nothing to look at but sand. I am glad to be past the phase one restriction, as it was actually getting boring just flying around in circles and do nothing but passing time and of course lots and lots of flight testing.
On the flight testing front, here is a partial list of the kind of things I was repeatedly testing; Slow Flight, Turns, Climbs, Descents, Stalls in several different configurations, gliding, fuel burn, leaning and economy RPM settings, speed tests, gross weight testing (actually added 50 pound bags of gravel until I was at max gross weight) and more. Flight testing was very helpful in getting to know my new plane. I think one of the lessons that really stood out for me was the gross weight tests. After adding each 50 bag of gravel, I went out and did stalls. Watching the stall speed increase with each additional pound of weight was great testing and very eye opening. It also made me rely on my Lift Reserve Indicator. As the stall speed increased with weight, the LRI still showed the same position to indicate a stall. When the plane is clean, power off stalls happen at the intersection of the Red and White lines on the LRI. When you add flaps, the stall happens a couple of degrees into the Red area on the LRI. Gross weight stalls were 6-7 knots faster then solo. But the LRI was a constant. I like it!
Here are a couple exciting photos from my phase 1 box....
On the flight testing front, here is a partial list of the kind of things I was repeatedly testing; Slow Flight, Turns, Climbs, Descents, Stalls in several different configurations, gliding, fuel burn, leaning and economy RPM settings, speed tests, gross weight testing (actually added 50 pound bags of gravel until I was at max gross weight) and more. Flight testing was very helpful in getting to know my new plane. I think one of the lessons that really stood out for me was the gross weight tests. After adding each 50 bag of gravel, I went out and did stalls. Watching the stall speed increase with each additional pound of weight was great testing and very eye opening. It also made me rely on my Lift Reserve Indicator. As the stall speed increased with weight, the LRI still showed the same position to indicate a stall. When the plane is clean, power off stalls happen at the intersection of the Red and White lines on the LRI. When you add flaps, the stall happens a couple of degrees into the Red area on the LRI. Gross weight stalls were 6-7 knots faster then solo. But the LRI was a constant. I like it!
Here are a couple exciting photos from my phase 1 box....
