atreff
Well Known Member
I've flown off 10 hours in my Fastback 8. Danny King has urged me to put my impressions down here. If you read my first flight post, you'll see that on the subsequent flights, time was compressed and I had a tough time taking data with all the new sensations happening so quickly.
In hours 0-5, takeoffs happened so quickly that mentally I had my hands full, and something as simple as noting liftoff speed was a challenge.
After I had faith in my engine installation, I stopped orbiting the airport and did some airwork: stalls-power off, on, clean, dirty, accelerated. I also did some airspeed calibration runs and confirmed that my Pitot/static system is off by approx 9mph (indicates fast). I also did stability tests, etc. All were uneventful.
I've had a few squawks, but no show stoppers. The flaps quit yesterday, I'll have to get on that. I solved an oil leak that both Danny (when he owned my engine) and I were stumped on. It was the 90 degree oil fitting for the prop governor line at the forward crankcase. That was cool.
After the usual air work was flown off, at hour 6 I started doing pattern work in earnest. This little plane amazes me. It climbs at 3000fpm, and I'm at pattern altitude in a downwind before I reach the departure end of my field. I've been climbing so quickly that the tower routinely loses sight of me and has started asking me to call midfield, whether climbing on the upwind or roaring on the downwind. I can put the prop fwd, milk the throttle back in a continuous descending turn to final, going from 170mph on downwind to 90 over the numbers without much effort. These planes are truely amazing. I have had rides in the back of a few, but until I flew my ship solo, I really had no idea of how capable and fun they are!
My landings have been good then bad, then really bad, then so-so....no real consistency. I've discovered how to save a botched wheel landing with a 3-point, that's my escape route. Also, these little rockets of ours have such a high power to weight ratio that if I really screw up a landing, I can stroke the throttle and that prop will pull me out of any corner I've painted myself into...provided I have the right rudder in to counteract that torque roll.
My home base tower seems like they're having as much fun as I am. They suggest a break pattern more times than I ask for...and they prefer a midflield break-so it's right in front of the tower. Ever since I included them in the test flight and stopped afterwards to say Thank You, they've been my biggest fans. They seem to have my RV's capabilities dialed in, knowing I can expedite approaches and climbs, so put me in opposite traffic pattern and weave me in between departures and slower moving planes in the opposite pattern.
Today was varsity in the landing dept. When I took off the wind was 10 degrees right of the runway at 12. No problem. I went off, did some airwork, and a few rolls. When 19 miles out, I picked up the ATIS, it was still the same direction, but was blowing 12 gusting to 18. I decided to press on. As I got closer, approach turned me over to tower and the wind was now 20 gusting to 28.
Hummmmmm.... I decided that since this is a 150' wide runway, and it's 10,000 feet long, I'd fly the approach and if I didn't like it, I'd go around for another look. Heck, I had another 2 hours of fuel, so no worries.
I fought the gusty controls down final, but to my amazement, this little plane has great control authority all the way down below stall. I had it set up for a wheelie, upwind wing down, upwind wheel touched, then bounced Doh! (I didn't put forward pressure quickly enough) so up we went, I was going to firewall the throttle, but thought better of it, gave a 'scoche' of power, flattenend her out and put her down on the mains and stuck it there. No one was more amazed than me. This plane is the best taildragger I've ever flown in the wind. I love this plane!
I'm not tailwheel Jedi, I only have 50 hours and that's in slower high wing aircraft. Quite a few hours inthe back of Danny's 'Beautiful Doll' but none of that landing. Saturday, winds were calm and I was landing really badly. Today, it was blowing and gusty-but the direction was constant. Had the wind direction been varying +/- 30 degrees, I'd have stayed in the hangar. But, it was gusty from the same direction. I love this plane. After flying approx 30 T&G's all day, driving home on the freeway, I noticed that I was driving a tad fast-80mph. I guess my sight picture was set at RV speeds.
I also got some formation practice in. Saturday, Jerry Esquanazi (Squaz) stopped by in his beautiful crafted RV-8. We're both IO-360 and CS props, so we're a tight match for 'form. It was fun to finally be on the stick in formation and flying the break with another RV! Over coffee yesterday, Jerry schooled me in the perfect wheel landing and a suggested sight pattern for 3 points. Thanks to him, today's battle with the winds ended very well.
The key? Over the runway, when adding or subtracting power I was putting too much in. (obviously, my hand is used to applying throttle to a plane with far less HP/pound). He told me to work towards being smooth on the controls, using very fine adjustments (especially with the elevator) and very slowly continuously take off the power just before the mains touch. It worked for me today. Thanks, Squaz!!! Oh, my flaps were inop, so this was all without flaps.
My shoulders are sore tonight, no doubt because I was tense and working so hard to be smooth. I do love this ship, I know I sound redundant, but I can't help it. What an amazing little package of power, speed, maneuverablity and all with really good manners at slow speeds!
With all the pattern work, time is no longer as compressed during the takeoff and landing phases. But still, on days like today, once I'm over pavement, (either going up or coming down), my eyes are all outside, watching for any misalignment of my centerline.
It's pretty fun flying out of a semi busy towered field. I'm getting comments from airline crews, line crews and of course the tower/approach crew. I agree with Doug, what a great hobby!
Squawks to date:
Oil pressure low (fixed)
Airspeed high (in process)
Oil leak (fixed)
Trutrak AP pitch not right (calling Trutrak)
Flap motor Tango-U (just happened)
Turn and Bank not flagged, but not banking. (I have a Trutrak AI and D-10 also-I'm not worried)
One radio sidetone needs decreasing.
Throttle friction inop (fixed)
What gear is working that I'm thrilled about:
D-10
Trutrak AI
ACS 2002
GNS430W (I still need a ton of study on this bad boy)
ICOM A-200 comm
GTX 327 Xponder-altitude indicated within 50 feet of what ATC sees
Archer Nav and MB antennae in the tips. ILS is working great!
No fuel leaks woo hoo!
B&C starter and Alternator (2 alts)
Single point ground system is ultra quiet in the headsets
Heat distribution system I designed.
Here's some pics from my flight with Squaz over the Appalacian Mts. Photo credit: Jerry 'Squaz' Esquanazi
For more pictures go here;
http://picasaweb.google.com/lowflye...hoto?authkey=a_5wtMsJ7Eg#s5160376326655352674
All the builders out there,
keep the faith!
Art Treff
N666AT RV-8 Fastback
IO-360 10:1
Blended airfoil prop.
In hours 0-5, takeoffs happened so quickly that mentally I had my hands full, and something as simple as noting liftoff speed was a challenge.
After I had faith in my engine installation, I stopped orbiting the airport and did some airwork: stalls-power off, on, clean, dirty, accelerated. I also did some airspeed calibration runs and confirmed that my Pitot/static system is off by approx 9mph (indicates fast). I also did stability tests, etc. All were uneventful.
I've had a few squawks, but no show stoppers. The flaps quit yesterday, I'll have to get on that. I solved an oil leak that both Danny (when he owned my engine) and I were stumped on. It was the 90 degree oil fitting for the prop governor line at the forward crankcase. That was cool.
After the usual air work was flown off, at hour 6 I started doing pattern work in earnest. This little plane amazes me. It climbs at 3000fpm, and I'm at pattern altitude in a downwind before I reach the departure end of my field. I've been climbing so quickly that the tower routinely loses sight of me and has started asking me to call midfield, whether climbing on the upwind or roaring on the downwind. I can put the prop fwd, milk the throttle back in a continuous descending turn to final, going from 170mph on downwind to 90 over the numbers without much effort. These planes are truely amazing. I have had rides in the back of a few, but until I flew my ship solo, I really had no idea of how capable and fun they are!
My landings have been good then bad, then really bad, then so-so....no real consistency. I've discovered how to save a botched wheel landing with a 3-point, that's my escape route. Also, these little rockets of ours have such a high power to weight ratio that if I really screw up a landing, I can stroke the throttle and that prop will pull me out of any corner I've painted myself into...provided I have the right rudder in to counteract that torque roll.
My home base tower seems like they're having as much fun as I am. They suggest a break pattern more times than I ask for...and they prefer a midflield break-so it's right in front of the tower. Ever since I included them in the test flight and stopped afterwards to say Thank You, they've been my biggest fans. They seem to have my RV's capabilities dialed in, knowing I can expedite approaches and climbs, so put me in opposite traffic pattern and weave me in between departures and slower moving planes in the opposite pattern.
Today was varsity in the landing dept. When I took off the wind was 10 degrees right of the runway at 12. No problem. I went off, did some airwork, and a few rolls. When 19 miles out, I picked up the ATIS, it was still the same direction, but was blowing 12 gusting to 18. I decided to press on. As I got closer, approach turned me over to tower and the wind was now 20 gusting to 28.
Hummmmmm.... I decided that since this is a 150' wide runway, and it's 10,000 feet long, I'd fly the approach and if I didn't like it, I'd go around for another look. Heck, I had another 2 hours of fuel, so no worries.I fought the gusty controls down final, but to my amazement, this little plane has great control authority all the way down below stall. I had it set up for a wheelie, upwind wing down, upwind wheel touched, then bounced Doh! (I didn't put forward pressure quickly enough) so up we went, I was going to firewall the throttle, but thought better of it, gave a 'scoche' of power, flattenend her out and put her down on the mains and stuck it there. No one was more amazed than me. This plane is the best taildragger I've ever flown in the wind. I love this plane!
I'm not tailwheel Jedi, I only have 50 hours and that's in slower high wing aircraft. Quite a few hours inthe back of Danny's 'Beautiful Doll' but none of that landing. Saturday, winds were calm and I was landing really badly. Today, it was blowing and gusty-but the direction was constant. Had the wind direction been varying +/- 30 degrees, I'd have stayed in the hangar. But, it was gusty from the same direction. I love this plane. After flying approx 30 T&G's all day, driving home on the freeway, I noticed that I was driving a tad fast-80mph. I guess my sight picture was set at RV speeds.
I also got some formation practice in.
Saturday, Jerry Esquanazi (Squaz) stopped by in his beautiful crafted RV-8. We're both IO-360 and CS props, so we're a tight match for 'form. It was fun to finally be on the stick in formation and flying the break with another RV! Over coffee yesterday, Jerry schooled me in the perfect wheel landing and a suggested sight pattern for 3 points. Thanks to him, today's battle with the winds ended very well. The key? Over the runway, when adding or subtracting power I was putting too much in. (obviously, my hand is used to applying throttle to a plane with far less HP/pound). He told me to work towards being smooth on the controls, using very fine adjustments (especially with the elevator) and very slowly continuously take off the power just before the mains touch. It worked for me today. Thanks, Squaz!!! Oh, my flaps were inop, so this was all without flaps.
My shoulders are sore tonight, no doubt because I was tense and working so hard to be smooth. I do love this ship, I know I sound redundant, but I can't help it. What an amazing little package of power, speed, maneuverablity and all with really good manners at slow speeds!
With all the pattern work, time is no longer as compressed during the takeoff and landing phases. But still, on days like today, once I'm over pavement, (either going up or coming down), my eyes are all outside, watching for any misalignment of my centerline.
It's pretty fun flying out of a semi busy towered field. I'm getting comments from airline crews, line crews and of course the tower/approach crew. I agree with Doug, what a great hobby!
Squawks to date:
Oil pressure low (fixed)
Airspeed high (in process)
Oil leak (fixed)
Trutrak AP pitch not right (calling Trutrak)
Flap motor Tango-U (just happened)
Turn and Bank not flagged, but not banking. (I have a Trutrak AI and D-10 also-I'm not worried)
One radio sidetone needs decreasing.
Throttle friction inop (fixed)
What gear is working that I'm thrilled about:
D-10
Trutrak AI
ACS 2002
GNS430W (I still need a ton of study on this bad boy)
ICOM A-200 comm
GTX 327 Xponder-altitude indicated within 50 feet of what ATC sees
Archer Nav and MB antennae in the tips. ILS is working great!
No fuel leaks woo hoo!
B&C starter and Alternator (2 alts)
Single point ground system is ultra quiet in the headsets
Heat distribution system I designed.
Here's some pics from my flight with Squaz over the Appalacian Mts. Photo credit: Jerry 'Squaz' Esquanazi
For more pictures go here;
http://picasaweb.google.com/lowflye...hoto?authkey=a_5wtMsJ7Eg#s5160376326655352674
All the builders out there,
keep the faith!
Art Treff
N666AT RV-8 Fastback
IO-360 10:1
Blended airfoil prop.
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