BruceMe
Well Known Member
RV-4 serial number 2208 has found wings. Here's a link to pictures of me and the plane.
First Flight Pictures
Here's my first flight report:
Before the flight I did about 3 hours of taxi tests in about 10 sessions. I found a burn mark on the cowl and fixed a hot spots. Otherwise it's not leaking and ran well. I got my airworthiness on Tuesday morning, then my repaired altitude encoder for the transponder showed and I was in business to fly.
I took her out for one last taxi test and did a full-power run-up. I returned to the hangar, pulled the cowl and everything checked out. I was running out of daylight, so I called it. Wednesday I started her up and taxied out to the run-up area. I tried to convince myself one more time that this was a totally normal flight like any other... which of course it was not!
After my run-up I requested a single pattern from the tower. I was given a hold short and once landing traffic cleared, I was given position and hold. I took the runway and ran the engine to 3/4 power. Brakes where released on go. As the nose rotated down, I added throttle to full and the plane gently swerved to the left under a combination of gyroscopic precision & x-wind. A light application of right rudder was insufficient to arrest the swing, I added more and it came under control before I rotated to get air born. This all transpired in under 4 seconds.
I climbed at a shallower-than-normal attitude to mitigate any starvation issues. It climbed briskly at something well over 1,000 fpm and 90 KIAS.
I climbed to pattern attitude before reaching the end of the runway, leveled out and pulled back power to 2100 RPM before turning onto the x-wind leg of the a pattern. On the down-wind I found myself 300' over pattern attitude... yeah I've forgotten how RVs love to climb. I also noted that the plane was S&L with the stick held 2" to the right. I looked out to see the ailerons offset about 1" on either side (one up, one down). There is some trim work to be done in the roll axis. Elevator trim was very effective and worked hands-free at all speeds. Rudder tracked well and shouldn't require trim. Control forces in every axis where modest, yet stronger than my RV-3 was, but it's a slightly larger aircraft and I expected this.
I turned base at 90 KIAS and attempted to put down 10 degrees of flaps and noted that it took much larger than expected force and wouldn't stay in the detent. The johnson-bar and latching mechanism is inadequate, I need to refine it. On final, the tower put me behind a jet that took forever to get off the runway. They requested a 360 degree turn. I executed the 50 degrees bank turn to minimize the time I'd be pointing away from the runway. I'm a glider pilot, I have a strong aversion to being out of gliding range of a runway.
After my turn, I aimed for a touch-down point 1/3 down the 7,000' runway very hot. I made my mark touching down perfectly gentle and very hot in the two point. I attempted to lower the tail wheel a bit too early and found I was air born again. I was patient and let the airplane find the ground again without any bumps. I applied modestly-firm braking and stopped before the half way. I taxied back and relaxed for a while, and yes... I grinned
First Flight Pictures
Here's my first flight report:
Before the flight I did about 3 hours of taxi tests in about 10 sessions. I found a burn mark on the cowl and fixed a hot spots. Otherwise it's not leaking and ran well. I got my airworthiness on Tuesday morning, then my repaired altitude encoder for the transponder showed and I was in business to fly.
I took her out for one last taxi test and did a full-power run-up. I returned to the hangar, pulled the cowl and everything checked out. I was running out of daylight, so I called it. Wednesday I started her up and taxied out to the run-up area. I tried to convince myself one more time that this was a totally normal flight like any other... which of course it was not!
After my run-up I requested a single pattern from the tower. I was given a hold short and once landing traffic cleared, I was given position and hold. I took the runway and ran the engine to 3/4 power. Brakes where released on go. As the nose rotated down, I added throttle to full and the plane gently swerved to the left under a combination of gyroscopic precision & x-wind. A light application of right rudder was insufficient to arrest the swing, I added more and it came under control before I rotated to get air born. This all transpired in under 4 seconds.
I climbed at a shallower-than-normal attitude to mitigate any starvation issues. It climbed briskly at something well over 1,000 fpm and 90 KIAS.
I climbed to pattern attitude before reaching the end of the runway, leveled out and pulled back power to 2100 RPM before turning onto the x-wind leg of the a pattern. On the down-wind I found myself 300' over pattern attitude... yeah I've forgotten how RVs love to climb. I also noted that the plane was S&L with the stick held 2" to the right. I looked out to see the ailerons offset about 1" on either side (one up, one down). There is some trim work to be done in the roll axis. Elevator trim was very effective and worked hands-free at all speeds. Rudder tracked well and shouldn't require trim. Control forces in every axis where modest, yet stronger than my RV-3 was, but it's a slightly larger aircraft and I expected this.
I turned base at 90 KIAS and attempted to put down 10 degrees of flaps and noted that it took much larger than expected force and wouldn't stay in the detent. The johnson-bar and latching mechanism is inadequate, I need to refine it. On final, the tower put me behind a jet that took forever to get off the runway. They requested a 360 degree turn. I executed the 50 degrees bank turn to minimize the time I'd be pointing away from the runway. I'm a glider pilot, I have a strong aversion to being out of gliding range of a runway.
After my turn, I aimed for a touch-down point 1/3 down the 7,000' runway very hot. I made my mark touching down perfectly gentle and very hot in the two point. I attempted to lower the tail wheel a bit too early and found I was air born again. I was patient and let the airplane find the ground again without any bumps. I applied modestly-firm braking and stopped before the half way. I taxied back and relaxed for a while, and yes... I grinned
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