brianwallis
VAF moderator
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Well, it's been about 10 shades of fun getting to know this aircraft. I saw Kahuna zipping along in his super 8 and I asked the tower for an immediate departure to catch up with the "really slow" rv-8 that just flew down the runway, I'm glad Mike has a good sense of humor.... We flew formation for about 5 min and I've got to give the man his due... He has a really steady hand. Flying formation with Mike was fantastic, he gave me some guidance and I had a blast. You really wear this airplane! Yesterday I did my 2nd cross country to NW Florida from LZU. At 22 inches, I saw 165,166 mph indicated at 4500 ft. I learned I could put my feet under the pedals even with sizable tennis shoes and extend my legs to the firewall. It was quite comfortable. Since my destination was a 2000 ft grass strip, I decided to land at a 4000 ft grass strip first. WOW! What a non event....
My first grass landing in a -3 was very relaxed and soft. Still a touch hot on final I took up less than half the runway with full flaps. Of course that was after a few passes to (ahem) clear the runway of deer. I then flew the rest of the trip to 49fd. Again, since I had not flown in there yet, I made a few more passes to clear the runway of those poor defenseless animals who would of been possibly harmed or worse by my landing if I had not forwarned them with a few passes. (ahem ahem).... Since I was down to an hours fuel and had baggage in the rear, my cg was aft but within limits. So I set up for a long approach and put in full flaps. 75 knots felt good and I touched down just after the beginning of the runway. I gently applied braking action with the tail in the air to gauge how much force I could reasonably use if I needed to. 1200 feet was all it took. I know I came in a little hot because of my aft cg, but I'm very confident I could get her stopped in less than a thousand feet if I needed to. She had no bad habbits on grass and was quite tame compared to some of the other stuff I've flown. I did seem to try and pull her off the ground a little early at the first field so I re-leveled the stick and waited 1 sec and she popped off the grass quite nicely. Jan Bussell demonstrated the short field landing technique and WAS NOT bashful about it. I have not tried that type of landing in her yet but I think she would come to a stop very shortly thereafter if I did. I'll try it when my cg is not so far aft. The most nervous time seemed to be just after the tailwheel touched the ground. That required the most tapdancing. Also I had held the tail off the ground as long as I could. Lately, the newer technique is to bring the tail down before it refuses to stay up and the transition is much smoother. Now, as far as my grass landings in this airplane go, there is noticeably less tapdancing. It's really nice! Let me put in a plug for my yankee that I sold to get the -3. I believe that it was the perfect transition aircraft for the -3, once you learn in a spam can, GO FIND someone with a yankee and spend as much time in it as you can. It will teach you energy management, critical angles of attack and primary and secondary stalls second to none. It will also teach you how to taxi a taildragger because of the diff braking. The control sensitivity is very close to an RV. Paul, stop making your new wife do all the work for the holidays and help her finish the -3 . Louise, you'd better stand up for yourself and work him hard to finish your airplane!!! He should be working 50 hrs a day to help you finish, you can feed him, but only after he buys you your avionics.
Add: two items I would like to bring to the table, if you fly above 4500ft, might want to bring a pencil instead of ruining 3 of your favorite pens and also, I believe that certain snacks can blow up at certain altitudes(tater chips and other items in similar packages) not to mention a soda goes flat really fast up high...
Best
Brian
Well, it's been about 10 shades of fun getting to know this aircraft. I saw Kahuna zipping along in his super 8 and I asked the tower for an immediate departure to catch up with the "really slow" rv-8 that just flew down the runway, I'm glad Mike has a good sense of humor.... We flew formation for about 5 min and I've got to give the man his due... He has a really steady hand. Flying formation with Mike was fantastic, he gave me some guidance and I had a blast. You really wear this airplane! Yesterday I did my 2nd cross country to NW Florida from LZU. At 22 inches, I saw 165,166 mph indicated at 4500 ft. I learned I could put my feet under the pedals even with sizable tennis shoes and extend my legs to the firewall. It was quite comfortable. Since my destination was a 2000 ft grass strip, I decided to land at a 4000 ft grass strip first. WOW! What a non event....
My first grass landing in a -3 was very relaxed and soft. Still a touch hot on final I took up less than half the runway with full flaps. Of course that was after a few passes to (ahem) clear the runway of deer. I then flew the rest of the trip to 49fd. Again, since I had not flown in there yet, I made a few more passes to clear the runway of those poor defenseless animals who would of been possibly harmed or worse by my landing if I had not forwarned them with a few passes. (ahem ahem).... Since I was down to an hours fuel and had baggage in the rear, my cg was aft but within limits. So I set up for a long approach and put in full flaps. 75 knots felt good and I touched down just after the beginning of the runway. I gently applied braking action with the tail in the air to gauge how much force I could reasonably use if I needed to. 1200 feet was all it took. I know I came in a little hot because of my aft cg, but I'm very confident I could get her stopped in less than a thousand feet if I needed to. She had no bad habbits on grass and was quite tame compared to some of the other stuff I've flown. I did seem to try and pull her off the ground a little early at the first field so I re-leveled the stick and waited 1 sec and she popped off the grass quite nicely. Jan Bussell demonstrated the short field landing technique and WAS NOT bashful about it. I have not tried that type of landing in her yet but I think she would come to a stop very shortly thereafter if I did. I'll try it when my cg is not so far aft. The most nervous time seemed to be just after the tailwheel touched the ground. That required the most tapdancing. Also I had held the tail off the ground as long as I could. Lately, the newer technique is to bring the tail down before it refuses to stay up and the transition is much smoother. Now, as far as my grass landings in this airplane go, there is noticeably less tapdancing. It's really nice! Let me put in a plug for my yankee that I sold to get the -3. I believe that it was the perfect transition aircraft for the -3, once you learn in a spam can, GO FIND someone with a yankee and spend as much time in it as you can. It will teach you energy management, critical angles of attack and primary and secondary stalls second to none. It will also teach you how to taxi a taildragger because of the diff braking. The control sensitivity is very close to an RV. Paul, stop making your new wife do all the work for the holidays and help her finish the -3 . Louise, you'd better stand up for yourself and work him hard to finish your airplane!!! He should be working 50 hrs a day to help you finish, you can feed him, but only after he buys you your avionics.Add: two items I would like to bring to the table, if you fly above 4500ft, might want to bring a pencil instead of ruining 3 of your favorite pens and also, I believe that certain snacks can blow up at certain altitudes(tater chips and other items in similar packages) not to mention a soda goes flat really fast up high...
Best
Brian
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