Last of Fall Flight

[SuberAvid 617]

Well we had the first snow of the winter season at the house on Saturday and 1/2" of ice on the puddles this morning so it looks like winter is comming fast. The day was perfect today so I talked my buddy John into getting out and playing while we still could on wheels. We flew out and checked on Leni's plane and then out to check out a strip on the Talchalitna where another buddy has a cabin. The water mark was 8' to 10 feet above the current water level and the strip had been fully under water by the mud and leaves on the brush. We found a couple more little strips to practice on and then watched the huge full moon rise over the Talkeetna mountains. The pics of that just didn't come out good but attached are some of the others

The pics include a couple of some glaciers from a few weeks ago when I was out looking for sheep up behind Pioneer Peak and the rest are from the perfect flying we had tonight.

John landing his cub on the Tal' strip,

The planes patiently waiting for us to get done wandering around,

Got to get a little mud on the tires,

John's cub with the fresh snow on Beluga mountain as a backdrop,

A beautiful sunset across the lakes toward Sleeping Lady.

[akflyer 1427]

Nice pics Randy!

I love flying into the sunset / sunrise pics. We are so fortunate to see views that others only dream of or don't even realize that they are missing out.

Thanks again for checking on the bird for me! Hope to get things straightend out soon and get ready for the winter flying season. We need to organize a good flyin trip this winter. I can have John haul in lots of gas so we will have a good stash to get out and play. It was fun hitting rainy pass and I know there are alot of other places we can hit for those $200.00 hamburgers

I would love to get some more Avid / Kitfox drivers to come out and play for a weekend.

[C5Engineer 1170]

I wanna come!! Randy I just noticed you have VG's. Is there a thread someplace about your install and results? I have my Stolspeed set sitting on the work bench just trying to get a little more info before I go sticking them on. JG of Stolspeed in Aussie land told me 90mm from the leading edge.

Joey

[6320012s 12]

Nice pics Randy!

I love flying into the sunset / sunrise pics. We are so fortunate to see views that others only dream of or don't even realize that they are missing out.

Thanks again for checking on the bird for me! Hope to get things straightend out soon and get ready for the winter flying season. We need to organize a good flyin trip this winter. I can have John haul in lots of gas so we will have a good stash to get out and play. It was fun hitting rainy pass and I know there are alot of other places we can hit for those $200.00 hamburgers

I would love to get some more Avid / Kitfox drivers to come out and play for a weekend.

Got Bob's skis mounted last spring so I'm ready to play!

[akflyer 1427]

Got Bob's skis mounted last spring so I'm ready to play!

Dave,

We will keep you posted on the next assult we do on the lodge this winter and we can figure out other destinations to hit. I have a pack mule at my disposal for getting fuel out into the field to extend our range

[SuberAvid 617]

Nice pics Randy!

I love flying into the sunset / sunrise pics. We are so fortunate to see views that others only dream of or don't even realize that they are missing out.

Thanks again for checking on the bird for me! Hope to get things straightend out soon and get ready for the winter flying season. We need to organize a good flyin trip this winter. I can have John haul in lots of gas so we will have a good stash to get out and play. It was fun hitting rainy pass and I know there are alot of other places we can hit for those $200.00 hamburgers

I would love to get some more Avid / Kitfox drivers to come out and play for a weekend.

YES! We have got to get out and do another winter flyout with the lodge as base. That was just a blast the last time and it would be a lot of fun to get more planes and explore some farther reaches. I have yet to go through Rainy Pass and out to McGrath which would be pretty cool if the weather cooperated. Also a buddy has a cabin that they have kind of taken over caretaking and fixed up on Fog Lake north of Talkeetna that would be a fun one to visit, and I hear that Chelatna Lake Lodge may stay open in the winter also. I am sure we will find a lot of cool places to check out if we have plenty of gas.

Dave, glad to hear you are good to go! Bob, WSY? Joey, I expect you will have figured out how to get your machine loaded in the corner of the C5 for a hop to Elmendorf about that time? I'm sure we can drum up a set of skis for you to borrow. Sounds like a blast.

[SuberAvid 617]

I wanna come!! Randy I just noticed you have VG's. Is there a thread someplace about your install and results? I have my Stolspeed set sitting on the work bench just trying to get a little more info before I go sticking them on. JG of Stolspeed in Aussie land told me 90mm from the leading edge.

Joey

Hey Joey,

I talked about my VG's some on here but can't remember where. I don't think they made a great difference in shortening my takeoff or landing distances but they did seem to make quite an improvement to my aeleron authority. I found this to be a great improvement with the MKIV since I could get very little left stick movement with my winter gear on and leg pressed against the door. Also the VG's under the horizontal were a big improvement in elevator control. Between the two it made flying the plane in turbulence a lot more comfortable and probably did lower the stall speed some but at a pretty high angle of attack, so not sure how usable that is.

I think I placed mine at 10% of the wing chord and would recommend that you go much less than that; at least no greater than 7%. After looking at the most the cubs I have seen they seem to have them place anywhere from 2 to 6 of inches behind the leading edge and with a lot wider chord wing. I surmise that further forward probably works better at a higher angle of attack. It would be nice to use double sided tape and try a couple positions but it takes a long time to put them all on and I didn't look forward to doing it multiple times so I just went with the manufacturers recomendation. On my next wings I plan to put them further forward though. Hopefully you can give me your recommendation then.

[6320012s 12]

Hey Joey,

I talked about my VG's some on here but can't remember where. I don't think they made a great difference in shortening my takeoff or landing distances but they did seem to make quite an improvement to my aeleron authority. I found this to be a great improvement with the MKIV since I could get very little left stick movement with my winter gear on and leg pressed against the door. Also the VG's under the horizontal were a big improvement in elevator control. Between the two it made flying the plane in turbulence a lot more comfortable and probably did lower the stall speed some but at a pretty high angle of attack, so not sure how usable that is.

I think I placed mine at 10% of the wing chord and would recommend that you go much less than that; at least no greater than 7%. After looking at the most the cubs I have seen they seem to have them place anywhere from 2 to 6 of inches behind the leading edge and with a lot wider chord wing. I surmise that further forward probably works better at a higher angle of attack. It would be nice to use double sided tape and try a couple positions but it takes a long time to put them all on and I didn't look forward to doing it multiple times so I just went with the manufacturers recomendation. On my next wings I plan to put them further forward though. Hopefully you can give me your recommendation then.

I found the same results with my VG's . didn't seem to be much penalty if any with cruise, and no big difference in stall, but much more aeleron authority and putting them on the tail really helped with flare authority. I also sealed the gap in the elevator which helped a lot. If I remember correctly, I placed mine at the 10% point but with double sided tape. I used the tape in case I wanted to take them off or move them, but they are still held on with the tape two years later. Good Tape!