first flight after 16 years of sitting

[dynomike 91]

a few bumps in the road but  It flies. now I get to learn how to fly it .I had a high time tailwheel pilot fly it first . couldnt have got it back in the air without all the help from the site.thanx again

 

[IFMT 36]

Thats cool! It looks like your rad is quite a ways back. I have a dave johnson reduction on my soob and the rad is in front of the main gear. Had to add 20+ pounds to the tail to get it in cg. My empty weight is 726. I need 500 feet to get off the ground with full fuel. What is your empty weight? I'm wondering if moving the rad back would be worth the effort. Thanks

[akflyer 1427]

Good looking bird!  Congrats on getting it in the air.  What engine do you have? 

 

[dynomike 91]

thanks ,its an ea81 ,rfi reduction. bing 94 carbs .downside ,shes heavy.740.but powerfull.alot of wrong info when I bought it and I was too trusting,lesson learned.so my floats are gonna have to go on my other plane .no weight in the tail but solo with 3 reserve its at the forward limit.stalled at 30-32 cracked 100 at 4700 rpm.after two hours pulled the plugs and they were that perfect shade of brown.its a plane now ,not just a bunch of parts in the garage

[EDMO 1078]

Thats cool! It looks like your rad is quite a ways back. I have a dave johnson reduction on my soob and the rad is in front of the main gear. Had to add 20+ pounds to the tail to get it in cg. My empty weight is 726. I need 500 feet to get off the ground with full fuel. What is your empty weight? I'm wondering if moving the rad back would be worth the effort. Thanks

I've got a Dave Johnson 81, smooth cowl - was hoping to get the rad up front, but considering what you said, with my nose gear and heavy heater, it may not be possible even with the 4 inch Leading edge extension - hoping to come in below 800 EW with Grove KF7 gear, but I am not landing on sandbars down here.

EDMO

[dynomike 91]

I thought I got my batt back far enough maybe a couple of feet behind mixer but might try to get it back even further.a four inch longer wing chord has gotta help in the w@b area I would think Ed

[avid amphibian owner 0]

Awesome to see another Avid taking to the air. I'm hoping for next summer. I too shouldn't have been so trusting upon purchasing.

[EDMO 1078]

I thought I got my batt back far enough maybe a couple of feet behind mixer but might try to get it back even further.a four inch longer wing chord has gotta help in the w@b area I would think Ed

I put my battery support tubes in the next bay forward from the tail - that's where the Kitfox 1 had the car battery when we put the Soob on it.

The extended LE should help, but using the Riblett mod, like the Kitfox 4 and later,to get rid of the undercamber should eliminate most of the nose-down forces of the wings too.

EDMO

Edited 23 Oct 2013 by Ed In Missouri

[wolves200 31]

WOW!

 

that's a nice paint job man, do you mind posting pictures of the whole plane?

 

Regards

dimi3

[SuberAvid 617]

Way to go Mike!  I am just catching up on all the AFF news since I got back and it is great to hear that you have it in the air!

[dynomike 91]

thanx randy ,wolverine, I soloed it last night ,after 10 dual for a taildragger ,87+ knot and d airspace endorsments. I  just went out and had fun with it for a couple hours today ,what a plane . i love the engine .

[akflyer 1427]

That is one good looking bird!  and with that rudder, you should be able to handle some serious crosswinds! 

 

Congrats on the solo!

 

[EDMO 1078]

Unfortunatly, I think I will beat your 16 year record - Been trying to get mine built since 97, and 2 daughters and a divorce and 2 moves to Missouri from Alaska, a wrecked plane, which had never flown, in the Yukon, 2 new homes rebuilt, a new wife, and still 2 more years to go to finish!

Congratulations on a nice-looking bird.

Good Flying,

EDMO

[C5Engineer 1170]

Really like that paint scheme! Congrats on the solo! Now the real fun begins. Just remember to wiggle your toes when your on short final. Even after 330 hrs and a 1000 landings I still have to Psych myself up a little before landing on pavement. About the time you think you have it down pat she'll throw you under the bus.

[SuberAvid 617]

Wow, that is even nicer in the close up pictures.  I can't remember if you said what you did to the plane when you built it.  Obviously you greatly increased the rudder but it looks like you stretched it also, is that right?  I like the clean routing of the water lines and radiator scoope; hard to do with the regular Avid to get the plumbing through the gear.  JackAk did a nice job on his but was able to run the lines down the center since the additional width of the Avid+ gives about 6" between the ends of the gear legs where the bungees wrap.

 

You are going to be like the rest of us now, as Joey described, where we can't stop looking at our birds and taking pictures of them.  The real fun is in flying them though, I have 289 hours on my Suber Avid now and am still loving it.

[Av8r3400 1178]

I have a similar idea for my project Mangy Fox...

 

 

I don't really like yellow (says the guy with a yellow plane) but I like the visibility it affords...

[akflyer 1427]

Larry,

 

I like that one for the Mangy fox. 

 

[wolves200 31]

Nice pictures!... the paint job really make this plane look pretty!

 

About landing on pavement, I was surprised, and I still am, anytime I chose paved runways, I much rather land on grass; I taxi at far less RPM and the plane becomes really unpredictable, I guess I will have to practice more; one time I landed in a old Swedish Air force base and the taxiway was 3 km + was an airshow and there were no shortcuts, MAN!!! I really have to stay focused all the time on the taxi way, as soon as I hit the runway I was off the ground far faster than grass.

 

Any advice from the experienced guys on asphalt operations much appreciated

 

Regards

Dimi3

[C5Engineer 1170]

After 1000 logged landings in my plane I still don't like landing on pavement. I am flying it tomorrow for the first time in 7 months and I plan to go to a crop duster strip and do some touch and gos before I land back at home.

[lostman 198]

That's good to know about the hard surface issues. What do you all think the issue is on asphalt? Is it just due to being short coupled along with narrow gear? Is there any issue with gear geometry that could be remedied?

How about those of you with stretched versions, did it get any better afterwards?

I'm learning a lot about this cool little plane here on this forum and hope you don't mind all the bombardments I release when it comes to questions.

I have about 3800 hours and more than 500 in tailwheel. My most recent tailwheel time is in Waco's flying passengers doing short hops. They can even be a handful in crosswinds due to the lack of a large rudder. I've also flown Huskys, Citabrias, Champs, Ag-planes and the like, plus a few ultralights. Love tailwheels in general, they will make you into a "real" pilot, just pay attention!

 

Kenneth

[SuberAvid 617]

Hi Kenneth,

 

It sounds like you have a lot of experience in a wide variety of planes so I am sure I cannot tell you anything that you don't already know but here are a couple of recommendations that I would offer:

 

1. As Joey says; tune up your proficiency on grass or gravel if possible before going back to the paved strips.

 

2. Bigger soft tires are stickier and more squirley than small higher pressure tires. (plus pavement wears out your expensive big tires very fast).

 

3. Replace the stock gear with wide gear; either the wide bungee gear or grove gear.  The plane will handle a lot better and be much more stable on the ground.

 

4. Replace the stock brakes with stronger brakes.  I used the Matco triple puck brakes with the remote reservoir master cylinders that can be mounted closer in on the toe brake arm.  Others have used different brakes and modified the toe brake bedals with success.  The original matco single puck brakes and masters are very weak and will not even hold the plane under partial runup power.  Good brakes make for much better ground control and handling.

 

5. Never land on pavement unless you have to.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Randy

[tcj 150]

When I finished building my kitfox classic 4 with stock tube gear I had zero tail wheel hours.  It was so squirrely to taxi it scared me.  I took a bunch of instruction in a Stinson and a J3 cub and a model 4 kitfox with grove gear.  They were a pierce of cake to taxi compared to my kitfox.

 

I then checked the main gear alignment on my kitfox and found the left wheel toed in about 1/2 inch from the back to the front of the tire.  I bent the axel with a sledge hammer with the axel in a vise to where both wheels were straight ahead.  It then became the best to taxi and easiest to taxi and take off of all the taildraggers I had flown. 

[EDMO 1078]

When you get older, and want to relax more on landings, and don't have to prove that you are a "real pilot",

get a nose dragger! 

Why fight against Physics of Poor Engineering and Misplacement of CG when you don't have to?

Well, to be technically correct, it is "Misplacement of landing gear" - the CG does not change!

IMO - A "real pilot" is one who can fly whatever model he is in, with precision for the conditions and intentions,

or, as Joey says about his friend, "He flies his plane, Like it was stolen."!

EDMO

Edited 2 Jan 2014 by Ed In Missouri

[marksires 484]

Ed,

On the brakes - my Model C had the single puck Matco's, and the original MC-5 cylinders with the reservoirs built in.  Braking was horrible, wouldn't hold even at 3,000 RPM for the runup.  I talked to Matco at Oshkosh one year, and they asked what plane I had. When I said Avid, he laughed and said the 'how not to do it picture' on their web site was basically the Avid brake pedals.  I changed the cylinders to the 'short' cylinders with a remote reservoir, and built a new set of brake pedals that got the geometry up to the 2.5 to 1 ratio Matco wants.  Now it holds fine at 5,500 RPM, even with the original single puck brakes on the wheels.

 

Still squirrely on asphalt.  I need to make a new left wing strut after a swerve doing fast taxi's (which I now know is dumb) met up with one of the runway lights.  Fortunately it just got the strut, put a dent in the tube and popped off the spruce reinforcement/fairing.  The reinforcement/fairing was coming loose, so I need to replace that before flying it anyway.  Now I have to make a new strut.

 

Mark

[EDMO 1078]

I keep hearing about this 2.5:1 geometry.  Can you post a drawing to explain it?

As far as the grass / concrete landings go - it is all about friction - grass lets the tires slip a little, so the side inertia has less effect on the aft cg of taildraggers which causes the plane to try to do a 180 on the ground - You never see tires smoke when landing on grass.

EDMO

Edited 2 Jan 2014 by Ed In Missouri