Flight testing

[C5Engineer 1170]

I've got 1.7 on my bird and 7 landings so far. This thing is an absolute ball to fly!! I did mostly pattern work this morning right at sunrise before work. I played around with speeds and kept making my approach slower and slower. It seemed to like 50. Much less than that and I was dragging it in on the prop. I don't know if it's just the Avid design or if I was meant for this airplane but it's blowing my mind how quickly I feel comfortable flying it. I feel like I have better control and feel of it after less than two hours than I do with 150 in Cessna's. It's still real nose heavy after setting my flaperons with 5 degrees of reflex. I went to a diver shop today and bought some diver ballast. It's lead shot in what looks like a bean bag. It's not very big and you can shape it somewhat. Did the Math and with 15 gallons on board it puts my CG close to 14" from 12.1" I'm going to attach it to my tailwheel spring and see how it does. I hate to add dead weight but I'd rather sacrifice a few pounds than have to hold onto that stick all the time. Even if I had a trim system the elevator is still deflected a lot making you less efficient all the way around. I've gotta figure out a way to plug up my holes where my bungees go through the floor. The air passing through my belly radiator comes right up through there. Would be great for you guys up North but not so much when it's 90 degrees around here. I was toasty in the cockpit this morning! I'll continue to report my findings on little stuff like that. I shot a few quick videos of my instruments. Here is one of them. I'm at 400' agl tooling along off the end of our runway. The Avid does a good job at bridging the gap I used to have between my Powered Parachute and Cessna's. If everything continues as well as it has I'm going to plan on venturing over to another airport about 12NM away this weekend to show her off a bit.

[akflyer 1427]

Looking good!

Do you have the FAA suggested flight test manual?  I think I downloaded it off the FAA site and may have a PDF if you cant find it.  It really helps to take you through full flight testing for the 40 hrs.

[C5Engineer 1170]

I've looked at it and came up with a written plan. So far I've been having so much learning to land this thing that I have not done too much of it. I do have a pretty good stall speed worked out and I can actually get it back onto the ground safely I figured those were good goals for the first few flights. Lately I've only had like an hour before it gets dark to fly because we've had triple digit heat all this week. Hopefully I'll have a few hours this weekend to go up to altitude and explore the envelope a bit.

[C5Engineer 1170]

I tried to fly last night but the wind came up. Had to tell myself that whole better to be here wishing you were up there than vice versa. I have my 5lb divers weight attached to my tailwheel spring and plugged up my holes around my bungees with foam to see if I can keep the heated radiator air out of my cabin. I also finally got around to programming all the local freq's into my A6 so I can just flip flop through them. Gonna shoot for an early morning flight. That 5lb weight only moves my CG back about an inch. Curious how much difference it's going to make.

[C5Engineer 1170]

I put a couple more hours on my bird this morning. The conditions were perfect. She seemed to fly better with the weight in the tail. As much as I hate to I think I'm going to keep it there. I'm using an ultrastart battery that weighs all of 2lbs and my ELT is already as far back as I can get it and still be able to access it from the turtle deck hole so moving stuff is not really feasible or worth the effort. I put my cargo bag in for today's flight and it quieted down the cockpit some. Also my foam around the bungees stopped a lot of the heat from coming in but I'm still getting quite a bit from the side radiator. Guess I'll have to just deal with that as I already have 1/4" sound deadening foam on the firewall and sides of the cowl.

I took her out of the pattern today and flew about 15NM to another airport. I set the power around 55-5700 and was cruising somewhere around 75-80..about what I expected. You can push it faster but it get's really loud and I didn't build an Avid to go fast. I played with a bungee cord as trim and was able to get it to pretty much hands off during cruise. Both trips were uneventful. I did a couple landings on the way back then went up to 2000agl and did some stalls both power on and off as well as some aggravated stalls. With the weight on the tail it will actually break now and even cross controlled to simulate a base to final stall it barely wanted to drop a wing. I'm pretty surprised at how tame it is really. I guess I expected more. With a far aft CG I suspect it would be a bit more squirrely. I also played around with the flaps. It decreased the stall speed by about 4-5mph is all. I also noticed the advertised decrease roll rate. One thing I did not anticipate was a significant increase in adverse yaw with the flaps down. Lastly I did what I built this thing for and that was to do some low and slow flying. She does awesome at about 50ft agl 4800rpm and 55mph. I cruised along a river for about 3 miles grinning ear to ear. When I got back to the pattern I did some forward slips. I had heard that Avids do that very well but that’s an understatement. I saw 2500fpm and sustained 60 mph I felt like I was going to fall out of the airplane. What a good speed control technique. I’ve only heard to not slip into an open door for chance of blowing off the turtle deck. Anything else I should watch out for while doing them? This is by the far the coolest airplane I’ve flown. I cannot wait to keep learning more about her.

[C5Engineer 1170]

I did some hot weather testing yesterday. It was calm but about 35C when I took off. I was baking under all the plexi. About 5 minutes into the climb at 6000 and 65 mph I was just about to 180 degrees but it seemed to stop there. As soon as I cracked the power just a little it came back down to about 170. I will never fly in anything hotter than that so I think my cooling system is good. I did a whole bunch of airwork this time out. I was shocked that even at around a 45 degree climbing banked turn to a full stall it still didn't want to drop it wing. It just shuddered and lost some altitude and then kept flying. I also did about 5 miles of 50 mph and rolling gently back and forth while really working to stay coordinated and not lose any altitude. This is how I learned coordination skills in my training. It really helps you to get a feel for your airplane. I took my inspection panel off the tail to try and put my ballast in but there's not as much room in there as I thought. Next time out I'm going to fly a trip around the patch with it on and then land and take it off and fly the same pattern and see how much difference there really is. If it's negligible I may just ditch the ballast idea or toss it in my cargo bag. It looks silly having a bright red bean bag looking object strapped to the tailwheel spring with a hose clamp. The small bungee trim idea is working out pretty good. I put 4 zip ties about an inch apart in the stick so the bungee would have something to rest on and not slide down the stick. Depending on your speed you can just move the bungee up and down. After my airwork I was baking so I put away everything loose in my cockpit, slowed down, and opened up the doors. Now that's flying! I have a ton of open air flying in my powered parachute but it does not bank when you turn really. The first time I rolled her up hard to the left and looked out was a bit exhilarating! It's pretty obvious when your even just a tiny but uncoordinated with the doors open as you get hit in the face with wind. I would not want to go much over 60-65 with them open though as they were wanting to buffett some at the higher speeds. I had the entire airport to myself and it was dead calm as the sun set. We have intersecting runways. I was flying short patterns making figure 8's and landing on both runways. I did 6 touch and go's in about 4 minutes. I'm up to 5 hours and about 25 landings. Not too bad for her first week. I'm amazed and how quickly I adpated to this airplane. I guess having lots of low and slow time and some formal TW training helped out some.

[C5Engineer 1170]

Flew again yesterday and today. I ended up taking my ballast off and didn't really notice a difference. Yesterday we had some decent wind. At 1500 I could tell it was really blowing by my 30mph ground speed so I pulled her way back into slow flight and got the GPS down to 7mph sustained. I sat there and hovered for about 10 minutes it was pretty cool. I also did my first Xwind landings. I tried a wheel landing that went pretty good too. Today I flew over to a gravel cropduster strip I know of but the wind was no good for my first tries at a narrow gravel strip. I went back to our airport and did three full stop landings. Everything is great on her. This Sunday were having our annual Airport Day at hour field where they have classic cars come in and stuff. Were expecting some warbirds and an A10 demo. I am going to pull my airplane out onto the ramp and pretend I flew into the Fly-in

[Av8r3400 1178]

That's awesome Joey!!  Glad to hear all is better than well with your flight testing.

I'm super jealous right now.  Yesterday was the last day of nice weather we will have for the next week and I've been sick with the flu for three days!  My plane needs new bungees, a leaky fuel sump valve fixed and to BE FLOWN!!!

But I cant 'cause I can't breathe without coughing now...  This sux. 

[akflyer 1427]

Sweet!  those 40 hrs will go by pretty fast at this rate!  I have been playing for the last 2 weeks and have not done one darn thing to get the yard ready for winter so I have to buckle down today and get some projects knocked out... however, with the sun rising and not a cloud in the sky, I may have to play hookey from the chores one more day and go burn some air!

[C5Engineer 1170]

I made my first off airport landings tonite in my plane. I was doing some simulated engine outs and I liked my approach so much the second time I touched down in a harvested alf alfa field. I did a touch and go and came back around and touched down again. I didn't stick around because it was just some random farmers field. When I got back I had weeds hanging off the tailwheel. I was shooting the breeze with a buddy and he just laughed when he saw the weeds hanging off. I also did some pattern work flying a 300ft agl pattern and a 1/4 mile downwind offset. Blows my mind how fast you can get this thing around the pattern and back on the ground....30 degrees of bank in the pattern...ya right.. cessna's are going to be soooo boring after flying this thing

[jackak 20]

Leni,

Were you able to use the ventral fin?  Did it help at all, or will you make up one of your own?

Jack

[akflyer 1427]

I am using it for a pattern.  My fuse was modified with an additional stringer down the center of the fuse so the stock one will not fit.  I will bring yours back up to you next time I have to make an anchorage run!

Once you really get a grip on what you can do in your bird, just about any other plane seems boring to me... These little birds really do put the fun back into flying.

[jackak 20]

Ok, hope you get it done before the water turns to ice.  Are you going to just pick up the rear hitch bushing to hook it on? 

Jack

[Bandit 286]

I have taken off circled and landed in 45 sec. in my Bandit.

[C5Engineer 1170]

Logged 1.5 today. Flew to two different strips and did my first gravel landings. She stops a lot quicker on soft gravel than pavement that's for sure! It was banking just slightly left after my last flaperon adjustment so I landed and tweaked the left flaperon down 1/2 a degree and that seemed to fix it. I have been experimenting with TW springs. I am going to have to extend the horn. I can get it broke loose with my current set up but it takes all kinds of brake and power and would not do crap on soft ground. Here's a pic of her sitting on the side of a gravel crop duster strip and my current TW spring set up.

[C5Engineer]

Well I've got 14.1 on the hobbs so far with mine. I re rigged my flaperons for the third time the other day. I ended up with -4 degrees as a good compromise between up trim and stick force at cruise. I got my fuel flow gauge installed the other day but have not had a chance to test it out yet. Should get some more time to play over the weekend.

[akflyer 1427]

Well I've got 14.1 on the hobbs so far with mine. I re rigged my flaperons for the third time the other day. I ended up with -4 degrees as a good compromise between up trim and stick force at cruise. I got my fuel flow gauge installed the other day but have not had a chance to test it out yet. Should get some more time to play over the weekend.

SWEET! Always nice to get in flight time! Are you having issues logging in still?

[C5Engineer 1170]

SWEET! Always nice to get in flight time! Are you having issues logging in still?

No log in issues but when using Mozilla it will always say there is no new content. Dont seem to have that issue with IE.

[akflyer 1427]

No log in issues but when using Mozilla it will always say there is no new content. Dont seem to have that issue with IE.

it has been pretty slow on the board. Not much new content has been posted. I switched over to firefox and am not having issues with the login or the new content. It may have something to do with you internet security settings in your browser.. I dont know, just tossing out something to think about.

[Av8r3400 1178]

it has been pretty slow on the board. Not much new content has been posted. I switched over to firefox and am not having issues with the login or the new content. It may have something to do with you internet security settings in your browser.. I dont know, just tossing out something to think about.

For me, every time I open the browser (Firefox), I need to re-log in. If I leave the browser open, I stay logged in.

The "view new content" button works fine for me.

Edited 3 Nov 2009 by Av8r3400

[C5Engineer 1170]

I realized later that I was on a different computer and not logged in Hoping to finish up my fuel flow gauge and tiny tach install soon. I'm looking for another 582 right now too. Mine is leaking from the Rotary shaft and has 360hours SMOH. It's either time for a rebuild or something different. This engine has been overhauled three times already. According to the logs it came with it's pushing 1200 hours total time. Time to throw some more money into this thing.

[akflyer 1427]

I realized later that I was on a different computer and not logged in Hoping to finish up my fuel flow gauge and tiny tach install soon. I'm looking for another 582 right now too. Mine is leaking from the Rotary shaft and has 360hours SMOH. It's either time for a rebuild or something different. This engine has been overhauled three times already. According to the logs it came with it's pushing 1200 hours total time. Time to throw some more money into this thing.

RV seals are easy to change.. you still have good compression? tear it down, new seals, check the crank and run the crap outa it..

[C5Engineer 1170]

RV seals are easy to change.. you still have good compression? tear it down, new seals, check the crank and run the crap outa it..

I'm wheeling and dealing with a guy on a low time blue head right now. Prob got that route if the price is right and he will give me a decent core for mine. If that does not pan out I'm thinking I will tear into mine and go from there.

[C5Engineer 1170]

I'm wheeling and dealing with a guy on a low time blue head right now. Prob got that route if the price is right and he will give me a decent core for mine. If that does not pan out I'm thinking I will tear into mine and go from there.

I should have that blue head on the way next week. On another note I did my craziest flying to date this morning. I found some rolling hills in some pasture land about 10 miles from the airport. They were about 3-500 ft high with plenty of room to fly in and around the hills. I was doing runs up the small canyons yanking and banking following the terrain with my wingtips about 20 feet from the ground. Man it was so much fun. I also found one of the hills that was really smooth and did some uphill landings. If I touched down about 100 ft from the peak I could bleed off all my speed as I rolled over the peak and the hammer the throttle down the backside and take off again. These were my first REAL off airport landings as it was just a hill in the middle of nowhere. My bird did great although I'm thinking I'm going to need a pneumatic tailwheel if I do too much of that kind of stuff. The hard rubber Maule is pretty rough. I'm sure its putting a beating on that cheezy little tailwheel spring and one bolt that holds it to the airplane.

[akflyer 1427]

I should have that blue head on the way next week. On another note I did my craziest flying to date this morning. I found some rolling hills in some pasture land about 10 miles from the airport. They were about 3-500 ft high with plenty of room to fly in and around the hills. I was doing runs up the small canyons yanking and banking following the terrain with my wingtips about 20 feet from the ground. Man it was so much fun. I also found one of the hills that was really smooth and did some uphill landings. If I touched down about 100 ft from the peak I could bleed off all my speed as I rolled over the peak and the hammer the throttle down the backside and take off again. These were my first REAL off airport landings as it was just a hill in the middle of nowhere. My bird did great although I'm thinking I'm going to need a pneumatic tailwheel if I do too much of that kind of stuff. The hard rubber Maule is pretty rough. I'm sure its putting a beating on that cheezy little tailwheel spring and one bolt that holds it to the airplane.

Sounds like my kind of flying! too bad you are 4000 miles away

I have the 6" matco pneumatic. I am not real impressed with it. I am looking for an 8" bushwheel right now. If I have to have weight in the tail, I want it useful! I keep the stick shoved way forward to keep as much weight off the tail wheel and spring as possible. You can stand on the brakes, keep the power in and use full down and it will take alot of pressure off the tailwheel.