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From: "Ed Anderson" <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
References: <list-1071059@logan.com>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Yet another FIRST FLIGHT!
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 16:17:57 -0400
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Congratulations, Joe.  Well, done.  A moment to never be forgotten for sure. 
Keep us posted on progress.

Ed

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Hull" <joeh@pilgrimtech.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Monday, April 17, 2006 4:03 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Yet another FIRST FLIGHT!


> Having "finished" my plane and signed off in January, I've been tinkering
> with minor improvements, engine tuning, and building up my own flying
> currency ever since.  Just about the time all of that came together the
> infamous Pacific Northwest weather socked us in and it looked like it 
> would
> be weeks, months, yea even years before I could do my first flight in 
> N31CZ.
> Well we got a temporary reprieve and today was the day! At about 8:45AM 
> PDT,
> N31CZ defied the laws of physics and actually left the hard but 
> comfortable
> surface of our planet!
>
> Takeoff was picture perfect - IF you think porpoises are perfect!  I 
> thought
> I was holding back pressure on the stick and at about 75kts when my flight
> advisor (Tom Staggs), who was behind me, calmly said "rotate" (since I
> obviously wasn't doing it on my own!), I somewhat aggressively pulled back
> on the stick (yes, despite what I planned and what we had just talked
> about). YIKES! Not only does that make the nose leave the runway in a big
> hurry - but if your ailerons aren't neutral - you'll also make a pretty
> quick turn at about 10feet!!!  My cat like reflexes aside - it was a very
> colorful start!
>
> Once I settled down and opened my eyes again I was climbing at what my
> airspeed indicator said was about 95-100kts. We made it to 600 feet AGL 
> and
> began a continuous, slow, climbing turn to crosswind and downwind. (not 
> sure
> why I was making it a gentle turn - I already learned that it could turn 
> on
> a dime!). We continued the climb and leveled off at 3000AGL to settle down
> and look things over. There were lots of dirty gray puff-ball clouds
> floating about between 3000 and 4000 feet so we angled out "race track"
> pattern between the clouds and checked out maneuverability. Remarkably it
> seems I have a good balance of errors in the airframe because it flew
> straight and level hands off - aileron trim centered. I expected to have 
> at
> least a few issues - I don't know why - it just seems like the precision, 
> or
> lack thereof, of foam, fiberglass, and filler/micro would lead to more
> anomalies. But I'll accept it!
>
> The Mazda Rotary, 13B (non-turbo) engine worked fine. Not great, but fine.
> Temps were in the mid-170's for both oil and water the whole time. 
> (Outside
> air temp was 35F-40F). But power was a little anemic, so I'll still have
> some tuning to explore.
>
> During our check of the lower speeds (70-80kts) I discovered that my
> airspeed indicator is off by about 12-15kts on the low end and 10kts in 
> the
> 110-120kt range.  When I was reading 90kts, Tom was calling out 78kts. It 
> is
> great that I had someone flying chase and able to help confirm airspeed 
> and
> altimeter. So, a mental adjustment to all the pre-planned airspeeds was
> needed.
>
> We had planned on at least one fly-by to get used to the sight picture and
> get the feel of how the plane descends at various throttle settings. That
> first pass was pretty good and at 50ft I throttled up to go around. The
> second pass was just like the first - Oh, yeah, I'm actually supposed to
> descend through 50ft AGL - actually I did but was introduced to Mr. Float!
> Go around! The next time I had the picture and was able to make a 
> relatively
> unremarkable landing.
>
> From takeoff to landing I'm told it was 38 minutes. I'll just have to 
> accept
> that since I couldn't tell you whether it was 15 minutes or 2 hours. But 
> it
> is interesting that in one of those quirks that God devises that 0.4 hours
> of flying time finished off another page in my log book and when I added 
> up
> the numbers after I got to work it turns out I now have EXACTLY 100.0 
> hours
> as a pilot! Lord willing, it will be a couple thousand more before I'm 
> done!
>
> Now for the Oscar's moment: "I'd like to thank..."
> - My wife who puts up with all my crazy hobbies.
> - Burt Rutan and Nat Puffer for making it so easy, even I could do it.
> - Marc Z. and the Cozy "support group" - it made a huge difference
> - Steve Foote - a friend who shared my building adventure
> - Joe Person - EAA Tech counselor
> - Tom Staggs - Flight Advisor - for spending hours of his time getting me
> ready to fly and being there to hold my wing, errr hand while I stumbled
> around the sky today!
>
> Joe Hull
> Cozy Mk-IV #991 (In Phase1 Flight Test - 0.4 hrs flown!!)
> Redmond (Seattle), Washington
>
>
>
> --
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