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Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 17:16:37 -0400
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
From: CCI <brecab@bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Yet another FIRST FLIGHT!
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Congratulations, Joe, for a trouble free first flight!    Fred


At 01:03 PM 4/17/2006 -0700, you wrote:
>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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