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I'm not Joe, Bob, Jim, Buly, John, et al (whoever that is), but I made a major leap (well, maybe one giant step) forward yesterday. As some of you know, for the past six years I have been building a Lancair ES powered by a N/A 20B. I've been in the 90% done, 90% to go for over a year now. Well, yesterday was a nice day at Lockhart, TX, and I had just finished installing the Skybolt fasteners to the upper cowl and couldn't find anything else to do, so I rolled it out of the hangar and started it up and ran it for 5 minutes. It was running so well I decided that it was a good day for a taxi run. With my Lightspeed headset over my ears, I headed off for my first taxi in N208TX. While this surely pales in comparison to an actual first flight, it was very gratifying. When I started out there were no a/c in the pattern, or on the taxiways. Ten minutes later there were people and a/c everywhere. We even had an honest-to-goodness traffic jam with three a/c stopped at one intersection. I guess you can chalk that up to Murphy. Anyway, all went well and I taxied around for about 20 minutes and then returned to the hangar. For the rest of the day I had a hard time wiping the grin off my face. While I still have more stuff to do before first flight, "it won't be long now".
Mark S.
N208TX
Lockhart, TX
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From: Rotary motors in aircraft on behalf of Ed Anderson
Sent: Fri 3/2/2007 9:20 PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Recent First Time Flyers!! FINAL CALL for CONTACT! Magazine Articles!!!
Hey, Joe, Bob, Jim, Buly, John, et al
You guys who recently flew for the first time. Your stories would really be inspiring to those out there lurking on the fence. Sit down and tell us about how you prepped for the flight - what last minute problems you had to fix (if any). How did it feel lifting off - what gauges gave you the most concern - what were some of the teething problems. What bump/sound make your hear beat faster until you identified what it was. What would you do different. What do you have planned for next-step improvements (if any).
You guys who didn't have any problems on your first flight - tell us how that felt. What do you attribute your no-problem first time flight to. What do you think you did right and signficant - so you could just sit back and enjoy the flight.
Lets see some photos of lift off, landing, taxi, etc.
I know you guys could easily write a page which combined with a couple of photos would provide enough material for this issue of CONTACT! to be a rotary -only issue. Heck, you have a good start with the email you posted to the list telling us about that first flight. I think having 3-4 first time flight stories in the issue would really show how the rotary community is moving.
Put down that beer - or perhaps pick up that beer and a pen and start writing/typing/recording for transcriptions. Etc.
Thanks
Ed
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