Friday Morning
1/30/09

Good Morning Everyone!

I have been amazed at the number of congratulations we have received for the recent flight of our IV-P.  Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words and kind comments.  My words to folks still building - don't give up!  My words to folks flying - now I know why it was worth all the effort!

The first flight is just the beginning - it brings on a whole new set of "opportunities" after it flies.  The first flight was flown by Dennis Pratt - a Lancair IV-P builder / owner for the past 12 years (over 1300 hrs TT).  I owe a lot of my experience to Dennis - a huge thanks to him - for everything!

Charlie Kohler was our DAR.  I would have taken a monetary bet that our airplane was squawk free, but no - far from it!  The items that Charlie found were evidence that "experience" is the best thing to have when someone inspect your airplane.  His knowledge came from years of experience of "having been there - done that - see almost all of it"!  In my opinion, his inspection was money well spent.  He is a valuable asset to our Lancair community!

Testing phase is going pretty well.  The stalls we did were very predictable (I didn't know what to expect from something I built).  The stall strips we installed (Charlie's guidelines) worked!  We had about a 5 knot "buffet" before the stall and with some careful rudder work, the stall was straight, predictable and recoverable.  As the test phase progresses, we will begin loading the airplane toward the aft CG to determine how the takeoffs and landings are affected.  Our bird's CG is further aft than I would have liked, but so far, no ill tendencies.

Again - thanks to everyone for their words of encouragement and congratulations!  The LML is indeed a great group of very talented people!

Our best regards to everyone!

Ed & Janie Smith
N9JE
Chesapeake, VA