Caveman
Well Known Member
First Flight:
Wheel pants and gear leg fairings were left installed for this flight.
Engine tried to over speed on take-off. I manually caught it at about 2750 rpm. Governor / Prop will need to be adjusted?
Control feel was lighter than I remembered on the factory demo ride & transition training. I overcorrected slightly for a few seconds but by the time I was at traffic pattern altitude I was feeling pretty confident that this thing was going to fly just fine.
Noted heavy left wing, easily corrected with little stick pressure.
CHT on #3 cylinder started out running with the others but dropped to 150 degrees cooler. Engine was running STRONG.
Airplane climbs like a banshee!
Engine is very, very smooth and STRONG. CHT?s and EGT?s look pretty good at first impression other than #3 cht.
Oil temp is fine. Too cool? if anything. I left the ?A.J. Judy? inspired cowl scoop full open for the first flight. I never got over 185 degrees even in climb.
I flew a few circles and checked elevator trim in different configurations. The TCW Safety Trim was ?spot on? out of the box with no adjustments necessary. I noted indicated airspeed at 200 to 201 mph at one point in straight and level flight.
Chase plane airspeed check and altimeter check were within a knot or two and 20 to 40 feet of each other both at slow flight and around 140 knots. I was concerned about that. Big relief!
After much deliberation and considering how the airplane was handling, I decided to go with straight ahead conventional full stalls on first flight.
Stalls were clean with little to no wing drop, both flaps up and down. They were pretty abrupt with little stick shake or tail buffet for warning. ?In cockpit? video showed the stalls very near the bottom of the white arc or below on the ASI where they should be. Chase plane confirmed stall numbers to be very close to book. I must admit the first stall caught me a bit by surprise. The nose dropped quite a bit more than my old Cherokee 140 and much faster. (I had experienced stalls in the RV-7 during the demo flight and in transition training and I was still surprised).
First landing pattern was flown at 100 mph with turns limited to 15 degrees of bank. (Limiting bank was hard to do at first. This thing begs to be flown like a fighter).
Once back in the hangar, no anomalies were noted under the cowl. No oil or fuel leaks and everything was still tight.
AFS 3500 EFIS/EMS is great!
AOA on AFS was not working. I?ll try calibrating on a future flight.
Putting transponder ident button on stick grip was not a good idea, I should have known better. I hit it at least twice inadvertently during the first few flights.
Second and third flights:
Made adjustments to prop low pitch stop under spinner. That helped with the over speed situation, but still over speeding just a tiny amount. If I pull the prop control out before take-off to a pre-marked spot, it works fine. I suspect I?ll have to adjust the cable or arm on the gov.
Disconnected ident wire to stick grip. Finished connecting pitch servo on autopilot.
Oil temp is still running in the high 170 deg. range. I played with closing the scoop a little. It definitely makes a difference. OAT?s are running in the 60 ? 70 deg. f. range.
No anomalies noted under the cowl except that troubleshooting revealed a bad CHT connection on #3. A piece of cold solder was jammed in the joint keeping the blade from inserting all of the way into the spade connector. It was covered with heat shrink, so it stayed in loose contact. Placed the probe in boiling water and compared to the candy thermometer lifted from wife?s kitchen. It was within 2 degrees. Problem fixed. Candy may never taste the same though. Don?t tell on me!
Landings were a bit better but nothing to brag about. Still coming in hot, floating, and fighting a few small bounces on touchdown.
Grounded for 6 days due to high winds and low tail dragger time.
Fourth flight & Fifth:
Cruising around at fairly low altitude at 75- 85% power trying to make sure the engine is broken in.
I played with the autopilot some in wing leveler (track) and nav mode. ADI Pilot II is really nice for someone who has never owned a plane with an autopilot. I like the flashing low airspeed warning. Very nice if you don?t have a stall warning or AOA warning hooked up. Watching the 496, ADI P II, and 3500 work in unison is poetry in motion. I can?t believe I wired all this stuff up and built the panel myself and it works!
I found out the oil cooler scoop control cable may need to be changed to a vernier style. At high airspeeds it is pulling itself open. That explains the low 172 ? 178 deg. f. oil temps. The cable that I used is the same one provided in the firewall forward kit for cabin heat and alternate air. I ended up with a spare so I used it for this service wondering if it would work or not.
I lost part of a lower intersection fairing. It had a poor bond line. Looks like I didn?t sand the wheel pant with rough enough sand paper and get it cleaned well enough. Oh well! I built another. Glad I made the decision not to paint yet.
I started slowing a bit on final. Landings are improving but definitely not mastered.
Sixth flight: About 14 hours on Hobbs.
Flew to two airports within the approved fly-off area to help break in brand new engine and get a sense of cross country performance and cruise speed... These were the first flights and landings away from home base.
I started adding weight on the passenger side to help diagnose heavy wing. The skid ball is about ? ball out at cruise speed.
Eighth Flight:
I removed wheel pants and fairings.
Next flight the ball is within the lines but still displaced slightly to the right. May need a rudder tab?
The left wing still heavy without the pants and fairings.
Continuing to add weight and fly in different configurations. Airplane seems easier to land with heavier loads. Unofficial initial climbs at gross weight from a 2200? agl airport easily show 1600 fpm or more.
Once I get the heavy wing condition rectified and have the wheel pants and fairings back on and when I am convinced engine is fully broken in, I will begin serious climb and speed tests.
AOA on EFIS is working. Tubing ports were switched behind the panel unit. Duh! I know I checked that at least 3 times. Downloaded AOA setting file e-mailed to me by Travis at AFS.
Measured aileron hinge heights and laid straight edge across aileron and wing. Everything seems to be in order. Squeezed left aileron trailing edge a little.
Ninth flight:
Calibrated AFS AOA. Performed stall tests at higher weights. No real change noted in wing heaviness.
16 hours so far.
Grounded again due to high winds.
I do plan on following AC 90-89A and Vans manual flight testing procedures, and once my engine is fully broken in.
Comments, suggestions and critism welcomed!
Wheel pants and gear leg fairings were left installed for this flight.
Engine tried to over speed on take-off. I manually caught it at about 2750 rpm. Governor / Prop will need to be adjusted?
Control feel was lighter than I remembered on the factory demo ride & transition training. I overcorrected slightly for a few seconds but by the time I was at traffic pattern altitude I was feeling pretty confident that this thing was going to fly just fine.
Noted heavy left wing, easily corrected with little stick pressure.
CHT on #3 cylinder started out running with the others but dropped to 150 degrees cooler. Engine was running STRONG.
Airplane climbs like a banshee!
Engine is very, very smooth and STRONG. CHT?s and EGT?s look pretty good at first impression other than #3 cht.
Oil temp is fine. Too cool? if anything. I left the ?A.J. Judy? inspired cowl scoop full open for the first flight. I never got over 185 degrees even in climb.
I flew a few circles and checked elevator trim in different configurations. The TCW Safety Trim was ?spot on? out of the box with no adjustments necessary. I noted indicated airspeed at 200 to 201 mph at one point in straight and level flight.
Chase plane airspeed check and altimeter check were within a knot or two and 20 to 40 feet of each other both at slow flight and around 140 knots. I was concerned about that. Big relief!
After much deliberation and considering how the airplane was handling, I decided to go with straight ahead conventional full stalls on first flight.
Stalls were clean with little to no wing drop, both flaps up and down. They were pretty abrupt with little stick shake or tail buffet for warning. ?In cockpit? video showed the stalls very near the bottom of the white arc or below on the ASI where they should be. Chase plane confirmed stall numbers to be very close to book. I must admit the first stall caught me a bit by surprise. The nose dropped quite a bit more than my old Cherokee 140 and much faster. (I had experienced stalls in the RV-7 during the demo flight and in transition training and I was still surprised).
First landing pattern was flown at 100 mph with turns limited to 15 degrees of bank. (Limiting bank was hard to do at first. This thing begs to be flown like a fighter).
Once back in the hangar, no anomalies were noted under the cowl. No oil or fuel leaks and everything was still tight.
AFS 3500 EFIS/EMS is great!
AOA on AFS was not working. I?ll try calibrating on a future flight.
Putting transponder ident button on stick grip was not a good idea, I should have known better. I hit it at least twice inadvertently during the first few flights.
Second and third flights:
Made adjustments to prop low pitch stop under spinner. That helped with the over speed situation, but still over speeding just a tiny amount. If I pull the prop control out before take-off to a pre-marked spot, it works fine. I suspect I?ll have to adjust the cable or arm on the gov.
Disconnected ident wire to stick grip. Finished connecting pitch servo on autopilot.
Oil temp is still running in the high 170 deg. range. I played with closing the scoop a little. It definitely makes a difference. OAT?s are running in the 60 ? 70 deg. f. range.
No anomalies noted under the cowl except that troubleshooting revealed a bad CHT connection on #3. A piece of cold solder was jammed in the joint keeping the blade from inserting all of the way into the spade connector. It was covered with heat shrink, so it stayed in loose contact. Placed the probe in boiling water and compared to the candy thermometer lifted from wife?s kitchen. It was within 2 degrees. Problem fixed. Candy may never taste the same though. Don?t tell on me!
Landings were a bit better but nothing to brag about. Still coming in hot, floating, and fighting a few small bounces on touchdown.
Grounded for 6 days due to high winds and low tail dragger time.
Fourth flight & Fifth:
Cruising around at fairly low altitude at 75- 85% power trying to make sure the engine is broken in.
I played with the autopilot some in wing leveler (track) and nav mode. ADI Pilot II is really nice for someone who has never owned a plane with an autopilot. I like the flashing low airspeed warning. Very nice if you don?t have a stall warning or AOA warning hooked up. Watching the 496, ADI P II, and 3500 work in unison is poetry in motion. I can?t believe I wired all this stuff up and built the panel myself and it works!
I found out the oil cooler scoop control cable may need to be changed to a vernier style. At high airspeeds it is pulling itself open. That explains the low 172 ? 178 deg. f. oil temps. The cable that I used is the same one provided in the firewall forward kit for cabin heat and alternate air. I ended up with a spare so I used it for this service wondering if it would work or not.
I lost part of a lower intersection fairing. It had a poor bond line. Looks like I didn?t sand the wheel pant with rough enough sand paper and get it cleaned well enough. Oh well! I built another. Glad I made the decision not to paint yet.
I started slowing a bit on final. Landings are improving but definitely not mastered.
Sixth flight: About 14 hours on Hobbs.
Flew to two airports within the approved fly-off area to help break in brand new engine and get a sense of cross country performance and cruise speed... These were the first flights and landings away from home base.
I started adding weight on the passenger side to help diagnose heavy wing. The skid ball is about ? ball out at cruise speed.
Eighth Flight:
I removed wheel pants and fairings.
Next flight the ball is within the lines but still displaced slightly to the right. May need a rudder tab?
The left wing still heavy without the pants and fairings.
Continuing to add weight and fly in different configurations. Airplane seems easier to land with heavier loads. Unofficial initial climbs at gross weight from a 2200? agl airport easily show 1600 fpm or more.
Once I get the heavy wing condition rectified and have the wheel pants and fairings back on and when I am convinced engine is fully broken in, I will begin serious climb and speed tests.
AOA on EFIS is working. Tubing ports were switched behind the panel unit. Duh! I know I checked that at least 3 times. Downloaded AOA setting file e-mailed to me by Travis at AFS.
Measured aileron hinge heights and laid straight edge across aileron and wing. Everything seems to be in order. Squeezed left aileron trailing edge a little.
Ninth flight:
Calibrated AFS AOA. Performed stall tests at higher weights. No real change noted in wing heaviness.
16 hours so far.
Grounded again due to high winds.
I do plan on following AC 90-89A and Vans manual flight testing procedures, and once my engine is fully broken in.
Comments, suggestions and critism welcomed!
