As a long time flyer (almost 36 years) of certified airplanes, I find myself still amazed that this experimental plane I built (99% by myself) in my garage actually flies like a real airplane and apparently is tough as nails, based on my extensive testing of bounced landings. I've also found that for me, Phase 1 Testing is a legal artifice, a formality to check off, because I don't think I'll really get finished with testing until somewhere around 100 hours.
For me, testing has so far fallen into two categories: 1-learning to trust the airplane and proving that it won't fold up like a cheap card table...I'm 99% there, and 2-learning to trust myself as a new tail wheel pilot (~40 hours so far). I'm about 30% there.
Sure, I've conducted stall tests and slow flight and attempted to test the airspeed calibration and some other basics, but I haven't yet conducted different weight and balance tests, spin tests or drawn any fancy Vx/Vy graphs yet. That will all come. I'll do all the other stuff, but I'm in no hurry right now.
To the point of this post. I am obviously working on becoming a better tail wheel pilot and part of that is just getting out and working at it in different conditions. It's spring time obviously and with spring comes wind. I decided to take a long round-robin x-country within my test area yesterday. I'd plan to make one landing at each airport.
Winds were up with gusts out of the south, but for the most part, they were within 20 degrees of the runways I planned to land at. As the day wore on, the winds picked up. I stayed low (~2500 ft) since the distance between airports wasn't great so the ride was rough as a cob. I came to appreciate those Crow shoulder straps on more than one occasion. The plane didn't seem to care.
My appreciation for Vans design and affection for this airplane grew. All landings were acceptable and even a couple were good three-pointers. My appreciation for my Titan engine and Don Rivera's AFP injector took a real leap when I had a last second go around at one of the airports with a short, downhill runway surrounded by trees. Almost on the ground, low and slow and all of a sudden I caught a gust and I'm up 10 ft and slow. I utter "oh darn" (edited) and jam the throttle forward, and that plane was outta there like I was in a slingshot. No hesitation at all. Thank you Titan and Don...I did go around and land it at that airport. Can't let a landing get the best of you.
I know I'm not there, and not even close. I plan to do some more of these kinds of flights to build confidence, and at some point, I'll draw up some fancy graphs for the POH, but for now, it's all about becoming a competent tail wheel pilot in a plane I built in my garage (still can't believe that).
Just some thoughts to maybe stimulate some conversation or comments.
For me, testing has so far fallen into two categories: 1-learning to trust the airplane and proving that it won't fold up like a cheap card table...I'm 99% there, and 2-learning to trust myself as a new tail wheel pilot (~40 hours so far). I'm about 30% there.
Sure, I've conducted stall tests and slow flight and attempted to test the airspeed calibration and some other basics, but I haven't yet conducted different weight and balance tests, spin tests or drawn any fancy Vx/Vy graphs yet. That will all come. I'll do all the other stuff, but I'm in no hurry right now.
To the point of this post. I am obviously working on becoming a better tail wheel pilot and part of that is just getting out and working at it in different conditions. It's spring time obviously and with spring comes wind. I decided to take a long round-robin x-country within my test area yesterday. I'd plan to make one landing at each airport.
Winds were up with gusts out of the south, but for the most part, they were within 20 degrees of the runways I planned to land at. As the day wore on, the winds picked up. I stayed low (~2500 ft) since the distance between airports wasn't great so the ride was rough as a cob. I came to appreciate those Crow shoulder straps on more than one occasion. The plane didn't seem to care.
My appreciation for Vans design and affection for this airplane grew. All landings were acceptable and even a couple were good three-pointers. My appreciation for my Titan engine and Don Rivera's AFP injector took a real leap when I had a last second go around at one of the airports with a short, downhill runway surrounded by trees. Almost on the ground, low and slow and all of a sudden I caught a gust and I'm up 10 ft and slow. I utter "oh darn" (edited) and jam the throttle forward, and that plane was outta there like I was in a slingshot. No hesitation at all. Thank you Titan and Don...I did go around and land it at that airport. Can't let a landing get the best of you.
I know I'm not there, and not even close. I plan to do some more of these kinds of flights to build confidence, and at some point, I'll draw up some fancy graphs for the POH, but for now, it's all about becoming a competent tail wheel pilot in a plane I built in my garage (still can't believe that).
Just some thoughts to maybe stimulate some conversation or comments.
