Congratulations Sid. ?I know some of this was a bit disappointing, but you are still well and you learned a lot. ?You know what needs attention on the plane and have ideas of what to do to correct it. ?Things will improve as you get the bugs worked out.
-Jeff Scott Los Alamos, NM > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Sid Wood > Sent: 03/23/13 08:29 PM > To: krnet at list.krnet.org > Subject: KR> First Flight > > Made the first flight with N6242 this morning. That's 26+ years of steady > building, modifying, sanding, painting, fixing and tweaking coming together > for 10 minutes of flight with 2 laps around the patch. > Winds were supposed to be calm as reported by AWOS; not true at any altitude > above 20 feet. My pitch trim was set for neutral, but soon as flying speed > was reached, got immediate pitch up, which of course, I immediately over > corrected. Nearly lost it, but managed to keep going while holding lots of > forward stick. Started to encounter more gusts a few hundred feet up with > more PIO. By 1500 feet was getting better control, but still gusty. Still > had full down trim and holding lots of forward stick. At 2000 feet oil temp > spiked at 240 degrees F and oil pressure was dropping off. Reduced throttle > to idle to glide to an airport landing. Was to high and fast over the > threshold. The low morning sun washed out everything on the Dynon during > final approach. I did not know if the engine had enough oil for a go > around, so pressed for a landing on the 4200' runway. Estimate the first > touch was about 80 knots half way down the runway with more PIO. The third > bounce bent the nose strut and trashed the wheel pant. Got to taxi speed > with about 100 feet of runway to spare. Taxi back to the hangar was > uneventful except for the fear induced adrenaline shakes. > Inspection at the hangar revealed the nose strut bent at the curve up from > the pivot. The wheel pant had asphalt scratches indicating a classic > wheelbarrow touchdown and had been destroyed. Engine oil was at the full > mark on the dip stick. Heat in the cabin during flight indicated inadequate > airflow through the oil cooler; excessive air duct length may be the > problem. > The elevator trim tab would not extend beyond the neutral point using the > cockpit control. The Nyrod shaft on the trim tab seems to be jammed to keep > the elevator in the full up position. My right triceps still aches from > holding forward stick so hard for so long. Troubleshooting is still ongoing > to fix the elevator trim. Will also need a new nose strut and maybe a new > oil cooler. > My intent with persisting with the climb was to get enough experience with > the controls to calm down the PIO for landing. Engine oil over heat > preempted that training. > > Sid Wood > Tri-gear KR-2 N6242 > Mechanicsville, MD, USA > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at http://tugantek.com/archmailv2-kr/search. > To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to KRnet-leave at list.krnet.org > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html > see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change > options
