Several years prior to my first flight in my KR-1, I accumulated about 75 hours in a T?Craft. I did almost exactly as Mark, except that I logged a little over 9 hours of taxi time on my KR-1 on a 6500 X 150 foot runway. The first time I flew it, I used the same routine as when fast taxiing, said a quick prayer, then gradually gave it some more throttle and very, very slight back pressure on the stick ? and I was flying. In retrospect, I think I spent almost too much time over-preparing myself because it was absolutely nothing to fly it after all that ground training.
Ed J. I think I had about 15 hours of tailwind time (mostly in a Champ) when I flew my plane for the first time. I'd have made a pretty good landing if I hadn't cut the throttle all the way back and "dropped it in" from about 5' up. I did about 60 runs up and down a 5000' runway to get the feel of the ground handling of a KR in the few days prior to first flight though, and I think that helped a lot. Mark Langford
