I made what would basically qualify for a first successful flight in a Zenith Cruzer yesterday. It's first flight landing by the owner ended in mishap and the second flight takeoff by the owner ended in mishap. I was able to takeoff, climb to altitude, and land without breaking anything. Probably as much a matter of luck as skill. I'm not impressed with the flying qualities of this aircraft in particular and the design if this one represents the fleet. Very light in pitch control, heavy in aileron control, large pitch change with little stick movement. I don't like flat screen panels as I tended to "chase" the numbers when little pitch change makes airspeed numbers start to scroll. This aircraft seemed to have a great deal of either "oil canning" or "air frame" buffeting at engine idle and 5 to 15 mph above the stall. Very unnerving. I landed into a bad haze induced sun glare so I had very poor visibility which didn't help the approach but was stable down to the flare. When I pitched up for the flare there was no float, it just landed. It seemed the bottom just dropped out the last 10 feet. On takeoff with 130hp, when the nose comes up it wants to head for the weeds on the left side of the runway. Instant right rudder is the only salvation. Bottom line, I'm not impressed. I don't think I'd enjoy flying that thing even after a number of hours practice. By comparison, I can fly my KR in the middle of a nap and have to be wide awake and on "speed" drugs to fly this thing. My taildragger KR has more pleasant ground handling than the tri-gear Cruiser. So much for first impressions.
As always, your results may vary........... Larry Flesner _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org
