On 9/2/2018 4:22 AM, Phil Dietro wrote:
Hi Sally,
That sounds good, Flew it yesterday, here’s my 1st thoughts. I am flying it today, training, so I will get some back seat time. Awesome wing! You guys nailed it with this wing.
Flew my nice new Apco cruiser 550 today, solo. Did 15 minutes, landed to take someone up to try with additional weight.
Here’s how the solo test flight went. Kite up was quick, cells open, no waiting for end cells to open, then lifted off. Leveled off at about 200’AGL, looked at lines again, and particularly the steering lines & safety/reference line. Made some turns, then pulled in some line with my trim locks, and looked at the tail, still flat, no cup or tail pulled in, but the turns went from slow with the steering line & reference line matched to OMG fast when I pushed out full. Then the climb test. Remember though, I’m at 3000′ MSL field elevation, and density altitude was about 3800′. At full power, 900FPM, which was about 300-400 FPM faster than before with the PD550 on it. Not sure if I backed off the power at that point or not, because I was monitoring everything. Leg pressure was a lot lighter, a small amount of steering input made a crisp turn, and, it flew straight without pulling in line on one side to compensate for torque. I really loved that. Lines were set equally on both sides. Much easier to line up for approaches & T&G’s. My 1st touch & go was at 38MPH ground speed, wind sock indicated I was into the wind too. Reminded me of some with my elliptical sky bolt 430. Descent rate was lower as well, I was almost at idle coming in. Shot a few more T&G’s, mid 30MPH speed range
I rigged the wing yesterday, in my driveway, and while it was not as windy as at my field, still had to deal with some wind, making it tougher. I lost flying time this morning checking everything, correcting some minor issues, setting the steering lines, then, having set up on runway 8, the wind changed, and I had to re bag. it & taxi down to runway 26 for my 1st take off. It turned out to be one of those mornings where the wind was teasing me. Cross wind I can handle, but not doing a downwind take off the 1st time with e new wing. I think I had about a 5 degree or so left front quartering crosswind, no issue.
The 2nd flight, with a passenger friend of mine did not happen, due to wind changes, and some rigging corrections. No pictures either, my camera friend had some other obligations early, so we will get some shots another time. My nice new wing now looks dirty & dusty as all desert wings do.
Over all, a great flying wing, made my Airwolf feel like a new plane, tracked better, no heavy leg pressure.
I will be doing 2 up training tomorrow, so I’ll get to fly from the back seat. I’ll have more to report on that, but I expect it to be a lot better. When I had the PD550 trimmed so as not to hold much pedal in level flight, I almost couldn’t push out on the right turn from the back seat.
Regards,
Phil Dietro
SP,CFI,DPE,SFIE
760-242-3359
Inland Paraflite