Ron is it true you wear black calf high socks with sandals? Don
Ron is it true you wear black calf high socks with sandals? Don
Only during formal occasions. :-)Originally Posted by pittsdriver3
Ron Wanttaja
Hey, my first (gentle) crosswind landing, as well as a little turbulence.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Way ta go Frank !
Looking very fun.
Gotta Fly...
Today was a sort of calculated risk.
Last flight went really well in zero wind conditions, with the engine never going above 180 degrees (ambient temp was 85 and 90) and running really well for 45 minutes. The ASI is garbage, but I tabled that issue for the moment.*
The forecast was to be zero-zero with CAVU this morning, but it wasn't so. Wind was 2 kts gusting to 4 when I took off and about 3-4 on landing; I had intended to keep to zero-zero for the next few flights. As you can see, I violated my plan - but the weather was well within both the plane and my own abilities and I gotta fly in a little bit of wind sometime. No big surprise it turned to a crosswind - it always turns into a crosswind, though only about 35 degrees.
The unexpected bit was just how sensitive the aircraft is to thermals and bumps. Not in a OH CRAP sort of way, but one feels them a lot more than in a Champ. The upside is she's really stable and still responsive at the same time; I caught a nasty little gust on final (as I'm sure was noticed) but it was easily dealt with. The key is to land under power, and to do wheel landings.
On that big ol' runway I contemplated landing across it diagonally, and in fact finished up my landing that way, just pointing a bit in the wind.
I'm going to do another hour or so of just flying around and doing some turns before contemplating slow flight and stalls.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Went around for about an hour this morning!
While the wind was fairly mild - three miles per hour, gusting to five - I got a late start and went up into the air just before 9:00 a.m., which meant that it was thermal time. I spent an hour getting pushed around by the air, including a few shoves.
I was really struggling between just grooving on flying the aircraft and grinning and frowning at turbulence....but the joy of flight won over (as it always seems to do).
The other thing I did a bit different today was having the fuel tank almost full - about ten gallons. It shifts the CG forward enough to where one can feel it, and with the extra weight my takeoff was a bit longer than usual, as was my landing (both were accomplished to where there wasn't anything to write about them).
The funny thing was that with the turbulence the cork of the fuel gauge cap jumped up enough to push it almost out of the tank. Add item number 1,342 to the fine tuning list to put a chain or strap on it. Naturally it slid back down into the tank neck as I was lining up on final.
Sometimes my airplane can be such a clown like that.
No video, as the mount on the spar was a bit loose and the camera shimmied in the wind most of the time - and I don't want to share video that is filmed in PukeVision; it's much worse than SpazVision of the head strap.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Going over the aircraft from prop to rudder the other day I noticed my axle is slightly bent, and after pulling it confirmed that it's off true. Not much, about an inch sway in the center curving to the ends.
Spoke to Robert Baslee today and he gave me the specs for the axle - 1 1/4" x 0.58 of 4130 steel, and recommended that I stick with it.
He said I could go to 0.83 thickness, but that's as thick as I should go, saying "you want the axle to bend and not break."
We had a long conversation about bungees - he thinks I have them too tight (they really didn't move) and that they "weld" the gear in place - and that it's a sort of art to finding the right amount of tension....with some descriptions of play when it's right.
I ordered both thicknesses of tubing; I'll put the thinner stuff on as a replacement and keep the thicker in reserve if I bend the new one.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
While I wait for the new axle to show up, I goofed around this morning on Google Earth and found they captured what was most likely the rigging process:
Kinda defines "home built."
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
My replacement 4130 steel tube axles came in and my son, curious, looked inside the triangular package from Aircraft Spruce to see what it was.
"You ordered pipes by mail," he said, incredulous, "weird."
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Axle replaced and the bungees adjusted to what I think is going to work pretty good.
If I stand on the gear, the bungees give about a quarter inch. I figure that's enough to limit bending the axle without making ground handling an adventure.
Naturally the weather turned to crap, so no flying.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
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