goodings(at)yorku.ca
Guest
|
 Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:31 am Post subject: Zenith-List Digest: First Flight |
 |
|
A good deal has been said in the List about the first flight, most of it
pretty helpful. Permit me to add our view. ("Our" refers to me and my
son - we built our CH601HD with R912S together.) Firstly, I would
DEFINITELY use a test pilot if any reasonably suitable person is
available. Most of my time was in Cessnas, my son's time in Katanas; the
flight characteristics of the 601HD are VERY different. (It has been said
in this List that the 601HD or HDS has the glide ratio of a grand piano;
it takes some getting used to, in setting up the final approach and
landing.) We were lucky enough to have a 25,000-hour airliner captain
available. That, of itself, means little; he would say the same thing.
But he had built his own 601HD, and had 70 hours on it. It is my
understanding in Canada that a second person can serve as flight crew if
he/she is a licensed pilot. We were interested in being safe. Being safe
meant having the test pilot in the left seat, and myself or my son in the
right seat. The test pilot flew the aircraft; the other person had a pad
on his knee and was watching the gauges like a hawk. Perhaps the thing
most likely to go wrong on the first flight is that the engine overheats.
The second person will perceive this very quickly, and tell the test
pilot. If the first flight was compounded by some unusual flight
characteristics, the test pilot all alone would be VERY busy! - even a
great test pilot like ours. In fact, my son went in the right seat for
the first half-hour, and myself for the second half hour; one defers to
one's children! We both got a big kick out of it. And yes, the engine
had a tendency to overheat; the air outflow from the bottom of the cowl
was too restricted, a matter that was easy to correct. If I were doing it
again, I would definitely follow the same procedure. Incidentally, our
test pilot went in the right seat of his own 601HD on its first flight,
with an experienced 601 driver in the left seat.
John and Peter Goodings, C-FGPJ, CH601HD with R912S,
Toronto/Waterloo/Ottawa.
| | - The Matronics Zenith-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Zenith-List |
|
|
|
Get Email Distribution Too!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
