Don G
Joined: 10 Jan 2006 Posts: 156 Location: Central Illinois
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Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:49 pm Post subject: FireFly flight instructions??? |
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Gents, I was asked awhile back to write down flight instructions for the Firefly I built sometime back for the fella who bought it from its current owners. Upon reflection, and remembering how many questions I had in my own mind about flying a Kolb before I was helped out by a friendly Kolb owner, I thought I would post the doc here, simply for new prospective owners. Now I am sure some with more journalistic talent than I, and better pilots than I, might want to add their own comments...go ahead. I am not the first word or the last on this subject. This is simply for the archives.
Kolb FireFly SN098 Flight instructions (R447 power)
Starting:
Set Wheel chocks
Set Throttle to Idle
Turn on electric fuel pump and wait for 10 seconds…
Turn on ign switch
Pull primer/enrichener lever (over left side seat)
Place left foot on tire…Pull recoil.
Hold plane and manually caress throttle up until engine smoothes out. Close enrichener lever/circuit.
When engine seems warmed up enough to lower throttle…Pull chocks…jump in..Strap in…and taxi. Turn off electric fuel pump. (personal pref)
Take off:
When aligned on runway…gently ease throttle up to max as ground speed increases.
DO NOT increase throttle to fast, or due to high thrustline…craft will “nose over” .
This will simply have to come by experience as airspeed indicator won’t be working yet.
You don’t want to have too little groundspeed that the elevators are not effective enough to hold the nose up or the tail down.
In the first stages of “feeling this out”, You will find that if enough speed is attained to raise the tail ,then lower it, (tail control I call it) you will have enough elevator to keep it down at full throttle. IF you cannot lower the tail after bringing it up, you are on the edge…wait for groundspeed to pick up more or lower throttle if the nose is going over…so if you can bring the tail up, and then lower it…you can be at full throttle. This all happen very quickly…and will become a fluid practice after a few tries. I would estimate from idle to full throttle… will be 5 or 6 seconds…wheels off will be aprox 3 or 4 seconds later..maybe 5 if heavy
My technique is…Set flaperons to ½ then increasing throttle and groundspeed evenly until I can raise the tail…then full throttle and lower tail back to ground or slightly above….let it fly off.
Airspeed will be working by now, and after breaking ground hold airspeed to 55 -60 mph and climb….make sure rpms are at or above 6000…if much below, say 5800…abort takeoff and see why engine is not coming up to speed. (fuel…Prop etc..) I usually have flaperons back to neutral by pattern altitude.
If angle of climb is to great for your taste…then let speed go to 65 or 70…(grin)
After good familiarity with aircraft…climbouts can be accomplished at 45 to 50 mph indicated easily…but, the angle of attack is so steep, you will be accused of “showing off” or” flying recklessly” if you do this at fly-ins or air shows… Unless of course…everyone there is a Kolb driver..then no one will think a moment about it!
For me…these speeds worked well… (your mileage may vary)
Climb out = 55/60 indicated
Cruise = 70/75……this greatly influence by weight but engine likes 56 to 5800 rpms.
Max speed..85/90 mph at 6500 rpms… .caution…when operating here, or anywhere above 6200 rpms..…fuel goes thru engine at an alarming rate. My estimate is 10 /12 gph.
Approach =60
Stall = 30
LANDING:
As with any very light weight craft, 098 will loose airspeed very quickly when power is removed. For this reason, Until you get alot of experience in it, Landing should be flown with some power at all times, until the moment of touchdown.
For your first few landings:
Fly the pattern at 60…1/2 flaperons on base leg, (Notice pitch effect!!)!.maintain 60 on final…and even over the numbers,, then at 10 to 15 feet, slowly lower throttle and altitude, (throttle can be left at 3000 rpms and it will come down )
When wheel touch…cut power.
This would be best accomplished on a long runway, as to see how fast airspeed goes away at lower throttle setting.
If you get in trouble…the FireFly will Fly away very quickly and resume a climb with full power .
It is very easy to reverse Vertical speed with power and attitude…don’t force a bad landing…
There is nothing in the air that will bend a Kolb…and she loves to fly…so if the cross wind has you askew…or for whatever reason you don’t think it is gonna be a pretty landing…hit the gas and fly away…just remember when you apply throttle quickly…there will be a strong pitching moment of the nose down and the tail up..(that high thrustline)..so have a little backpressure on the stick as you push the throttle forward…and be ready for it.
Also remember, these numbers and speeds quoted above are for Kolb FireFly #098
Other single seat Kolbs will no doubt have slightly different numbers.
My last word of advice, if you are a pilot, and have basic piloting skills…then DO NOT try and get the “feel” of the airplane by taxing it around with the tail up and all that jazz…you probably will never get to enjoy flying it if you do, just the joy of repairing it. All you need to know about an airplanes ground handling is which pedal makes it go which way, and how to hold the upwind wing down in a crosswind.. You get the “Feel” for an aircraft in the air. If , after you have taken off for the first time…you are intimidated about landing it…then go back to altitude and play with it…stall it…take steep turns. Fool around with slow flight and watch the airspeed and Vertical Speed and get the feel of the ailerons at low speeds…and the flaperon settings…check the feel of the stick///its different with flaperons deployed than without…and has different effectiveness…
Then..pick a long runway and FLY the aircraft down to 10 ft or less of altitude at an airspeed you already know works, and slowly remove the power and let it come down…as soon as the wheels touch.. cut the power and if you have time…go and take off again and do this again. If you concentrate to hard on getting a “flare” the craft will likely end up ceaseing to fly to high and “plop down the last few feet due to lack or inertia. This is how the gear get bent. A lot of typical GA pilots do this in a Kolb, they stop flying the plane and pull the stick back and just freeze, waiting for it to settle. Don’t do this..Fly it all the way to touchdown.
Remember, as I said, there is nothing in the Air that will Bend an aircraft, but just about everything on the ground will. So I have adopted this strategy for over 30 years of flying, when an airplane is moving…keep its time on the ground at an absolute minimum. This is when it is most vulnerable to damage.
I don’t claim to have never bent an aircraft..in fact I have bent several…I guess that’s how I know this rule works the best.
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_________________ Don G.
Central Illinois
Kitfox IV Speedster
Luscombe 8A
RV9A |
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