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vft(at)aol.com
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 Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 6:55 pm Post subject: Finally flying again |
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Well, today was the day and I’ve finally flown my Rocket. It’s been a long time coming and I’m just over the moon with how well things went. I am a relatively low time pilot (< 300hrs) and I had not flown much of anything thing in the last 4 years. I knew going into this project that the Rocket was going to be a big step up in performance as all of my time up to very recently had been in my Kitfox. In preparation for the Rocket I got myself back into flying by getting my biannual and high performance endorsement in a ’56 182. I know the 182 is not considered much of a high performance aircraft but compared to the Kitfox it was. This was also my first exposure to constant speed props. After this I got some dual in a RV-6 (10 hrs and 87 landings) with me in the right seat. In addition to this my brother has a really sweet Extra 300LP so I took advantage of any time it was available and flew it from the front seat. This was great prep for the Rocket as the sight picture is very similar (the Rocket has better vis over the nose) as is the takeoff performance (the Rocket beats it here too) and overall sound/feel. With all this recent experience I’ve been pretty confident I could handle the Rocket. All that I needed was a good day and that day has finally come.
I don’t quite remember much of the takeoff other than I was grinning from ear to ear and the plane went straight as an arrow. My plan was to stay in the pattern for a bit but shortly after lift off the tower called and said if I was going to keep climbing I needed to contact Orlando Approach. At quick glance at the altimeter showed I was at 3000” and climbing (“gee… no wonder the earth was falling away so fast”) so I switched frequencies, checked in with Orlando and settled in at 4500’. After setting power (at)24/24 I let the airplane accelerate and started to get a feel for things. I don’t remember any of the numbers but the general feeling of the airplane is fantastic. The other thing a noticed very quickly was how much ground it was capable of covering in a short period of time. As in “hey…where’d the airport go?” After approx 15 min I figured it was time to get a feel for the lower end of the speed envelope so I slowed it down, got the flaps out, and did some slow flight and approach stalls. All of this was a piece of cake so I brought the power back up to start climbing and the master engine caution alarm went off with a high oil pressure alarm. This got my attention pretty quick (as it should) but the engine sounded ok and after checking the Dynon EMS-10 it was apparent that all of the sensors were having an issue. Heeding the advice of many that it’s better to trouble shoot things on the ground I headed back to the airport. The approach was very easy to manage and the landing was pretty fair. Two light skips and she settled on all three and rolled out without much input from me. All in all it was a great first flight.
Danny Melnik
F1 N14ZM
Rocket Factory
Melbourne, FL
Builder and forner  owner of Kitfox N24ZM
Stay informed, get connected and more with AOL on your phone.
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| | - The Matronics Kitfox-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:
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Fox5flyer
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 3:17 am Post subject: Finally flying again |
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Congratulations Danny! What a huge step up from N24ZM! I can't imagine what it would be like sitting in an airplane ten miles out and my mind still on the runway. They call those things F1 Rockets for a good reason. When you finish up figuring out what happened with your Dynon, give us a report and send us some photos. Again, good luck with your future flights.
Deke Morisse
Mikado Michigan
S5/Subaru/CAP 370+ TT
"The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress."
- Joseph Joubert
[quote]
Well, today was the day and I’ve finally flown my Rocket. It’s been a long time coming and I’m just over the moon with how well things went. I am a relatively low time pilot (< 300hrs) and I had not flown much of anything thing in the last 4 years. I knew going into this project that the Rocket was going to be a big step up in performance as all of my time up to very recently had been in my Kitfox. In preparation for the Rocket I got myself back into flying by getting my biannual and high performance endorsement in a ’56 182. I know the 182 is not considered much of a high performance aircraft but compared to the Kitfox it was. This was also my first exposure to constant speed props. After this I got some dual in a RV-6 (10 hrs and 87 landings) with me in the right seat. In addition to this my brother has a really sweet Extra 300LP so I took advantage of any time it was available and flew it from the front seat. This was great prep for the Rocket as the sight picture is very similar (the Rocket has better vis over the nose) as is the takeoff performance (the Rocket beats it here too) and overall sound/feel. With all this recent experience I’ve been pretty confident I could handle the Rocket. All that I needed was a good day and that day has finally come.
I don’t quite remember much of the takeoff other than I was grinning from ear to ear and the plane went straight as an arrow. My plan was to stay in the pattern for a bit but shortly after lift off the tower called and said if I was going to keep climbing I needed to contact Orlando Approach. At quick glance at the altimeter showed I was at 3000” and climbing (“gee… no wonder the earth was falling away so fast”) so I switched frequencies, checked in with Orlando and settled in at 4500’. After setting power (at)24/24 I let the airplane accelerate and started to get a feel for things. I don’t remember any of the numbers but the general feeling of the airplane is fantastic. The other thing a noticed very quickly was how much ground it was capable of covering in a short period of time. As in “hey…where’d the airport go?” After approx 15 min I figured it was time to get a feel for the lower end of the speed envelope so I slowed it down, got the flaps out, and did some slow flight and approach stalls. All of this was a piece of cake so I brought the power back up to start climbing and the master engine caution alarm went off with a high oil pressure alarm. This got my attention pretty quick (as it should) but the engine sounded ok and after checking the Dynon EMS-10 it was apparent that all of the sensors were having an issue. Heeding the advice of many that it’s better to trouble shoot things on the ground I headed back to the airport. The approach was very easy to manage and the landing was pretty fair. Two light skips and she settled on all three and rolled out without much input from me. All in all it was a great first flight.
Danny Melnik
F1 N14ZM
Rocket Factory
Melbourne, FL
Builder and forner owner of Kitfox N24ZM
Stay informed, get connected and more with AOL on your phone.
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| | - The Matronics Kitfox-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:
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