Airborne again

[Resasi]

After nine long months of paper-chasing I got involved with the process and with the assistance of John aka Merlin Chaser managed to unearth the last details required on the 4 blade Arplast we had installed with the 532. This weekend with the new LAA permit to fly and a new limitations sheet issued I was once more legal to get airborne with the Bensen.

I was so full of childish enthusiasm that John felt that I could not help broadcasting the news on the forum. Of course I had no intention of doing so but in order not to disappoint him I have decided to share my good fortune with you all.

Glad to see that the wheel balancing went well and that rotor management though rusty soon came back up to speed, along with the rotors.

I did become inadvertently airborne when caught unawares by the section in the 532 powerband when the engine seems to accelerate by itself. But soon got accustomed to that and on to low then high hops, s turns along the runway and back into the circuit.

The extra power has made a substantial improvement. A much shorter ground run hugely improved rate of climb and increased top speed. Whereas before I struggled for altitude and was proceeding very noisily around the circuit at full power rather lower than everybody like, I can now clim to 1000 by beginning of downwind and had to back off the power so as not to exceed 60 kts on the downwind.

The rotors are very smooth indeed and although I had always enjoyed flying the Bensen this seems like a totally new machine. I only hope that the Hornet will fly this well.

Was lucky with the weather and flew on both Sat and Sun. 2 on Sat then forewent the usuual over indulgence at the evening BBQ and managed another morning flight in before the RAF began their operations and booted us off the runway.

Still impressed at the rate one goes down on the PFL's. Since managing to get quite a bit higher now before the simulated engine stop, I am having far more time to appreciate the steep nose down descent angle and seemingly high rate of descent.

Two very happy days.

 

[barnstorm2]

Good news!!

.

 

[StanFoster]

Resasi- I can feel your excitement clear up here in Illinois. Way to go....and it was nice meeting you at Bensen Days. Is Mentone in your plans?


Stan

 

[animal]

way to go, where the pics?

 

[scandtours]

Resasi,
I still remember my first ... wheel balancing ( fortyfive years ago) and I still remember when the nose wheel lifted off 4-5 inches the ground. You get a feeling that as if you are 1000 ft in the air. The first nights I could not even sleep. Just reading and rereading the flt manuals. I learned to fly from the books.

Congratulations Resasi!
Giorgos.

 

[Timchick]

Congratulations! Let's see some video.

 

[Aviomania]

Congratulations Leight!!!! wish you many more happy days in the air!!

 

[Resasi]

Thank you to all of you for sharing with me. The 9 month layoff was extremely frustrating and to be flying again was wonderful.

Delighted that I had not forgotten how it all worked and how quickly she now gets into the air. The 4 blade Arplast has dramatically decreased to noise to people on the ground which is great as we have many noise sensitive people living near the airfield.

Week end before last we were scheduled to have a low flypast by the renovated Vulcan bomber for an open day the RAF training squadron on the airfield were having. Sadly it went technical and the much looked forward to flypast was canceled. This was the bomber that penetrated US air defenses undetected by flying in low level below them some years back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5esdbkDTBM

I was looking forward to seeing how the ostrich farm coped with that instead our gyros which do not overfly them. My guess is they may well have gone off their laying.

The Ostriches in the picture are where they belong! back out in Kenya. These were taken from a Magni, and are not the ones at Rissington.


Sorry about the pics I forgot my camera. I must at some stage invest in a good video camera as I would like to document our efforts with the Hornet. I think Timchick posted what might be a good one to get.

Stuart had a great 4th of July and then on Sunday finally got back to work on our build. He too had a very busy and productive day, and unlike me did not forget to take pictures Removed the wiring done on the quad gauge. Rewired it with the correct diameter wiring which of course was much lighter than the stuff I bought. Wired up the instruments and the tiny tach. Made a temporary throttle handle as we may want to add a prerotator button for the electric system Nicolas is working on for us. He used the jig that Gyrojake made and drilled the mounting holes for the cheek plates, says the jig worked a treat. Did say working in the hanger had been pretty warm.

 

[Resasi]

Not sure when the picture limit is reached so a few more from Stu's efforts on Sunday.

He is very keen to get the Hornet finished and flying and we are hoping to do so sometime this summer if all goes well. Chris/ Dirty Dog will of course be airborne by then, been following in your footsteps there Chris.

We still have to get our rudder pedal set-up sorted out, the trailer modified. Get the Registration position sorted, where to put the Experimental sticker. Cheek plates, hang test, put the prerotator on. As Tom said the last ten percent??? ( think we might be underestimating this by quite a bit) takes ninty percent of the time.

But as they say 'softly softly chatchee monkey' and Stu has been doing a great job on this. I am very happy with what he has built for us. My build rate would have been glacial compared to his but then it is a joint project and I can pass on to him all I have been learning over the last two years. A lot of it here on this great Forum from a lot of great people. Being able to move into Roy Freeberg's hanger at Zephyr hills was a big bonus too. Another beautifully built Hornet to set us an example and Roy's invaluable help company and advice.

Likewise Stan, unfortunately probably won't make Mentone.