Today was one of those cold calm and quietly beautiful days for winter
flying. Visibility looked good in spite of mist in the river valleys. Bryan
Allsop's new XS (912S) G-BYSA was ready for first flight at Gamston (UK) so
we drove over there, about an hour's drive and gave the bird one last
inspection, did a few taxy runs then gathered our wits looked for a reason
not to fly, couldn't find any so went for it.
This is a reasonably light airplane at 790 lbs and it was cold, 1 degree C,
so take off was very quick. Rate of climb at 80 kts was well over 1000
ft/min. This flight lasted about 20 minutes and was used to explore the low
end of the envelope, including stalls, no surprises but the expected wing
drop flaps down. Speed up to 120 kts on this flight produced no surprises
either. The envelope was later extended to 130 kts.
Bryan's irepressible grin was great to see after at the end of a rewarding
day.
Last Sunday was also a lovely day for flying, this time at the eastern edge
of the Welsh mountains, Shobdon. Another new Europa XS was waiting for
first flight. This was Dave Richardson's 914 XS. Again an excellent example
of a first time builder's work. We managed 3 flights before the short day
ended and explored most of the flight envelope.
Both of these XSs had a very mild stall in the clean condition, almost like
a canard nod. Flaps down both dropped a wing but recovered immediately on
relaxing stick pressure and kicking full rudder. Both also showed the
promise of a very relaxed 130 kt cruise. Dave has had his prop balanced
since the first flights so I am looking forward to some silky smooth flying
next time.
Graham
|