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Thread: N36KJ Flies First Time

  1. #11
    Senior Member Maverick's Avatar
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    Default Re: N36KJ Flies First Time

    Thought I'd add an update. Lots has been learned.

    After trying to keep the plane from rolling up into a ball with me in it, I decided to change the landing gear. I had a 27" gear. Currently the factory supplies a 22" gear so, I bought one and swapped them out. The 22" was what I had on N49FK back in 03'. This made a difference. I can now see over the cowling and get less bounce. The sad part is that I didn't notice the elevator angle deflection until after the gear change. The most significant change was the adjustment to the elevator deflection. I had found it hard to get the nose up on landings and subsequently to slow down. I checked the elevator deflection and discovered that I had flipped the numbers on my rigging. I was only getting 25 degrees up and 39 down. Admitting this is embarrassing but, hopefully my admitted mistake will keep someone else from disaster. I made the adjustments and now am able to really slow down on landings touching down between 40-45mph rather than 50-55.

    If I had been able to slow down better, the taller gear might have been fine. Since I wasn't able to get the nose up and slow down enough it made it so the plane wanted to fly more than I did when touching down. I made a few landings that scared the bejesus out of some of the other tail-dragger pilots on the field. I can't adequately describe how I felt on my last landing with the taller gear. On that one, I got a wind gust at just the wrong time and scraped the tips of both of my wings on the runway but was able to get stopped before any serious damage was done. When I cleared the runway, the ATC guy cleared me to the ramp and asked, N36KJ do you need any toilet paper?

    Both wing tips had about a 1" scrape on the outside trailing edge that one might not even notice if you didn't know to look for them in the first place. I think had I had the elevator rigging right in the first place, the taller gear would have been fine. I just dodged a bullet on the elevator rigging.

    I've done enough landings with the 22" gear and more elevator authority that I'm comfortable so, I'm ready to leave the traffic pattern and get out into my test area and start the other testing.
    EAA, AOPA
    KF5 (N49FK & N36KJ)
    Phoenix, AZ

  2. #12
    Senior Member bbs428's Avatar
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    Default Re: N36KJ Flies First Time

    Wow! Glad you and the plane are in one piece! Holy bat S#%* !! I can see myself making that miscalculation. Appreciate the feedback.
    Somebody said that carrier pilots were the best in the world, and they must be or there wouldn't be any of them left alive. — Ernie Pyle

    Brett Butler
    Flying: 1998 Model 5 Outback, 912ul Zipper 110hp, G3x avionics, ss7 upgrades

  3. #13
    Administrator DesertFox4's Avatar
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    Default Re: N36KJ Flies First Time

    Happy you caught the issue Fred. That will help tame it down considerably. Enjoy the rest of your hopefully uneventful phase one.


    DesertFox4
    Admin.
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    912 ULS Tri-gear


  4. #14
    Senior Member Cherrybark's Avatar
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    Default Re: N36KJ Flies First Time

    Oh man, those sound like some very high pucker factor landings. I'm sure you are enjoying takeoffs and landings much more with the corrected angles!
    Carl Strange
    Flying
    SS7, 912iS, Oratex, G3X

  5. #15
    Senior Member efwd's Avatar
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    Default Re: N36KJ Flies First Time

    Damn, glad your able to tell us. Another thing, it speaks volumes about you and those who are willing to share such stories. I firmly believe that sharing saves lives and Im glad as hell to be associated with the likes. Thanks
    Eddie Forward
    Flying
    SS7, 912iS, Garmin G3X

  6. #16
    Sahota's Avatar
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    Default Re: N36KJ Flies First Time

    Sounds like you did well hanging on to it!

  7. #17
    Senior Member Maverick's Avatar
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    Default Re: N36KJ Flies First Time

    Thank you to all.

    I flew today and left the airfield for the first time. I flew to a practice area and tested for stalls. With no flaps I was getting 43-45 indicated and with 20 degrees I was getting 41-43. Does this sound about right compared to other 912s?

    Slow flight at 55mph was very comfortable. S-turns and turns about a point were uneventful.

    With the pitch that I have the prop set at I was seeing 100mph at 5200rpm, 105 at 5400 . I'll open the pitch on the prop next flight to check for performance with more bite. What are you seeing at these rpm settings?

    Today was a standard day and I was climbing at 1100fpm on take off at 75mph no flaps.

    Best glide with engine at idle was 65mph.

    Best maneuvering speed seemed to be about 75mph.

    Total test time 1.4hrs. I would have stayed longer but my old guys bladder was screaming about my morning coffee. Note to self, next time just one cup.

    With about half the oil cooler covered with aluminum tape my oil temp was running 168 degrees.

    I'm new to the Rotax. I've always flown Continentals and much prefer them to the Rotax but, the performance difference is astounding. It seemed like there were differences in the smoothness of the Rotax engine at various rpm settings. I have the IvoProp medium three blade and wondered if there is any balancing that has to be done. There was no earth-shattering vibrations when it was noticeable. A slight up or down change in rpm setting would smooth things out.

    My landing was successful but, I wouldn't say it was pretty. I think I'm stalling too high above the runway letting it sink too fast. I'll try tickling the throttle a little next time so maybe I can get that tailwheel down first. What about flaps? I don't use flaps on landings and I know I need to practice it but, as a general question, do you use flaps when landing and if so how much?

    Cheated death once again.
    Fred
    EAA, AOPA
    KF5 (N49FK & N36KJ)
    Phoenix, AZ

  8. #18
    Sahota's Avatar
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    Default Re: N36KJ Flies First Time

    I use some, but very little flapperon on landing, maybe 15 degrees(ish) full flapperon in slow flight, like on approach, tends to produce a little left roll in my airplane. Pretty common to give a little throttle to get some elevator back. I have to be careful because my 582 will also give me some yaw if I "tickle" too much.

  9. #19
    Senior Member Maverick's Avatar
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    Default Re: N36KJ Flies First Time

    I flew to Casa Grand to buy fuel. When I pulled up to the fuel pumps I attempted to shut the engine off and I couldn't. I turned off the first mag and the rpm dropped but when I turned off the second mag the engine kept running. I shut the fuel valve off and let it run out of gas. My first advice was to check to see if the ground wire had come loose on the switch because the grounds for both switches are daisy chained to the same ground and the first one turned off. In order to do that, I had to pull the cowling and panel shield. Ugh.

    Nothing seemed amiss but, because I had everything exposed I went ahead and rewired the ground and then tested the engine. Again, I had to starve the engine of fuel to get the motor to die. I was perplexed and started looking elsewhere. I finally found it. It was not in plain view as in the picture. It wasn't until I stuck my finger down in the bundle of wires exploring for anything that this came to light.

    I'm not sure what to call the wire but, you can see from the pictures which one it is. I have no idea what might have caused this to break unless something happened to it during the motor's prior life in the crash of the plane this motor came from. After splicing this wire back together all is well. Man, I miss my Continental.
    20201217_141922[1].jpg20201217_141935[1].jpg.
    EAA, AOPA
    KF5 (N49FK & N36KJ)
    Phoenix, AZ

  10. #20
    Senior Member jiott's Avatar
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    Default Re: N36KJ Flies First Time

    That's one of the ignition wires; if its broken there is no way to ground that mag thru the ignition switch. That exact same thing happened to me after about 600 hours. Mine was harder to find because the wire was broken but the insulation was intact. I had to pull the pin out of the connector and do a continuity check, which immediately showed the break. I suspect vibration is the culprit; to repair it I spliced in the next heavier gauge wire to a new pin (the break was right at the entrance to the pin). I also put some shrink tubing on both ignition wires for strain relief.
    Jim Ott
    Portland, OR
    Kitfox SS7 flying
    Rotax 912ULS

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