N36KJ Flies First Time

[Maverick]

I made the first flight of my KF5 this morning. In general, it was an uneventful flight. After two high speed taxi tests I took off and flew to 3000' and circled the airport pattern. I lifted off the runway at 40mph indicated. Climb was amazing. I climbed at 70mph and was getting just under 1000' fpm. I ran the engine at 5500 rpm and was indicating 100mph, 5650 rpm = 105mph and 5800 rpm = 110. I did not make any inflight adjustments to the prop. My static RPM was set to 5200 rpm prior to takeoff.

The plane wanted to roll to the left. I'll make adjustments to the rigging this next week to deal with that.

On approach for landing the first attempt I was high and fast. Attempted at 70 mph on final and just saw myself floating a long way so did a go-around. On the second approach I came down sooner and backed off to 60 mph. The landing wasn't stellar but, I didn't brake the plane. I did a full stop then went around the pattern again for another attempt and the tower controller indicated that my transmissions were garbled to near inaudible so I made a full stop landing. My approach again was at 60 and I tried to get it down to 55 but, I didn't use flaps so I couldn't seem to get it to slow down. Touchdown was a little bouncy. I have the tall landing gear so, I need to get in more practice with it to determine if I want to trade it out.

My CFI was with another student in the pattern at the time of my radio call and he said it was loud and clear but lots of background noise so, he's loaning me a set of LightSpeed noise canceling that is supposed to noise cancel the microphone too.

All in all, I'm happy with the flying experience but, I'm still a Rotax neophyte. I've only flown Continentals from A65, C85, 0200, 0300 & 0470 so getting used to the high rpms of the Rotax is a little disconcerting. I like the Continental better as a motor but, the difference between the climb and empty weight of this KF5 and my first one w/ the 0200 is so amazing, I'm sure I'll learn to cope with the Rotax.

I have the Grand Rapids EIS which, after finally getting to work with it some, I like. I set my MaxEGT at 1450 degrees F and was exceeding that occasionally. Looking at the FlyRotax documentation it looks like that should be about right but, because I kept getting alerts, I think I'll raise the MaxEGT to 1500. I also set the MaxSplit to 85 degrees and I got alarms for it often also so, am thinking I'll go up to 100 degrees on it.

Thanks to all the help from you guys and the past discussions you have had that I was able to garner from your experiences.20201024_091327[1].jpg20201024_091313[1].jpgAttachment 25894

[DesertFox4]

Congrats Fred. 😀👍

[bbs428]

Nice write up. Congratz on your 1st flight!

[jmodguy]

Awesome! Another Series 5 takes to the sky! Nice looking bird

[DesertFox4]

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

[Cherrybark]

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!

[Maverick]

I was thinking about Stick and Rudder...thanks!

Fwiw, I'm actually wondering if I should just transfer over to a tailwheel aircraft now while I'm still pretty low-time, as I'm pretty sure that's what I'll be flying anyway...thoughts?

I taught myself to fly a tail dragger in my very first homebuilt that was a single place plane. I was grandfathered in to the required tail wheel endorsement. I was in a perfect airplane to do that. In a Kitfox, I would never do that. If you are thinking you will be a TD pilot, get training in a good TD trainer, if not a Kitfox.

EAA published an article way back when EAA was all about homebuilt planes on how to train for TD pilotage. You get a couple of 2X4s and make yourself a T shaped cart. To describe this, think of the cart as though it were a T standing up. Center the vertical board on the horizontal with a single bolt through the two boards. Put large wheels on the ends of the horizontal board. Put a castor on the back end of the vertical board. Then attach a rope to a point on the vertical board about 2ft aft of the horizontal board. Make you a seat behind the rope attach point on the vertical board. Have a seat and use your feet to steer while someone is pulling you around. Keep the tail wheel on an imaginary line that you consider your runway center line.

After I did this the next step was do this in my plane. I did this on the ramp away from other aircraft and progressed as I became more confident to getting on the runway and speeding up a little more for 3 or 4 hundred feet. After I got used to the rudder becoming effective I began raising the tail and practiced keeping the plane centered for longer and faster speeds until I broke ground. I would then loose the throttle and settle down again repeating this until I decided I needed to know stall speed and kept climbing. Because my first landings on my practice crow hops were wheel landings I did not start 3 point landings until I was very comfortable with my stall speed and recognition of what they were like. After I got comfortable with 3-points, I started adding breaking.

Because my I learned in a plane smaller than my first other tail dragger, a Pietenpol GN1, I tended to over control a bit as it was slower to react to my steering inputs but adjusting accordingly was very quick. What I learned from all of this was the feel of becoming one with the airplane. Yet, never forget the adage, there are those that have ground-looped and those that will. After more than 500 hours of TD piloting I joined those that have recently. Fortunately with no damage to the plane of any consequence.
Fred

[Maverick]

I am still having a slight tendancy to role to the left. My inclination is turn the front rod end out one turn. What are your thoughts?

[PapuaPilot]

Congrats Fred, that is great news. What is your empty weight?

[Delta Whisky]

Congrats and thanks for the details that support a vicarious enjoyment.