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good news and bad news



i spend 7 days at sun and fun and did the flyby and show box with my
xlrg300 every day and win the outstanding aircraft award , several builder
was interested on the new xl so duane and scott supply them all the
informations.
for the bad news i did several take off and landing on cross wind and gusty
and friday morning i take off for photo session for kit plane magasine and
on my return for landing i lost the right rudder cable just p[rior to tuch
down and landed on the right gear full break and i did damage the upper
part of gear leg we scott and myself we examine the leg and as per scott i
can take-off for hollywood. after reflection i decide to leave my air plane
in the ground and drive down to north perry airport to get all the tools i
need to fix the gear leg. on sathurday i drove to lakeland and after the
show jeff and i we grinded the leg skin to find out if the inner part off
the gear can be damaged. so the gear look in perfect shape and i found
because i used carbon fiber as lay up for the torsion and tention and
compression as we know the carbon fiber is highly stronger than fiberglass
but more brittle and this what happen all the eccessive load as been take
by the carbon fiber as sheer and we found only carbon fiber was damage.
so we repair the leg whith several layers with west system for fast curing
and did several retractations and everything look good.
on sunday morning i decide to take-off for hollywood and jeff agree to
drive my van to hollywood airport and than i was to fly him back to
lakeland. after ground check i start the ingine and ready to go double
check contols engine ect but i forgot to check those ruder cable . after
rolling and raise the nose at 80 knots the plame came airborne and was
turning at 30 degre and plus to the left  and i was full ailleron to the
right whithout any response to the right so i did afast gear up with nose
down to increase speed and i been able to correct the situation. over 100
knots we dont need the rudder  so i fly straight to north perry aiport and
i knew i have to land this aircraft whithout any control for the rudder .
after 55 minutes of flight i contact north perry tower for wind direction
and speed and i have to lower the gears and i did not know if the plane
will shift to the side ,so i stay at 2000 feet reduce speed 110 knots and
lower the gear and no shiffting
,about 4 milles of the airport i slowly lower the speed to find out wat
kind of response i will get on the wah and below 80 knots the plane was
oscillating slowly right to left ,so i knew i will be a problem to land
this aircraft.i talk with the north perry contoller and mention to him i
had no rudder control at low speed before tuch down and at this airport the
wind was crosswind ang gusty and 3000 ft runway . so i request to land at
opaloca airport because they have longer runway and one at 120 degre wich
is close to the wind direction.i approachthe runway at 95 knots whit
aileron to the right and decent slowly keeping my speed until iam very
close to the surface an than reduce the gas the plane start to shift to the
left due to the wind and engine torque and i aplly more gas for short
moment and the situation was worst so icut the gas whith full aileron to
the left and nose up for a bit of control but still going outside of the
runway pass between those marker light without touching the aircraft and
also i feel the weels on the groung i apply the right brake to bring it
back on the runway and tank,s god i was happy to see the aircraft stop .the
tower controler mention to me you made it just at the edge.
i would like to make a comment regarding this situation , always check you
rudder if they are oprational before take off and the 1/16" dia cables are
not strong enough to support the pedals pressure when you need braking and
also we should adjust those cables with full pedals and leaving the rudder
horn with slight space to prevent the cable coming with high tention at
moment of braking.i will replace those cables with 3/32" dia  wich are
fitting on the present uniflow tubing and properly greased with vaseline.
as per the catalogue aicraft spuce the 1/16"dia can support 500 # and the
3/32 " dia is good for 900 pounds.
on last september on my rerturn from canada i stop at sebastian and
discussed with duane swing of cutting my bottom winglet to see if i will
gain some speed on which i did a month after and i found no gain on speed
and a big lost on the wah control and the tendency to shift to the left on
take off below 90 knots and i have to corrected with aileron and right
rudder and since then i always said i will put the bottoms winglet back in
place because my airplane was more stable but i have a higher ground effect
and floating longer for landing but i can live with it
 
my recommendation for those who building the xl and because this aircraft
have a bigger engine trust i highly recommend the installation of bottom
winglets it might not look as good as without it but you will feel more
secure with it.
this week iam changing those cables and put it back the bottom winglet and
i will come back to you with report of flying test.
dont look the writing mistake it,s some kind of tuff for a french men...