REFLECTOR: Another Velocity in the Skies

[Ron Brown]

Congratulations, Robin and Glen!!!!

(Excerpted from the local airpark newsletter - Lake Norman Airpark, North 
Carolina)

Robin and Glenn Babcock, (Lot 51) sent in a report of the first flight of 
their Velocity, N697RG, which occurred on Saturday, Sept 24. 2005. They 
traveled to Sebastian, FL, the home of Velocity Aircraft, where their plane 
was waiting for them. Following is an account in their own words.

Saturday was a typical Florida summer day; hot and damp, with rain forecast 
for the afternoon. Given that, we had to fly early while the sky was clear 
and the winds steady. We had 10 knots right down runway 8.

We met Frank Ware and Mike Snyder, two top guys formerly from Velocity 
Aircraft, who now run their own business. They worked with us to complete 
the installation of the engine and panel and complete the assembly of the 
plane. They did a great job, getting everything ready for me. All I had to 
do was show up and fly.

Robin stood on the ramp to take pictures and video. Before we even started 
we had two failures, the handheld radio and the video camera. Guess it's 
better to have the gremlins on the ground equipment than in the air! 
Fortunately, our still camera also takes decent video. Robin did a great job 
of taking the pictures and video between her shouts and tears of joy!

I spent a few minutes with Mike going over the plane. I then completed the 
pre-flight, and we did some slow taxiing. Frank got out, and I started my 
high-speed taxi runs. On the first run, I only got the speed up to 50 knots. 
I needed 55 to get the nose to lift. The second run I nailed it, and 
everything felt great. Time for the main event!

I lined up on runway 8 and pushed the throttle forward. The MT prop bit the 
air hard, and I started to accelerate. At 80 knots the nose came up and she 
started to climb. Soon I was seeing 1200 FPM at 100 knots with the gear 
still down. Leaving the gear down, I circled the field, throttling back to 
25 squared. I held this to 5000 feet, then leveled out, pulling power to 
stay under the 120 knot gear extended speed. The plane was flying great! I 
was very happy to see the engine temps on the VM1000 were all well in the 
green.

After a few minutes, I did some slow flight to feel out the landing 
characteristics. Full aft stick and I was indicating 63 knots, quite good 
for a Velocity. The canard did not break into a stall, and I didn't push it 
on this flight.

Finally it was time to bring it in. I brought it around and lined up with 
runway 8. Frank recommended 90 knots over the fence, which is a little hot. 
I pulled power and flared, and she floated a bit then touched down. 
Successful first flight! What a dream come true!