REFLECTOR: Another Velocity in the air!

[J.F.Sheehan at larc.nasa.gov]

Hiroo,
Congratulations on a great job. Don't worry about the flying techniques in no
 time you will be an expert. None of us were real proud of the first few
 landings. Just tae it slow and doing things like thinking about using the
 long runway or staying on the ground during windy conditions is important
 until you really get the airplane and the pilot some experience.
If your Chelton is driven by the Crossbow AHRS (NAV425 or 420) they have a recall on
 them. You need to send it back to Crossbow it takes about 3 weeks for
 the fix.
Good Luck
Jack
N55XL
Race 55

> I jumped the gun and started posting about Franklin engines so the news is out now but just to make it "official", I will post it here.
> 
> On August 24th, at 3:04pm PST, Velocity SUV (serial 103) N21HV took off for the first time from Arlington Airport (AWO) with Steve Murphree at the controls.  The first flight lasted a short 12 minutes.  Steve reported that the aileron force was stiff (I have the yoke setup) and had the tendency to over-control.  He also noted that the oil temps were running hot as well.  Back at the hangar, we lubed the controls, ground off some fiberglass from wing - aileron gap that were rubbing, and generally loosened up things a bit.
> 
> The next morning, Chuck Harbert came out with a couple pairs of vortex generators he made for us (Thanks Chuck!).  We put those ahead of the top NACA scoops and, like magic, the oil temps came down.  Steve also noted some left leaning tendency and stuck some mixing sticks on the right rudder.  That seemed to help things a bit.
> 
> The following two days (Sat and Sun), Steve ran me through the wringer drilling me on the finer points of flying the Velocity.  Some bad habits from Cessnas I have to get rid of...
> 
>  *   On take-off, I am used to firewalling the throttle, pull the nose up and keep best climb and wait for the altimeter needle to crawl up to where I want it.  On a Velocity, as soon as I get to safe altitude (500AGL, which takes "seconds"), I need to pull the throttle back, pitch down, set climb power / prop, and get some air flowing over those cylinders.
>  *   On landing, keeping the nose relatively low, instead of burying the yoke in your gut as you do on Spam Cans.
> 
> This weekend, I put another couple quality hours on the plane generally getting used to the machine and brushing up on my landings using the really long runway at Paine Field (PAE).  I am getting the plane down and stopped in about 4'000 now.
> 
> As you've all seen in my other thread, I am having issues with Frankling starting and running a bit rough.  Both of which, the consensus appears to be, is related to fouled mags from running full-rich for break-in.  Seems like I need to get out my wire-brush next time I head out to the hangar.
> 
> Some squawks and "to do"s now.
> 
>  *   Attitude indication for Chelton AHRS dropping when accelerating past 30Kts or so.
>  *   Static port getting high-pressure from fuselage side / canard leading edge.
>  *   Better cabin ventilation
>  *   Engine primer (as discussed separatedly)
> 
> In general, I love the way the thing flies!  Every time I am in a turn or something and look over and see the wingtip, it brings a grin in my face.
> 
> Hiroo
>