REFLECTOR: First Flight - XL/FG 44VF Cincinnati

[Richard J. Gentil]

Brett,

That is great news! 5 years of hard work paying off.

Richard

Brett Ferrell wrote:
> Our Velocity XL/FG, 44VF, took to the air for the first time on Friday 
> just over 5 years from receiving our (all fast-build XL/FG) kit from 
> the factory, with Dave Bertram at the controls. It’s an early birthday 
> present for us, as Elizabeth and I both have late September birthdays!
>
> First off we’d like to thank Dave for being so professional and taking 
> such great care of our baby, as we were both on pins-and-needles all 
> day. When you add on top of that the fact that the weather was a bit 
> dicey as we arrived to the airport, with high (at least for Ohio) 
> winds and gusty conditions, we were pretty tense. But the weather 
> calmed considerably and Dave gave the OK to push her out of the 
> hangar. Dave’s been really patient with us as well, he came up 
> previously and had to abort the flight due to a rough running motor. 
> But after cleaning up the fuel injectors and running on the ground a 
> fair amount all seemed well, and after a run-up (and a back-taxi to 
> the *very* end of the runway) she and Dave were ready. Being new 
> parents to our airplane, I was trying to untie the knots in my 
> stomach, and Elizabeth asked one of the lineman to chase the plane 
> with a fire extinguisher and to put the local fire/rescue squad on 
> alert just in case. ;-)
>
> With the camera running and a brief prayer for Dave’s safety, we 
> watched 44VF accelerate and leap into air after what seemed an 
> impossibly short ground roll (of course we had 15-20 mile an hour 
> headwinds), and I started to breathe again once she was 50’ off and 
> crabbed into the breeze, clearly answering the helm. I began to really 
> enjoy the flight as she departed the pattern with the throaty tone of 
> an unmuffled high-compression IO540, but I was anxious to see her 
> safely return to the airport as well. Dave began to lap the airport at 
> about 4,500’, and a good friend of the family assumed the camera duty, 
> just as Dave reported in that the oil temps were running high, at 240 
> F, but would cool when throttled back, so he took another couple of 
> circuits. For about 30 minutes everything went really perfectly.
>
> I always figured there would be some defect that would need to be 
> addressed after the first flight, and so it was, at about 35 minutes 
> in Dave reported that engine was running rough and the #6 cylinder EGT 
> was low, and that he was coming in. Fortunately the weather had shut 
> down the sky-diving operation and scared the rest of the airport 
> community into their hangars, so Dave had the airport to himself, 
> setting up a 4 mile straight-in approach and made a picture perfect 
> landing, easing off the runway at the mid-field taxiway.
>
> Dave reports that she flies well and didn’t display any ill behaviors, 
> even at pretty good speeds for a first flight, running her to about 
> 150kts, and slowing her down to about 70 to see where she would start 
> to pitch-buck. What a magnificent feeling, watching Dave taxi her in, 
> back safe and sound as though a first flight was a completely natural 
> and unexciting event – the weather aside. We retired to the house for 
> a celebration of beer and pizza, and as they say in Monty Python, 
> there was much rejoicing. Thanks to all of the folks at Velocity for 
> their help and patience, and to all of our friends here on the 
> reflector, it's been a long but fulfilling journey.
>
> Brett
> www.velocityxl.com
>
>
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