Gunner,`.You are moving fast! You said that you ere going to get it together pretty quick. Skis would be pretty cool........ A skid mounted Hog . Also, might have mentioned, the cabane bolt reversal mod. Nice to do if you have the option to transport an assembled hog.

Daddyo, I agree on your description of the control feel. Solid. More Mercedes than Mazarati. Do what you have to do on the gear. I imagine you thinking was like mine during the build. The designer knows best, Set up right and flown properly no problem. But i think they missed a bit on the gear location. Flew mine today, (more on that later), off a fabric covered runway (a first for me) at the new club in the area. Did ok on the runway, but i didn't attempt to taxi in the rough, which was really rough. I plan to try the blocking trick before i redrill the plate. This was the first flight since i had move the flight battery as mentioned previously. I had also dialed in a bit of additional up elevator. An objective of the flight was to do the test that Rickstutz outlined to see what was going on on thrust angle.

Then the first error. Took off with all expos disabled. Didn't catch it while flying racetrack patterns conducting the thrust angle test. Had a nagging feeling that something was amiss, but passed it off as diffferent handling resulting from cg move. There was some wind, but the thrust angle looked to be pretty good and acted as Rick said it should (thanks for that info, Rick. Set up the approach to land, and was about half way down final when things turned ugly. It is a smallish runway at that club, i felt i was a bit tall on short final and chopped the power. With that big ol flat APC 15x4 in combination with a low idle, it is like stomping on the brakes. Add in the fact that two wings means a lot more paracitic and induced drag over a single wing airplane. Add in that my experience with 9 1/2 lb biplane that don't like to fly slow worth a flip is about 20 minutes at this point. Then the final kicker, no exponential on elevator to smooth out my spastic control reactions in this awfull slowmotion flight regieme my shocked butt had suddenly found itself in. I was almost instantly at stall speed. Supprised and nearly paralyzed. I added way too much power, not enough rudder, and too much up elevator. I barely caught it before it entered a full blown snap to the left. When i got it back simi under control with rudder and alieron and reduced power. I had turned about 90 deg left of runway heading and was about 15 feet off the ground with not enough power or airspeed. The stupid thought crossed my mind to chop the power and let it settle and take the lick of a hard landing/simicontroled crash. I hesitated and the decision was almost made for me. instead i added a bunch of power, much as i dared, and started a slow mushing semi stall turn futher to the left and settled a few more feet before i got nose down and started gaining airspeed. By this time i had turned a total of about 160 degrees from runway heading and the airplane was flying almost directly away from me. I wobbled on up to altitude and flew circles while i got my heart out of my throat enough to land. Flopped in a chair for about 5 min till my knees quit shaking. Packed up while i was ahead.

I have never come that close to destroying an airplane and came away unscathed. As i type this, i have walked out to the shop a time or two and and am just amaized i still have an airplane. I guess that 9 1/2 pounds of 'Dust of the Earth' that has rose up to learn to fly just didn't want to return there just yet. One thing for sure. Betty Bumble traded away a very large coin from her 'Bag of Luck' today to add somthing to my bag of experience. That airplane's expiration date was today, and she found a way out through a technicality in the fine print. As Seamus would say, 'Experience is what you get.........' , and i almost got what i wanted least of all.