Originally Posted by
Dave Wilshere
I have around 5 flights total with this aeroplane. It is nose heavy at take off, needs some up trim at this point, as the fuel burns the elevator goes back to level for the last minute/landing.
The gear is poor, as supplied the oleos were packed with heavy grease, so little compression. We removed some of this grease to allow compression. The flight today with a gentle landing on grass bent the lower leg machined part. Previous flights the nose leg came apart, the sleeve at the base of the top section came off. It’s all soft alloy and grass operations is probably not a good place.
Alway take off with some flap-around 20mm. Landing full flap I don’t have a figure, but 75 degrees or so.
The aeroplane flies really well, but the gear needs work to be reliable.
Dave
Great summary Dave, thanks. I know I ask a lot of questions, but the details count. My plane is balanced right around the same place you mentioned (2" outboard of the sawtooth), but that's with half fuel. That might be too nose heavy according to your flights. Did you land with the air brake down also? Did the change trim drastically when either/or the flaps and airbrake went down?
Thanks,
Rick