Here's Flight Report #3:

Date: 1/29/05

Went to the field closest to my house where my best friend has a membership. The field is absolutely gorgeous with an concrete runway, running east-west, (surrounded by grass strips on each side large enough to land and takeoff from) and enough covered pit area for 20 pilots and equipment, but the $200.00/year membership fees keep me from joining. We got a late start today and didn't get out there 'til about 2:05 pm. It worked out justfine though. Earlier in the day, it was foggy. By the time we got out there, there was still a haze and it was overcast. But after my first flight, mother nature finally smiled at me and lifted the haze, clouds and wind and left us with perfect flying weather. The temparature was a very comfortable low-mid 60's.

Flight 1:
Got her together and fueled her up. The big Saito jumped to life with a bump of the starter. I revved her up to mid throttle to get the Saito warmed up. Then I taxied out to the runway and took one final look at the weather vane and windsock. There was a slight head wind coming from the east, about 5-7 mph. I taxied around a few times to get used to the concrete runway. The Edge proved to be a bit "on the edge" while taxiing on the concrete runway. I lined up and added power. She was airborne in about 40-50 ft.

I climbed out to about 50 ft. and made a left turn. I made another left turn and lined back up over the runway to check the trim. Since my last flight, I had switched over to Jr. I was pleased that all that was need for hands free flight was 2 clicks of right aileron. Once trimmed, I got some altitude to try a few things out. I started by performing a few snap rolls. As expected, they were very quick and stopped as soon as I centered the sticks. With the aileron throws up to 1" up and 3/4" down, the rolls were at the perfect speed and extremely axial. I noticed that on full elevator deflection, she has a tendency to snap to the right. I know that my elevator halves move in unison and my lateral balance is right on the money. I believe that it is just the nature of this plane to snap on full elevator deflection. I am currently using 40% expo on the elevator and it helps smooth it out. This plane is very pitch sensitive. I also noticed some roll coupling on knife edge this time around. I think this is due to the maximum deflection that I have it setup for. When I performed knife edge with about half the rudder travel, the coupling was almost nothing. Sice I again forgot to set the timer, I wanted to play it safe and bring her in. I made my approach and lined her up on the concrete runway. She floated gently down and touched down just to the right of me. She immediately veered right and went into the grass. I remained in control and straightened her out. I taxied back to the pit area. That was the last time I was going to land on the concrete runway. She is just too squirrely on the concrete for my taste.

Flight 2:
After assisting my best friend with the maiden flight of his new Venus 40, I fueled her up again. I decided that I wanted to try a scale like takeoff. I lined up and gently rolled into the throttle. At about half throttle, the tailwheel came up. After a slight pull on the elevator, she was airborne again. This time I had my timer set for 8 minutes to be safe.

The sun had broken through the clouds and the haze was almost gone. I made an aggresive climg out to about 150 ft. I leveled out and turned around. I slowly reduced the throttle while increasing up elevator. When she stalled, she just dropped her nose and the right wing dipped slightly. I added throttle and resumed flight with no problem. I brought her around again, but this time I wanted to try a flat spin. Just as she stalled, I kicked in full right rudder and held full up elevator. She went a beautiful and slow flat spin. After about 8 revolutions, I centered the stick, added power and pulled up for straight and level flight. Now it was time to "buzz" the runway. I climbed to about 100 ft. and lined up. I made a slight dive under power and leveled her out about 10 feet above the deck. She screamed by us perfectly level and really hauling *****. At the end of the runway, I pulled vertical and she rocketed skyward. It seemed like she didn't want to slow down. After several hundred feet, I cut power and performed a beautiful stall turn. I made another approach for a low and slow pass (camera shots). Once again I pulled vertical after she passed by. This time I did three vertical snap rolls. She still had power to climb after the snap rolls. This engine is a monster. By now the timer was getting close to the end. This time I decided to land in the grass on the other side of the runway. On my first attempt, I waited too late to cut the throttle and she foated by. I made another approach and dropped her down right in front of me.

Flight #3:
Nothing new on this flight. Just more of the same plus quite a bit of inverted flying. This is the most nuetral plane that I have flown. She will fly inverted with hands off with only 2-3 clicks of down elevator trim. My best friend took his Venus 40 up while I was flying. I had so much fun flying circles around him. Although these planes are in 2 different classes and sizes, I had a blast pulling away from him while going vertical. On this flight I set the timer for 10 minutes. This seemed almost perfect. After I landed and taxied back to the pits, I emptied the tank. She had about 1/4 of a tank of fuel left.

I am truly impressed with this plane. She has been able to handle everything that I threw at her. As the motor continues breaking in and gaining power, she just keeps on taking it in stride.

On a side note. I bought a digital fish scale today and weighed the plane after I set her up at the field. She weighed in at 9 lbs. 12 oz. About where I expected the weight to be considering that a Saito 120 sits up front, therefore requiring tail weight. Even at this weight, she is a real floater and handles slow speed flight very well.