FLIGHT REPORT!

Maidened my Vision today... WOOOOOOHOOOOOO! What an awesome plane... very much like the DV. Here's my report:

First off, let me say this was my first DA engine and I couldn't be happier. First flight only took 3 choke-on flips and 4-5 choke-off flips. Second flight only took ONE FLIP with NO CHOKE. Sweet. It ran great, getting 7150 rpms on an MSC 22*8 prop. Vertical climbs are like a rocket, even at my 16.7 pound AUW. Never faltered, never died, even on landings (no carb mod).

Now to the plane. First flight was a knee-knocking nerve fest (for no apparent reason) as I shook the ghosts from last years crash out of my mind. I was worried about nothing, this plane flies so easy it's obscene. Very stable, like it's on rails. Anyhow, first thing I noticed was ya can't taxi with rudder on low rates (Tailwheel doesn't turn enough). Flipped to high rates and it was fine.

Next, upon takeoff, it felt noseheavy and wanted to sink. It took about 4-5 clicks of up-trim to level her out. Next was about 1 or 2 clicks of right aileron and she was now on rails. First flight was uneventful as I didn't want to push it too hard until I got used to it and had confidence in the engine. First landing was easier than a trainer.

Second Flight. Now I was getting more comfortable, maybe too much Got a little wild with a high speed snap-roll doing a pass about 100ft over the runway and ended up inverted at 20 feet over the bean field with crap running donw my leg! I hammered elevator and pointed her up and all was OK... close call. Any other plane and I would have lost it. This plane can take as much elevator as you want to throw at it without snapping at all. Point it where you want to go and she cooperates.

I quickly found myself doing high-speed walls without a hint of a snap. Speaking of snaps, man, this thing can crank out the most beautiful snaps you ever saw when you want to. I found that I needed high rate rudder for knife edge, which had some coupling (pulled to the canopy a little). I'll mix that out next time.

I actually did my first ever "slow roll" today too! High speed, one roll that lasted the full length of our flying field! [8D] I only got two flights in cause a storm started moving in and it got too black to see. Anyhow, a couple more snap rolls and wingtip spins later, and I brought her in to load up in the truck.

Now, what did I learn besides this is an awesome plane? Right Thrust. Yes, it definitely needs more. I only notice it in a hover, where it will pull hard to the left. It doesn't torque roll excessively, just pulls left. Any speed on an upline and this goes away... but in a static hover, you are fighting with lots of right rudder input.

Secondly, the manual calls for a CG of 3.5 inches from the LE of the wingtip. I'm balanced at 4 inches and it still feels noseheavy. The nose wants to sink both when upright and inverted. I think that's also affecting the nose falling in a hover. With all the mods I did, I came up quite tailheavy, so I added a LOT of lead to the nose. My 16 pound plane turned into a 16.75 pounder with all that lead in the nose. I'm going to start removing it in 1-2 ounce increments and test it until it gets out of hand. I think I can easily remove 2 ounces, maybe 4-5 ounces and still not be noseheavy. That would get me back down to under 16.5 pounds.

Bottom line. Awesome plane, no snapping on high rate elevator, great speed envelope, tons of power, extremely axial rolls... but needs right thrust and need to move the CG back a little.

Wow! My DA is only using about 6 ounces per 10 minutes of flight. My 16 ounce tank would easily give me 20 minutes and have some left over. I never fly more than about 8-10 minutes which is only using about 1/4 of a 16 ounce tank. It's gonna take forever to break this engine in at that rate!

Cheers,

Tom