Hello again everyone!

I have great news to report on the maiden flight of my Super Aeromaster. This past Saturday, the weather was absolutely perfect for flying. About the only trouble I actually had was keeping it tracking straight while powering up to take off. It kept wanting to torque left and then when I tried to correct with rudder, it would end up zigzagging and I'd have to taxi back and start over again. Finally after about the 4th try, I got it figured out and got her airborne. It was an absolute joy to fly. I found the Saito .91 to have ample power for this plane. It wasn't really fast, but it had very good vertical performance. The recommended control throws were, in my opinion, pretty conservative. By the 3rd flight I increased ailerons, rudder and elevator throws by about 40% and it made a very big difference. The plane effortlessly did knife edge, Cuban 8's, hammerheads and snap rolls. To maintain level inverted flight required just the slightest touch of down elevator. Stall speed was very slow which made landing incredibly easy. Once power was cut, the sink rate was pretty fast so long approaches are definitely not necessary with this plane. The I flew it a total of 6 flights and not one time did I bounce a landing. My flying skills are pretty good but not great and this was my first time flying a bipe. To bad Great Planes has discontinued this kit. All the work I put into it was worth it. I am going to try a few different props to see if I can improve performance any. I am using an APC 14X6 now. I have also ordered 4" wheels for mine. Flying off grass, I found the wheel pants were trying to plow a little to much which may have been causing some of my ground handling difficulties. A couple of more experienced flyers told me that this kind of ground handling is fairly normal with bipes like this and it just takes a little getting used to. By the last two flights, I was getting it up on the first try.

If anyone has any questions, thoughts, suggestions, whatever, lay them on me.


Jeff