I HAVE A FRIEND WITH A GP PITTS AND OS 160. HE HAS ASKS ME TO TAKE HIS PLANE UP FOR IT'S FIRST FLIGHT THIS WEEKEND. NOW I HAVE FLOWN ABOUT 100 NEW AIRPLANES AND SO FAR NONE HAVE WHIPPED ME TOO BAD BUT I AM A LITTLE LEARY ABOUT THIS ONE. DOES ANYONE WITH EXPERIENCE ON THIS PLANE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS OR ADVICE? THANKS

Pilotdave,
Its a bipe and a taildragger, if everything got put together right you should be fine. Do a search for 'Pitts' on RCU and you will find all the info you could want on how it flies and how to fly it.

It is a very nice flying airplane with no nasty habits; advance the throttle slowly with a little up elevator and a little right rudder and it will be flying before you get to full throttle...JIM

Hi PILOTDAVE. I have a GP Pitts with a Moki 2.10 and it has absolutely no bad tendencies. Your Pitts will do fine with the 1.60 but probably wont have alot of vertical performance. Just make sure on takeoff you advance the throttle slowly in order to let the tailwheel rise off the ground. Once the tailwheel rises you should then add full throttle, again, slowly. Make sure you never try to yank the plane off the runway. When you think the plane has attained take off speed, gradually add up elevator and it will climb nicely. You'll also need quite a bit of right rudder to counteract torque.

When it comes time to land, just make sure you don't get it too slow.

Good luck...you'll be fine, just take it slow.

Spence

SUPRISE, I JUST RETURNED FROM FLYING THIS AIRPLANE AND THE ONLY PROBLEM AT ALL WAS THAT THE 160 IS JUST NOT ENOUGH POWER. MAN OH MAN, DOES THIS THING FLY SWEET! EVEN HAD THE ENGINE GO DEADSTICK AND LOST MY BREATH WONDERING HOW IT WAS GOING TO DO, BUT EVEN THEN IT DIDNT TRY TO SNAP OR DO ANYTHING UNPREDICTABLE. THIS PLANE WITH A MOKI 2.1---WHAT DO YOU THINK?

The GP Pitts, properly powered and set up, is a wonderful biplane to fly. It likes to wheel land much more than to three point. It does not have any snapping problems, and performs all the usual areobatic manuvers extremely well. It will also do some very light 3D stuff, but keep in mind that it really wasn't designed for 3D. It has a VERY wide weight and C/G envelope. Well outside the manufacturers suggested range.

Once you have enough power, avoid full power snap manuvers. Do them like you should and reduce power prior to the snap entry. The older versions had a tendency to break the top wing cabane mounting brackets. Especially on negative snaps. The newer kits have a re-designed mounting bracket.

Mine has the Moki 2.10-perfect! It will be flying before you get to full throttle; mine got squirrely at full throttle-increased the right thrust when the firewall glue popped loose-PIN IT! The cg can go back more without causing problems-that will help inverted, knife edge, and point rolls/slow rolls.Good luck...JIM