Finn Lassen wrote:

This bird was started by Charlie Dorris of Richardson, TX in July 1977!
I picked it up in January 1996. And it finally flew this evening! 23
years old before allowed to fly!

This official first flight was just a very quick flight around a tight
pattern, although I reached 1200' and 120 mph before catching it.
Successful landing by a beginner's standard, just a bounce or two.

This first flight was preceded by several high speed taxi runs, the last
of which was really a low flight just above the runway. After more than
4 hours in a Decathlon over the past week, the RV-3 felt quite
different, in spite of the many hours of taxiing it previously. Unless
you have a new engine that needs full power run-in, I'm a strong
advocate for taxi runs prior to first flight. If you can't control it
during high speed taxiing, how can you hope to control it during your
first landing?

I guess an experienced test pilot would describe the flight as
"uneventful".

Interestingly, most of my attention was on the engine (experimental 13B
Mazda Mikuni carburated rotary installation, with a Ross 2.17-1
re-drive, swinging a Performance Prop's 68x74 prop - pitched towards
cruise) during climb to pattern altitude. I have not yet installed the
cowl cheek extensions. A good deal of heat comes out that way (left side
is where the muffler/exhaust is). This made the side skin where my hand
rests on the throttle(s) noticeably hot to the point where I had to peek
over the side to make sure it wasn't on fire (again), and made me decide
to tighten the pattern.

I'd be hard pressed to give any hard numbers. I'm not sure if I applied
full throttle (I have static run-up prop flutter at 4500 RPM, so
intended to limit RPM to below that). I think max RPM was somewhere
between 4200 and 4700. Temperatures were not a problem. even on this 92F
day. Highest oil temperature I noticed was 198F and water probably 190F.

Yes, this bird does pick up speed easily, so after reducing speed to 100
mph, I applied one notch of flaps, making a marked pitch change, but
easily corrected with a flick of the trim tab switch.

I did notice what I perceived as engine roughness or surging when I
reduced power (~2700 RPM) and pointed the nose down a bit - possibly a
re-drive phenomena (didn't apply carb heat, so could also have been
that).

Didn't have "time" to look at EGT and mixture (oxygen sensor readout)
numbers.

More later for those who may be interested.

Finn

Congratulations. Great first flight. You and the airplane are still in one piece.

Please take some pictures under the cowl and mail them if necessary.

Paul Lamar
 
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