===============================Vision
Builder===============================
Thanks for all of the comments.
This is something you all will go thru eventually. I am nothing special.
It is great to be a part of the Vision Builder Family. This is a great
group.
I don't have a bunch of numbers to get you all right now. On the first
flight you are so busy just trying to keep it all together that there
isn't
much time to write things down. I was radioing to another person to log
numbers and I assume he wrote them down. He did get the camera back to me
so
I could put them on the web site. He had to cut the flight short and fly
to
Montana so I have not received the notes yet. I will post them on the web
site in a few days when I get the numbers.
Peter asked to explain my feelings more during the first flight....here is
the best way I can describe them:
The decision to fly was extremely last minute. I did not think I was going
to fly yesterday until 12:30pm when the sky suddenly opened up. I was busy
fixing a few minor bugs that morning with extreme overcast skies. My
thoughts were, I knew that the plane and I were ready to go I just had to
wait another day to fly. It just worked out that Ray (a KIS) owner and
pilot, and a friend were there. Neither of them had planned to be around
that day, but because of the bad weather their plans were stalled. Then
the
sky broke open seeming to invite me to fly up and greet it. So we all at
the
last minute decided to go for it. I really wish Dennis could have been
there
because I think he really wanted to be a part of it, but knowing Seattle
weather like I do there was no time to make other arrangements. Sorry
Dennis!
Prior to taking off I felt very worried about forgetting something, then
after running thru my mind everything I could think of and knowing that I
had completed a very good checklist I looked down at my knees and said
"This
is it" to myself. So I throttled up and started down the runway. I was
passing the first check point on the runway and thought I had better
rotate
soon or I was going to run out of stopping distance (2000ft strip W16
Monroe
Firstair). I rotated a bit further at about 65-70 knots and was airborne
at
about 750ft. This was an ok speed to rotate for the plane but I pulled
back
on the stick a bit too hard which lead to the nose coming up very fast and
the plane slowing down fast...feelings?...." Oh Sh&%" I lowered the nose
rapidly to level and picked up speed. The takeoff was not pretty but it
went
up and never stopped climbing even at an extreme attitude. As I was
climbing
out I then realized that the plane was going to fly just fine. Starting to
feel better and more calm I began some slow turns 360 deg at 30 deg AOB
then
at 45 deg. They went well and I started to feel even better. At least at
this time I knew I could climb, gain/lose altitude at will, and turn. When
I
started the cruse set up I was going about 157 kts true @ 3000ft. There
was
no wind that day and I checked that speed against my two GPSs. I was
thrilled to find that will all of the drag from my aileron input, winglet
being off, no wheel pants, and at 2400 rpms I was cruising that fast. I
did
not try full throttle cruse yet. It will be interesting to see what that
ends up being. The next tests were the stalls. This got me a bit worried
because I can't remember flying a plane so slow without it falling out of
the sky. I thought I was hovering for a while. When I was under 50 kts I
started to get really worried that the plane was going to just fall out of
the sky. Then a frustrated horizontal stab told me at 45kts it was time to
stall by wiggling its butt and complaining like a dog shaking off its wet
fur. Then it stalled very mild to a little nose down attitude.
Now the landing. The second most dangerous part of the flight. I was
really
under pressure with this one. I had practiced the landing at 4000ft to
3000ft and from 3000ft to 2000ft just like my flight plan had issued.
Everything went fine on the practice however you don't know how it will
land
until you land. So I got in the pattern for Arlington (AWO) runway 34 left
downwind and slowed the plane to 95kts. At that time I started thinking
about my underwear. I normally don't think about my underwear when I am
flying, but I started wondering if I had any holes in my underwear. I
thought it would be very embarrassing to crash land and go to the hospital
only to have the doctors and nurses see me in underwear with holes in
them.
I got over that one and proceeded on. Turned base at 85kts flaps to 20
deg.,
then turned a short final with full flaps deployed and slowed to around
70kts. No problem with visability of the runway environment. The nose was
down with consistant speed. I was feeling the happiness about the slotted
flaps and the torque tube actuator. They were working GREAT! Again thought
of a plane falling out of the sky were in my head...I was thinking "TOO
SLOW". My Glasair landed at about 90mph. As I began my landing flare the
plane slowed to about 55kts and then touched down about as soft as a
babies
butt. I thought " This was way too easy" I did not even have to touch the
brakes to make the 2000ft limitation stopping point. Arlington has a
5000ft
strip, but I had to practice for a 2000ft strip to get home.
It was a great feeling to know that I had flown the plane without
incident.
It was a great feeling to know that the KIS could not even get close to
keeping up with me. It was a great feeling pulling up for fuel right
beside
the Glasair Factory and seeing the Glasair employees coming out to try to
figure out what type of plane the Vision is. It was great feeling the slow
flight characteristic of the plane and feeling totally safe. Simple to fly
and land. Fast enough to get you where you need to go. Thanks Steve for a
great design!
Thanks for all of the kind comments. I enjoy helping people get their
planes
into the air. I hope I have helped you all with the web site. I love
aviation. I hope I can inspire you all to complete your Visions. It is
well
worth the ride!
I bet you all will think about your underwear before your first flight
now...won't you?
David Cress
Vision #152 (N129DC)CL10
http://www.dynamicplastic.com
dcress@dynamicplastic.com