Paul,

Here's the post I've been waiting more than seven years to write...

Yes, she flies very nice!  The first flight of my 20B Lancair ES took
place Sunday at 9:30 a.m.  I was close to doing it the previous day, but
the winds were directly across the runway at 10-15, and there was lots
of traffic in the pattern, so I waited.  This morning was much better,
except for the fog, which burned off about 9:00.  I guess I just got
tired of doing fast taxis.  She flew like I was hoping she would,
actually better than I had hoped.  I only did one lap around the
pattern, but the only thing I had to adjust was elevator trim.  I landed
with 20* flaps and did the best landing of my life (I'm going to love
this airplane).  It was very difficult not to go for another lap, but I
wanted to get the cowl off and look things over real well.  Three sets
of eyes didn't find anything oozing, spraying, seeping or smoking.

The 20B rotary engine has plenty of power to satisfy me (some of you
speed demons need more though).  With part throttle it was still
climbing at 900 fpm.  I was impressed by the smoothness of the rotary
engine.  Really amazing after flying behind the certified stuff for
years.  It was a little loud, but that is partially due to not having
any sound deadening installed, or upholstery, or a door seal.  Anyway,
the ANR headset took care of most of that.

And for the disappointing news, the EC-2 is still not right.  I got
some mis-firing on WOT at around 7000 rpm.  It stops when I back off
just a bit, but I called Tracy Crook and the unit is on its way back for
some diagnostics and upgrades.  So, after one short flight, she's
grounded until I get the EC-2 and EM-2 back.

The first flight was too short to report any temps.  Things looked ok,
but I was more focused on flying than reading gauges.  This was my first
flight in ANY Lancair!  It flew beautifully and I can hardly wait to fly
her again real soon.  I'll report more on the temps later after I've
flown her a while.

Head still in the clouds...

Mark Steitle
Lancair ES - n/a 20B
Lockhart, Tx

Congratulations Mark on a job well done. Here are some pictures of
Marks airplane for the new people.


Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

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