First Flight Today

[BTAZ]

40 hours are now logged so out of Phase 1.

A few observations

My 76" x 36" Catto prop pretty much sets cruise and "cruise descent" at around 105 mph if I cruise around the 2750 RPM factory redline of my 0-200.

The fine pitch also gives me around 800 fpm climb at 9500' which is going to be great this summer here in AZ. But I will likely have Catto re-pitch the extra 3" he feels is possible making it around 39".

It is taking some getting used to in slow flight. Without flaps, the nose sits pretty high on the horizon when down around 45 mph IAS. While there is still plenty of margin, it takes a conscious effort to not let the nose drop and the airspeed pick back up when playing with turns.

In summary. it does everything Bob claims.

[BTAZ]

Took my son up today as the first passenger. He was the lucky recipient of "Bucking bar duties" as well as helping me with a lot of other things during the build.

The first picture is holding short of the runway for the CAF B-17.

The others highlight how nice having the doors on both sides of the airplane covered in Plexi is for both the front and rear seat occupants.. I don't think I would do the skylight again but the extra visibility of the second door along with using plexi on both definitely is worth the extra couple pounds.

These were all taken from the rear seat.

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[BTAZ]

Another couple good flights last week puts me close to the first oil change.

Early in the week, I went to a dirt strip outside Superior AZ. Dragged it to check for cattle and while didn't see any they had left plenty of "Meadow Muffins" on one end of the strip which gives some incentive to using only the first 2/3 of the runway.

Yesterday met a group from the Mogollon Airpark at Holbrook, AZ for breakfast(about 1.5 hrs from FFZ). One of them is close to finishing a LSA from a kit so I gave him a ride. We stopped in Taylor AZ where I fueled to put us at the 1320 gross weight(me, my "roughly FAA standard passenger" and approximately 20 G of fuel) AWOS reported density altitude as 8K feet with calm winds. We broke ground well under 1,000' and was somewhere around 700' AGL by the time we crossed the departure end of the 7,000' runway. Respectable performance for a stock 0-200 and definitely what I was hoping for.

Went on to the Airpark and spent time comparing notes on the aforementioned LSA project as well as getting a good look at a experimental SuperCub project being built by the DAR that inspected mine. I also got to look over a four place Bearhawk kit well into construction.

A bit over three hours of flying and a great day.

[Bdflies]

I saw that Supercub project! What I saw, I'd describe as a real 'work of art'. Mogollan is a pretty nice place, too!

Bill

[BTAZ]

Yes, it definitely is. A Supercub with drink holders and an autopilot is a bit more refined then most!

Mogollon is a cool place in its own right with a great group of residents. The rise in the center of the runway makes it a bit interesting to fly into/out of. You can't see one end of the runway from the other so you taxi on the parallel taxiway to the top of the hill to make sure all is clear and then taxi back down the hill to take the runway and takeoff going back up the hill. Also special procedures using their unique AWOS to broadcast your intentions.One of the residents must invite you and you have to fill out a hold harmless agreement.

I left around 3PM with a DA over 8K around 50 lbs under gross with no problem.

[Battson]

Without flaps, the nose sits pretty high on the horizon when down around 45 mph IAS. While there is still plenty of margin, it takes a conscious effort to not let the nose drop and the airspeed pick back up when playing with turns.

Nose high near the stall? They all do that to some extent, 4-place and Patrol too.
The flaps change the camber a great deal, but don't generate much extra lift aft of the centre of pressure, they are mostly a drag device.

So cool to see a scratchbuild LSA flying and all signed off.

[BTAZ]

Well, to "bookend" this thread, approximately 3.5 years after starting the wing rib template, I just attended and returned from Oshkosh 2017 in the resulting plane(spent an extra week with family on the way back).

Roughly 15 hours of flying one way plus some rides given put me at about 40 hours of flying in the past two weeks. (now have around 90 hours on the plane).

Only hitch was the "home builders special" cast tail wheel steering yoke(goes up into the bottom of the rudder and the tail wheel steering springs connect to it) broke upon landing Oshkosh. Didn't really notice anything during the landing and roll out but the subsequent long taxi to HBC in a strong crosswind was a bit of a pain. WagAero brought me one up on their morning truck and I borrowed a drill/bits from the EAA repair folks and was back to 100% pretty quickly. Early on in my test flying the "release bolt" in the BH tail wheel I built fell out and I believe it stressed the yoke when I tried to pivot the airplane at the end of my flight without the tail wheel releasing. It broke right at the cross drilled mounting hole in the bottom of the rudder.

[Flygirl1]

OMG, HOW DID WE MISS YOU???? We are parked on the other side of the ramp behind you in the photo. We arrived on the Thursday before the show actually started and were there until the next Friday. Further down the line there was another Bearhawk 4 place and he came in late in the week, like on Thursday the day before we left. Based on where you are, I guess you were late in the week also? If we get to go next year, I think we should try and get as many together in a row as we can, even if we have to save a spot or two. ;-) D.

[BTAZ]

We arrived Tuesday AM. We walked past your Patrols but you were on the phone the first time and I figured we would see you both sometime through the week but didn't happen. Also saw the four place but never connected with the owner.

We were in the NW corner of HBC(basically right across from the Orange car park lot and almost up against both fences) in a sea of RVs and Sonex's. I think there were perhaps only five high wings(one Tailwind comes to mind) in sight.

Until next year.....

[Flygirl1]

Congrats on your accomplishment! Building your own plane, especially from scratch and especially in the amount of time you did and then flying it to OSH is something to be proud of. That plaque they give you when you register, the "perseverance" award--somebody gets it!! 😊

[davzLSA]

HI Brad,
I am at the point where I am fitting my horizonal stab and elevators to the fuselage. I running into an issue and I wanted to see if you had the same issue. It seems that the elevator horn is in a very tight squeeze between the 2 top longerons. How much space did you have between the top longerons at the tail post? The plans call for the rear horizontal stab spar to be 5 inches from the tail post, at that distance on my fuselage the rear elevator horn will not have enough room to go back and forth. The only thing I can think of is that I have the 2 top longerons too close together at the tail post? Happy Flying

Thanks,
David

[BTAZ]

I've attached a few photos but don't know if they will help.

Are you sure you went 5" from the Center line of the tail post and not the edge?

The elevator horns need to be profiled to very closely meet the plans as there is just enough room to get them up into place. I remember it being a bit of a head scratcher the first few times but once the horns were trimmed to the lines on the plans and I found the right angle to start from when putting them on, it gets pretty easy after the 15'th time

[lsa140]

Well done BTAZ! Way to stick with a project and see it through completion. Thanks for taking the extra time to document/share your build experience along the way. After seeing your plane, I'm definitely going with a second door and lower glass. The visibility looks excellent.

[BTAZ]

I would definitely do the lower plexi on both sides. I might also enlarge the rear window by carrying the lower front edge of the window down to intersect the rising rear portion of the door.(basically continue the diagonal from the lower edge of the door up to the window) but plexi adds weight..

I would not do a skylight(at least not in the LSA) as my opinion is any benefit isn't worth the extra weight.

The second door I'm a bit undecided. I saw one of the Cub clones with it and loved the visibility compared to the Christavia I was flying at the time. I really wanted to make the doors for quick removal but I think I would need to redo the hinge points(basically move the pivot points out a bit more from the fuselage) to easily accommodate a pip pin.

Reality is just having the lower Plexi has obviated any need to remove the doors. The upper windows are quite large and when open(coupled with the lower plexi) you easily get a "Cub like" feel.

The extra door was handy when building but really hasn't been opened much since I've been flying. It definitely added complexity(at least a weeks worth of head scratching) to having a rear seat throttle.

[lsa140]

The two reasons I'm considering a left door are emergency egress and floats. The LSA has such a large left window that you could get out if the right side was blocked. Another door also makes it more difficult to keep the heat in during winter months. Great input, thanks!

[BTAZ]

I discussed the extended back window a bit with my son last night(he has about 50 hours of "rear seat experience" in my LSA)

He didn't feel it would be of much benefit at all. He pointed out that the passenger's head sits a bit forward of the midpoint of the existing window so there is really only a small triangle that would be useful.

His view was that, if anything, the rear window could be shortened front to back(which would help with weight) and possibly grown in width down to the door latch area. I'm not sure about the aesthetics though.

So while we(my son and I) both agree that a clear lower door is a must and the skylight isn't needed, modifying the back window is likely not clear benefit/drawback..

[lsa140]

I've always thought Bob put the dog leg in the upper longerons and ran the rear window to that station for good aft visibility. It's the only reason I can think of for that odd longeron contour.

[BTAZ]

As drawn, the rear of the rear passengers head is about centered in the rear window. One would need to turn pretty far(beyond uncomfortably far) to make use or the rearmost portion of the rear window.

Certainly not a problem, but if shooting for a "weight neutral" approach for maximum usable visibility, look at taking a few inches off the rear of the rear window and adding it back on the the lower edge of the forward portion of the rear window.

If I were to do it again with visibility as my focus, I would mock up some possible shapes out of poster board until satisfied with the visibility and aesthetics..