August 23, 1998
On this Sunday I headed out to the field, not knowing that an IMAA meet
was scheduled. They were gracious enough to let me enter and fly,
even though the Pfeil is a "lowly" 70 inch wingspan. After much less
prep time, it was ready to fly, but with alot of Extras and other IMAC-type
aerobatic planes buzzing around I was a little hesitant to fly. After
alot of waiting around, I decided to go for it. There were alot of
people at the field, but I found the added audience didn't really make
me more nervous. I put the landing gear doors back on and did many
retraction tests until I was satisfied that it would work. On my
first two takeoff attempts, the plane would not come up to speed on the
runway. We determined that this was a combination of the engines
being too rich and there being toe-in on the mains. These two problems
corrected, the third attempt was successful, and off she went! Gear
retraction, as expected, was only partially successful, with one of the
mains observed hanging down partway on the first flyby. I brought
the plane to full stall, which I wanted to do anyway, and the errant strut
snapped up. One of the main gear doors bent out into the wind, and
remained that way throughout the flight.
It's hard to describe the way this thing flies. It "feels" unlike
anything I've ever flown. It is extremely stable, to the extent
that it "resists" any displacement of the two propeller discs. I
suspect that this is because of the added gyroscopic effect of the rear
propeller. Pitch and roll response are both crisp. A guy who
built and flew the smaller 56" version told me to expect it to be sluggish
in pitch. I put extra throw into the elevators for this reason, but
I've found I don't need it. It is very responsive on all axes.
Freeze frame from video of flight #2 - fly-by
Click here (or "shift-click") to download the
fly-by video from flight #2 (gear retracted) (472 kb - 0.47 MB)
Landing
The first approach to landing was alot like the first -- I was too far
out. Fortunately I had a good spotter this time, who told me to go
around! I promptly gunned the engines for another try. I made
a wider turn to final this time and the approach and landing was textbook!
The applause (audible in the video clip :-) and kudos were very satisfying.
Click here to download the landing video clip
from flight #2 (1768 kb - 1.76 MB)
=Gary