Doug Henson

  Progress as of November 1, 2003 ­ engine and cowling installed, moving to the airport as soon as I find hangar space.  

 

Valentine's Day, 2004 ­ N48EL is ready for the big event.

My original plan was to fly on Sunday, but the forecast was for rain. After breakfast on Saturday it was sunny and clear, so off we went to the airport. My witnesses arrived a bit late, but that gave me lots of time to check and recheck everything on the preflight checklist and the flight test card. Everything was great during startup, taxi, and runup with the exception of a low suction gage reading (had to adjust the regulator). Then liftoff happened in literally seconds and it was flying. Stall buffet occurred at a constant 58 knots with or without bank. There was no wind which allowed me to check IAS with GPS ground speed. They were within 2-3 knots of each other. An uneventful landing and cheers all around.

During the second flight on Sunday (the rain held off for a while) I raised the gear and got a 1600 fpm climb at 85 knots. A more sedate climb with 24/2400 at 110 knots was still good for 1000 fpm. Cruising at 5500' MSL, I found 158 knots at 24/2400 and 138 knots at 21/2400. The right wing was a bit heavy and it stalled CRISPLY at 55 knots.

I would have had the same cowling burn through that George Richards experienced but Alfred had warned me to insulate in that area. I did, but will need to make a slight blister because the clearance is so small I had signs that engine movement caused contact between the exhaust pipe and the insulation.

Special thanks to Larry Black who provided me some stick time in N572AB a few weeks ago. That plus his advice made my maiden flight a snap.

Doug Henson

 

  The pilot looks ready.  

  Contact !!  

  Everything is in the green.  

     

 

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