Author: The Flying Dutchman

I am a man who loves Christ, loves my wife, loves my family, loves my church, and loves aviation. In that order.

The Coyote flies!!

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Phase 1, Rans S-6ES Coyote3 Comments

Well after almost two years of construction, and about two weeks of nervous pacing, my Rans S6-ES Coyote finally flew today!  Here is the long story for those that want to read it.

N612SV

The plan was to gather at Oakdale Airport (O27) at 12:30pm with a scheduled take-off time of 1:00pm.  Two pilot friends of mine, Joey Myers and Emmet Welch were to meet me for photos and all around well wishes.  I arrived at 9:30am and cleaned the airplane off.  I then went to hang out with the guys from EAA, Leon, Jim, Ken.  They were definately looking forward to the first flight far more than I was.  At about 11:30am Joey texted me that the winds were picking up at Rio Vista and that he was only making 11 MPH ground speed.  He elected to turn around and head home.  Winds were still light at Oakdale so the flight was still a go for me.  Emmet showed up right on time at 12:30pm.  However, I could see the wind sock starting to move and fearing that those 35 – 45 MPH winds were headed our way I elected to depart immediately.

After a few photos I climbed in and belted up.  Ran through the prestart checklist and fired her up.  She sounded good so I taxied down to the runup area.  Runup seemed normal.  I say “seemed” because I’ve only flown behind a Rotax motor a couple of times.  After a short quick prayer I announced on the radio and taxied out on the the runway.  I started advancing the throttle slowly to get a feel for directional control and the rudder inputs that would be needed.  The tail came up and I made a few rudder corrections to straighten her out and then pushed the throttle in all the way.  Only problem is I was too slow because I was already airborne.

As I climbed out I rolled the wings a few times and yawed with rudder.  The airplane seemed to respond normally so I pulled back to about 75-80 MPH and climbed out.  The wind had already arrived because at about 600 ft MSL I started feeling a lot more bumps and the plane had a yawing tendency.  However, they were all easily overcome with correcting inputs on the stick and rudder.  I continued the climb until I was at 2500 MSL but the bumps only got worse.  It had the feeling of flying through your own aircraft’s wake over and over again.  It was more than I wanted to deal with on a  first flight so I descended back down to about 1700 MSL where it was relatively smooth and kept it there for the remainder of the flight.  Engine instruments all looked and remained normal.  I noted a climb RPM of about 5200.  Oil pressure and temperature were good.  CHT’s looked fairly cool but I didn’t write down exact numbers.  I’ll do better at taking notes on the next flight.

After about 20 minutes I decided to head back to the airport before the winds came down to ground level.  Two other aircraft entered the pattern just as I wanted to land so I circled a few more times then entered on a left crosswind.  I throttled back and kept the airspeed to about 80 MPH on downwind.  As I came abeam the numbers I pulled the throttle to idle and put in the first notch of flaps.  The wind had pushed me away from the runway so I angled back in a bit on base and added a little power.  I pulled in the 2nd notch of flaps and once I was back on the glide path I wanted I pulled the throttle again.  On short final I pulled in the 3rd and then 4th notch of flaps.  It was her that the first glitch of the whole flight happened.  The flap handle would not lock into the 3rd or 4th notch.   I had already pulled the handle all the way aft so I didn’t want to let go and dump the flaps that close to the ground.  I elected to just hold the handle full aft and continue the approach.

So there I was making my first helicopter landing: the stick in one hand, the flap handle in the other.  I go so distracted with all this that I didn’t watch the centerline close enough and allowed myself to crab and drift a bit.  I touched down on one main, then the other, then the first again before I finally got everything straightened out.  Once down on 3 wheels she handled beautifully.  The rudder pedals seem stiff but I’m assuming that they will get easier as they break in.  I taxied back to the EAA hangar and shut down.

There are only two squawks I have found so far.  The first is that the left wing felt just a little heavy.  I’m not going to do anything about that until I flight it a few more times to make sure I felt what I thought I felt.  The other is that the flap lever would not stay locked when I pulled the flaps.  That could have been my pants getting caught up in the lever though, I’ll check again next time I fly.  There is one other change I might make and that is to change the rigging on the elevator so that I don’t have to pull the stick so far aft to get full up elevator.  That or lose some weight.

The first flight was a success!  After a week of worry I found that it flies normally, everything works, and lands normally.  Now the fun can begin!

Video of the takeoff can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwRsrqT0BoA

Thank you to my daughter Angela for filming this.

Update: Here are a few more photos taken by Emmet Welch: https://picasaweb.google.com/svanarts/RansCoyote#

Update 2:  Here is a video of the victorious taxi back by Emmet Welch: http://vimeo.com/19631518

Thanks for all the coverage Emmet!

Taxied around

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Rans S-6ES CoyoteLeave a comment

This afternoon I performed the last few checks on the plane.  Lube’d the flight control hinges.  Checked deflection on all flight controls.  Secured my fire extinguisher (may I never need it.)  I also took this opportunity to taxi around the airport a few times to get a better feel of the ground handling.  I tried to be a little more aggressive on the rudders but I’m still trying to feel out this machine.

It looks as if a small crew will assemble to wish me well tomorrow including a couple of internet buddies.  It will be nice to have them on hand so I can ask some last minute questions.  I’ve had several people offer to fly chase, if each of them shows up, we’ll look like a squadron of angry geese (only slower.)  Either  way I’m feeling more confident now and starting to look forward to this first flight.  It all comes down to this moment.

In the hours before the first flight

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Faith, Rans S-6ES CoyoteLeave a comment

There are now a little more than 24 hours left before I test fly the Coyote.  I’ve had a range of emotions from excitement to fear.  Have I checked everything?  What have I missed?  What if this or that device does not function correctly?  Life with me is always a roller coaster ride (just ask my dear wife) but now more so.  This is an airplane I have dreamed of building and flying, and now that the hour has come, I need to resign myself to the joy of the moment.  Not bask in anxiety.  I am heartened when I remember a quote by General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson when asked by one of his men how he could appear so calm in the midst of heavy battle:

“Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me.” He added, after a pause, looking me full in the face: “That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave”

 

Electrical buss vendor finally responds

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Rans S-6ES CoyoteLeave a comment

A week ago I emailed the manufacturer of my electrical buss to ask for help with the problem I was having.  The problem was that the radios and engine gauges were shutting down when the starter cable was connected to the battery.  I finally received an email today.  The tech correctly identified the source of my problem.  I am glad to know that had I not been able to locate the source of the problem myself this email would have pointed me in the right direction.  I am also glad that I now know it takes a week to get an answer from them.  I’ll adjust my expectations for next time.

All systems go

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Today after work I stopped by the airport and adjusted my propeller so that I now get 5200 RPM at a standstill when I apply full throttle.  The airplane is all put back together, the windows are clean, insurance is in effect… I’ve officially run out of excuses not to fly. Looks like the first flight will be this Saturday.

Electrical gremlin located!

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I found the cause of my electrical problems, it was — me.  No surprise there.

If you’ll recall, the problem was that when my starter cable was connected to the battery, I had no power to my radios or engine instruments.  Well the problem turned out to be a wire connected to the wrong terminal of my starter relay.  This particular wire was connected to the log on which was also the cable that went back to the battery.  That meant that this wire was always seeing 12V from the battery.  This particular wire ran back to my EXP-Bus and was connected to an input labeled STRT.  This is what the STRT input does:

“Connect to the starter switch. When power is applied to this terminal, the avionics bus is shut down, even if the avionics master switch on “ON”. This can prevent damaging radios with power surges during engine start.”

See what’s going on here now?  Since there was always 12V on this input, the radios and instruments were always off.  So, why was it connected to the same lug as the battery cable?  It’s not supposed to be.  Ah-ha!  So I moved the wire to the terminal that is connected to the key switch that energizes the starter relay, you know, where it was supposed to be connected in the first place?  This terminal only get’s 12V when you turn the switch to start the engine.  Ah…  That’s better.  Everything worked perfectly after that.

I pulled the airplane out of my hanger and it started up immediately.  For the first time I could see that I did, in fact, have oil pressure and I could see my RPMs finally.  I also took this opportunity to taxi around the airport a few times.  I brought the plane back to my hangar and shut down to check for drips.  None!  So I fired it up again and taxied over to the transient tie-downs.  I shut down and secured my tailwheel so I could do a full power run-up to check my static, wide open throttle RPM.  I found that rpm’s hit 5500 (the upper limit for normal operations) before I had even pushed the throttle in all the way.  The engine felt smooth in some ways but felt very foreign to me.  My buddies who heard the engine came running out and told me how smooth and quiet the engine sounded.   I ran out of time so I put the airplane back in the hangar.  Next time out I’ll adjust the prop to get 5000 – 5200 RPM, wide open throttle  on the ground.  After that, there’s nothing left but to fly it.

Exp-Bus 2

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Rans S-6ES CoyoteLeave a comment

This is the gizmo that I’ve called support about.  I’m thinking there is probably nothing wrong with this unit.  The problem may be in the starter itself, or in the way I have it wired.

Exp-Bus 2

When I get back out to the airport on Saturday I’ll start trying to isolate what may be pulling the battery down.  Time to whip out my trusty digital multi-meter.