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RICHARD EASTMAN |
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First Flight 11/22/2006
I suspect I was nervous; first flight and all ... but mostly the first flight was a “process.” But it wasn’t like I hadn’t done similar “first-flights” in the past; although this was my first for a home-built … let alone, one I’d built. Obviously, the plane got the “second-look” in the hanger … plus Dave Prizio and Dennis Keith were there to double-check me. I did two high-speed taxi’s prior to actually attempting to fly. The second got a little airborne … a foot or so; the big Lycoming IO-390 surprised me a bit the first time I went to full power. The airplane turns out to be harder to keep on the ground than to let it fly … to this day! I’m an “old” pilot, not a “bold” one. On the first flight I did a full left circuit and stayed just above pattern altitude tracking down the runway for a simulated approach to get the feel of the plane in landing configuration – and then landed the second time around. I did two more full-stop circuits. Of the 10 items on my first “bug list,” eight were avionics issues. Of the two dealing with the airplane, one was a right aux tank gas filler stem that needed tightening and the other was insufficient nose-down trim to hold powered cruise flight; the latter easily fixed by re-adjusting the length of the rod attached to the electronic trim servo. All-in-all … everything went as it should have! // Richard |
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