Chapter 28 - First Flight

Your Grand-daddy's C152

Seat of the pants

The first thing I noticed about Paul's demo pattern was that, from the perspective of a C172 pilot, the approach angle was all wrong. The VASI's were totally red on final. It was as if we'd done an extended downwind for some reason and were "driving it in" from a very long final. Power was on, and we seemed low, low, low. The perspective didn't change. We were "low" all the way to a squeeky touchdown on the numbers. Hmmm. That was different. We went around and, once clear of the ground, Paul gave me the controls and, with Paul talking quietly in my ear, I proceeded to try and duplicate his pattern.

Turn crosswind at 500 ft. Too late we're rapidly passing 700 climbing at 140kts and 1500 fpm. Brain says - "Turn down wind, then level out at 1000". I had to throttle back quickly to save breaking the 1200ft class C floor, and we hadn't even turned crosswind yet. This is NOT you're grand-daddy's C152. Paul let me make the mistakes and waited patiently while I caught up with the bird. I was perfectly safe, 'cause I was so far behind the airplane, my brain was still on the ground. While I mused about being behind the airplane, we whipped down the downwind, still at 140 kts. I fought her below 120 so Paul could get the gear down, and we were turning base already. Paul wasnt flying it, and I was still climbing aboard, so I guess the Cozy was doing most of the work here.

My first approach seemed fine, except that we were at around 120kts and 50 ft over the threshold. In a Cessna high and fast would be fixable - in fact its my preference. We went around. After a series of maybe 8 or 9 approaches I was starting to get it. If you're used to a Cessna, this bird gets away from you REAL fast, and if you dont have it at 80kts and 10 ft over the numbers you aint landing. At least not anytime soon. On a 6,000 ft runway, maybe time will solve you're problem. With the 3400 ft we had it reminds me of that line from Apollo 13 - It's kinda like hitting the edge of a sheet of paper with a dart from 30 feet. The cozy is like a jet powered glider, which means it doesn't behave a bit like either. The approach angle in a jet is steep, because it glides like a brick when the power's off. The approach angle in a glider is shallow, but you've usually got big spoilers to dump height and speed. The 16:1 Cozy glide ratio means that it just don't wanna stop flying. Combine this admirable attribute with high speeds and landing it "politely" in 3400 ft is an serious art form. Here's a typical pattern as I recall it.

Accelerate to 60kts. Nose coming light. 70 kts ready to fly. 75 kts lift her off gently. On each occasion I did this the nose went a little high and I to push a tiny bit to get it back down. Raise the gear. Quickly establish a 110kt climb and get the gear up. 10 seconds later we're passing 500ft, turn crosswind. Almost immediately, back off on the power to about 2100 rpm or less to keep the speed below 120 and avoid climbing through pattern height. Turn downwind and fight the speed back to 120kts. The pattern is a typically a bit wider than you might be used to in a 172. Make a tight pattern and you'll be using 60 degrees of bank in the turns. No 15 degree bank turn here. We were using 30 or so. Lower the gear, quick downwind checks and radio call and we're ready for base way before you expected it. A few times my downwind and base calls were all one sentence. Turn base, power back to 1500 and look for a 500 ft rate of decent at around 110kts. Turn final and ignore the feeling that you're WAY too low. Watch the speed. No more than 110, bleeding back to 100. Get over 120 and you're pretty much screwed. No less than 80. Watch the rpm. Back to 1400 or less. Even though your brain "knows" you're way too low, and aint gonna make the field, back off on the power some more looking for 90kts on short final. You don't really feel the speed, but it sure becomes noticable when you're on the ground. A little less power. Power's all the way off. The first time I got to this point, Paul said "Don't do ANYTHING". I kept perfectly still. As we crossed the numbers at about 80kts and 10 feet, he said it again. "Don't do anything". 3 feet and 75kts and I want to pull back. "Don't do anything", said Paul once more. I froze, and she gently settled onto the runway, the nose bobbed down onto the gear and we were down. "I've got the brakes" says Paul, and I realize that we're still "hurtling" toward the end off the runway, and those threshold lights are coming up awfully fast. Medium braking brought us to a stop at the last turn off. Hmmm. We went and did it again.

Landing Brakes etc.

Norm Muzzy sent me an email and made a couple of additional points worth mentioning here.

> First couple flights, don't worry about the nose gear.  
> Leave it down and locked.

> When you fly by yourself, you will find that the plane rotates 
> much easier, and you will over rotate.  

> You want to make sure you are within CG.
 
> Make sure you put just a bit more fuel in the RH tank than in the LH tank.
> The balance affects your roll rate, and how well it turns.  

A word about seating

Lesson 2

We did a few steep turns out of the pattern just to get the feel of the plane. How does she feel? Responsive, and EZ to fly. You point. She goes. End of problem. Flying her isn't an issue, and the left stick is totally intuitive. Except for something like a steep turn you don't tend to move it more than 1/8 inch in any direction, so mostly you're just resting your arm on the armrest and changing the pressure you're putting on the stick a tiny bit. It needs a delicate touch, but it's totally effortless.

Even though it was a bit more windy and gusty than it had been the day before, I was now only about 20 ft behind the airplane, so most of the time I could keep everything roughly where it needed to be. I pinned two landings in a row and we called it a day.

More valuable input on flying the Cozy

[regarding climb out]
If you need a Vx climb, it'll be at about 85 mph (74 Kts) - It'll 
look like you're pointing straight up, and will be pretty scary the first 
few times you try it.  For Vy, it's about 110 mph (96 Kts).  However, it's 
pretty hard to see over the nose at these speeds, so unless you've got 
obstacles, I like to climb at about 120 mph - 130 mph (105 Kts - 113 
Kts).  This gives you good visibility, only lowers the climb rate a bit 
(10%, maybe a bit more, but it's still great), and cools a bit better too.

[other pattern speeds]
downwind    - 90kts       (103.5 mph)
base        - 75/80kts    (86 - 92 mph)
short final - 75kts       (86 mph)
over the numbers - 70kts (80.5 mph)

The usual way to deal with gusts is to add 1/2 the gust speed to your final 
approach speed - while that certainly changes things some, it still sounds 
like your downwind, base, and early final speeds were very high.  

The thing that concerned me the most, though, was the altitude and glide 
path.  Being below the VASI is very bad - especially since the VASI is set 
up for larger aircraft that need to have power on approach and fly 
flatter.  Personally, I always try to have two whites until on very short 
final, even on a short field approach.

 >If you don't mind I'd like to post extracts about the flying speeds from
 >you're email. Both make good sense and I think people will learn from them.

Not at all - go right ahead.

 >For example, the DAR who flew his Velocity in 2 days before took off a
 >chunck of winglet because he landed VERY hard. He may well have got too slow
 >and hit by a gust.

I suppose that's possible.

I would recommend that you save the slow flight and landing brake practice 
until the winds are not as strong as we were experiencing. 

On a calm day, however, it is a great time try lowering the airspeeds on final
a bit. Unfortunately, with the gusty winds we had, that is no time to be
coming in slow and dragging it in. When the Cozy gets around 70 to 75 knots,
the ailerons just aren't as effective against sudden crosswind gusts.  On a
calm day, however, the aircraft will fly very nicely at slower speeds.  The
gusty weather we were experiencing, however was not going to allow us that
luxury.  

There are differing opinions regarding useage of the landing brake,
and also differing opinions on crosswind landing technique with the Cozy.

My personal opinion is that until you really feel comfortable with the
aircraft,  dragging the aircraft in slow with the landing brake deployed
might feel more comfortable after you have more time and landings under your
belt.  Please remember, however that if you find yourself high and fast on
final with an overheating engine, it's time to pull out all of your tricks
from your magic bag, to include use of the landing brake, dual rudder
deployment, and slipping the aircraft if necessary.  I would, however,
practice using the landing brake when conditions are not as windy/gusty as
we were dealt.  Just an opinion, however.  Some instructors like to teach
beginning pilots to land a Cessna at full flaps, while others like to teach
them to land it without flaps initially, and slowly learn to use flaps a
little at a time as they gain experience.  Who's right?  Don't know. At any
rate, a Cessna pilot should learn to land with and without flaps, and with
flaps at different settings.  I feel the same way about the landing brake.
Learn to land with and without it.  Then, when you really know both your
aircraft and your personal skills, you will find what feels most comfortable
to you in different situations, such as crosswinds, gusts, runway lengths,
obstacle clearance, etc. 

I feel that you have learned all the basics to be able to fly the Cozy....
the rest is part of that "ongoing training" that we all continue to learn 
as we practice and get to really know our aircraft.

After a while, the Cozy will literally become an extension of you, and you
will have the confidence to make informed decisions regarding approach
speeds, landing brake deployment, rudder useage, etc based on various
landing conditions.  It's kinda like getting your first driver's
licence....no need to drive right into New York City on the first
day...there will come a time, however that the new driver feels ready for
New York.  

This is only my opinion, and that I am neither the designer nor the builder. 
Not all aircraft perform the same, even when built from the same plans, 
with variations of weight, drag, (smoothness of paint, with or without 
wheel pants, etc) and other factors.

This should, however be a good starting point for most canards similar to
the Cozy. Only experience will determine the final "best" numbers for each
individual aircraft.  Again, only one person's opinion.  

I hope prospective Cozy pilots find the above opinions and comments valuable. Later I'll add my own impressions as I learn how to fly the bird myself.

RTFM

Three Things

Thing 1. Short runway. i.e. < 5000 ft.
The LNA runway is 3400 and change. If I'd had 8000 or 9000 feet this "thing" would have gone away because I'd be able to get it down somewhere on the runway on the first go. With 3400 feet I might have been up there for 3 hours. If something had occured that meant I needed to get down immediately I'd have been between a rock and a hard place.

Thing 2. Unproven Airplane.
If something had gone wrong with the airplane or the engine I would have had trouble dealing with it. With a long runway, I might have been OK. With a short runway - no chance. For example, let's say we found that the engine temps were off the scale on crosswind. Paul knows how to "crank it and bank it", dump the height with the landing brake, both rudders and a sideslip all at the same time, slap her down on a 2000 ft intersecting taxiway, and taxi back to the hangar as though nothing had happened. I'd rather enjoy watching him do that, but not in earnest, thank you. Given that I'm using a non standard engine, thing 2 has a much higher chance of biting me early on, not because the engine is unreliable, but because my particular installation hasn't been proven. It will be, but until it is I'm at a greater risk in this area. Having said this, I'd still consider a new Lycoming installation unproven enough to be an issue here.

Thing 3. Inexperienced Pilot.
When I say inexperienced, I mean inexperienced in a canard airplane. I don't care if you fly F18 hornets or 757s for a living, or you've got 10,000 hrs in a Cessna 210, the canard is DIFFERENT. Good, yes. Fun, yes. Fast, indubitably, But definately different. Without some inflight instruction in a flying Cozy (remove thing 3) you could get in trouble quickly unless you have a very long runway (remove thing 1).

Slapping myself across the face

Another thought that comes to mind is that I flew an IO360 Cozy. With a turbo 13B on the back and an 84 pitch prop, mine is very probably a LOT faster and more slippery. Paul's reaction when we taxied my bird after flying Dan's was a sign. I think he said something like "whoooa" as we passed 50 kts in what seemed like no time at all. Later he said that the acceleration was dramatically better on mine with 1/2 throttle and zero boost than Dan's IO360 at full throttle. The fact that the parking brake was binding at the time, and the engine is running way over rich, makes this reaction even more interesting. My plane may be much more of a handful than the standard Cozy.

Essential Crew

A serious once-over

First flight - almost

We fixed the parking brake and let her cool down overnight. Tomorrow was to be the big day. We got up early to catch the cool calm air, and wheeled her outside. She wouldn't start. We cranked and cranked on both batteries and tried every possible combination of injectors, coils, pumps, mixture adjustments and computer settings. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Not even a pop of recognition. Disappointed we wheeled her back in. Rather than mess with cleaning the plugs I rushed down to the auto store and bought a new set while Dan, Paul and Buly [The pope doesn't like to miss big events] removed the cowl and took out the plugs. They were wet. I installed the new plugs and we tried to start her again. Nothing. I spoke at length to both Tracy and Ed Anderson who were both helpful, but unable to pinpoint the problem long distance. Paul mentioned that his 13B engine always starts within the first couple of revolutions. Something is definately not right with my mixture. We pushed my bird back in the hangar, pulled Dan's back out and went flying again.

After lunch Dan & Paul headed off back to Alabama. As they climbed out over the trees I felt good. No - we hadn't flown the bird, but I'd had two excellent days with two really good people, found a bunch of bugs, and we had achieved the stated objective. I now have the confidence to fly my airplane - once I get the damn engine running properly. Tracy Crooks words came to mind. "I loved flying my Mazda .... after the first six months". Set-up problems with a totally new installation are par for the course. As someone else once said - "if it was easy, everybody would be doing it".

Chicken and Egg

EC2 doesn't know the difference between fast cranking and running. I took out the plugs, selected mode 3 with the knob to the left, cranked for a few seconds, then hit the program button twice while cranking. I put the plugs back and she fired right up. No more black smoke. Now I'm in the ball park I can install a new EGO sensor and do some fine tuning. This might help anyone else with four 550 injectors. Just knock the overall mixture down a couple of notches while cranking, before even TRYING to start the engine and ruining a series plugs and sensors.

One other problem I found was a bit silly, but Tracy can add it to his list of dumb things people can do....
The mixture control knob had come off a few weeks ago, and a helpful friend had put it back on for me - 90 degrees out. There are 2 set screws 90 degrees apart. He'd tightened it up with the wrong set screw on the flat so the mixture was 90 degrees out. No big deal until you come to do some mode programming where you match the mixture knob orientation with the program knob. They were out of sync, so I was programming 90 degrees richer than intended each time. I realigned the mixture knob, reloaded Tracy's defaults, copied them to computer B and started to make some progress.

Taxi testing again

Saturday evening I put the cowl back on and took her down the runway a couple of times getting up to about 60/65 kts, then throttling back. I could have taken her up on either occasion. The engine temps were ok and I had plent of runway left, but discretion and all that. The brakes need to bed in some more and the idle, currently set at about 1650 engine rpm, is way too high. At this rpm the prop is generating a lot of thrust which is working against the brakes. Not what I want for a first landing on a relatively short field. The fly-rotary guys say they keep their idle at around 1800 - 2000. I don't think that'll work for me. I'd never get down.

Sunday I removed the thermostat housing to get the water pressure gauge plumbed. I also made an extension for the turbo shield to protect whats left of the cowl in that area, and lowered the idle with the throttle stop.

A bit of self discipline

To stat, or not to stat

Removing the stat itself is easy. Plugging the bypass hole behind it needs the water pump housing off the engine. I've been putting this job off because I was "a big one". I dived it at 9:15. I removed the smog/vacuum pump, the alternator and the vacuum hoses, then unbolted the water pump housing. Total time 45 minutes. I took the water pump housing to Charlie to have the hole plugged. He machined a small AL disc to fit the hole and welded it in place. While we were at it, I had a 1/8 npt hole drilled for the water pressure gauge and had Charlie seal off the slightly larger stock hole. The work took about an hour, so I wasn't suprised when Charlie announced the price of $45. I reached in my pocket and, sure enough there was $46 in cash. Every time I go down there he seems to know exactly how much cash I've got in my pocket. I wonder how he does that.

It took a couple of hours to put everything back together with gray RTV and new gaskets. As I left the hangar in the late evening I noticed that the weather was perfect for a first flight. Calm and cool. Pity. The RTV needs to cure overnight, and I'm not quite ready yet because a few other issues need to be dealt with. Tommorow I need to hook up the water pressure gauge, check on the oil temp gauge, check the new idle setting, and test the brakes some more.

To start, or not to start

The owl gives his blessing

With the battery charged and plugs replaced I tried again. After a little trying she fired and sweetly. The cowl was still off (I'm sick of putting it on and off), but I decided to taxi her anyway. Over about 20 minutes taxiing and running up to 3500 rpm or so, the water temps came up gradually to about 200. Oil temp still reads zero. Ambiant was about 65. I found that if I reduced the rpm the temp would come back to 180. This is back to what I was getting with the thermostat out. Much better than with it in. It looks as though the temps are stabalized at around 180 - 200. Excellent. I'm getting no coolant pressure reading because the gauge is still flashing on its upper limit, as it was when I powered it up, waiting for me to adjust it. With the temp stabalized I considered a runway run, or even a flight, but the pattern was busy, there was a slight crosswind, and I was getting low fuel pressure on the left tank. The third one did it. I shut her down and set about finding out what was wrong with the left side fuel system.

I removed the fuel filters (again). There was a very small amount of debris on the left one, but note anywhere near enough to impede fuel flow. I put a can under the inlet to the filter and turned on the pump. Barely a dribble of fuel. Hmmm. I climed in the back and removed the seats to get at the pumps. I was about to remove the pump cover when I noticed the sight gauge - empty. This might explain the lack of fuel pressure. But I put 5 gallons in there yesterday. Where did it go? This is called getting to know you're airplane. I've been running on both pumps without switching the return, so all the return has been going to the right tank. It doesnt take long running like that to drain the left tank. I still like my dual fuel system, but I need to settle down and think about how I'm going to use it. I pumped some gas over from the right tank, replaced the filters and turned on the left pump. Pressure. While walking arounf the plane to check that there was no vacuum forming as I transfered fuel (I wont be caught like that again!) I noticed a large "bird dropping" on the left (Char's) wing. I have the blessing of the hangar owner, (a vintage canardian), some EAA inspectors and a Designated Airwortiness Representative of the Federal Aviation Administration, but up till now the hangar owl hasnt had much to say except. Ouuu. Ou. Ouuuuuu. Today he was saying pretty much the same thing, but seemed more vocal than normal. I wonder if the bird dropping is an indication that the hangar owl is giving his blessing. Kevin stopped by and helped out for a while and take a few pictures. The camera caught the prop "bending" in action. Interesting. I hope it's supposed to do that. I let Kevin do the fun job of replacing the gear cover on his back while I installed the cowling. With everything buttoned up I checked the local ATIS. 150/9. Hmmm. right down the runway. I did my checks, yelled clear and started her up. Just like that. Hardly any cranking at all.

I taxied up and down the taxiway watching the water pressure indication. It settled at about 16lb. The temps kept climbing this time despite the big Ferrari fan. The engine seemed to be running perfectly now. Very responsive and happy to idle at around 1500 or so. After about 15 minutes taxiing the temps were over 200 so I decided this was not the day and taxied back to the hangar. After shutdown I found that there's a loose connection inside the fan. It runs very slowly unless I push on the wire, then it runs normally. Wonderful. See what you get when you buy cheap foreign parts. To get at the fan I have to remove, the upper cowl, oil hoses, radiator hoses, intercooler, turbo plumbing, lower cowl and a whole bunch of other stuff. It's probably a 2 day job. I may hold off on this job until after the first few flights. I dont need the fan in the air anyway.

One thing I've noticed that may be of interest. The nice Pilot DNC headset that Char bought me for my birthday is a bit of a liability right now. I can hardly hear the engine with it on, and that's without the DNC. At this stage I WANT to hear the engine. I'm getting used to how it sounds, when cranking, running etc. so I have to keep the headset off one ear. With the headset fully on I can hear very little noise, and feel very little vibration. It's like being in a jet. I think I'm going to like the way this engine feels in cruise, but I'm really going to need an engine monitor to do the listening out for me.

Another day of frustration

Building a Cozy has certainly been a learning experience. Adding a turbo rotary simply extended that learning experience a few more chapters. I'm still learning. In retrospect it'll be fun. Right now it's a bit frustrating.

I checked the cold start wiring and discovered a couple of issues. The first was a dumb mistake on my part that may have been causing some confusion - I'd labeled the switches wrong and had been switching the coils when I thought I was switching the injectors and vice versa. Since all the switches have been on most of the time, this probably didnt make a difference. The other interesting item was that the cold start wiring on the injector switches is correct, but the cold start switch itself does nothing. No ground on pin 30 when switched. Either the PCM panel is bad, or the wire from there to the junction with the injector switch wires is disconnected. It's a bit difficult to check this with the IP cover and canard in place, and I really don't want to remove the canard and elevator linkages right now. Ed suggested that I try switching one set of injectors off during cranking. This would help eliminate a stuck injector. It will also allow me to get a cold start capability without the cold start switch. To eliminate the other issue Ed raised I ran a 16 gauge wire from a fuse on the battery bus directly to the coils. I can "switch" the coils on and give them all the volts I got by climbing in the back seat and inserting the fuse. If this works I'll rewire the coils with heavier wire.

Also at Ed's suggestion I silica blasted all my plugs. All five sets of them. With a clean set installed and my coils "hot-wired" I tried the engine and it fired up nicely, so I buttoned up the cowl once again. The weather wasnt right for test flying today, so I left her in the hangar and spent the afternoon on my back.

Twister, version 4

Looking closely at the Ferrari fan through the NACA I decided I might be able to disassemble it without removing the lower cowl. It would be a tough job, but not nearly as tough as the alternative. Reaching through the NACA with a stubby screwdriver I managed, with great difficulty, to remove the cover from the commutator. This operation is one of those wierd ones where you can look, or you can put your hand in there, but you can't look and feel at the same time. I struggled for over an hour, but eventually got all 8 screws out. When I got the cover off I was somewhat suprised by the fact that it was FULL OF OIL. I don't mean oily, I mean FULL. I poured about 1/2 a cup of black oil out of the cover and into a container. Hmmm. Perhaps this is why the fan wasn't working properly. Remember when I said that I changed the oil, and all the old oil ran out of the NACA scoop. I lie corrected. Most of the old oil ran out of the NACA scoop. About 1/2 cup of it ran into the fan motor and stayed there. It's amazing that the motor ran at all bathed totally in oil. I guess I better find a new way to change the oil.

The rest of the afternoon was spent upside down trying to assemble a fan motor at arms length by feel. Me and the hangar owl had a few terse conversations, but I won't repeat them here. Eventually I worked out a way to hold the four brushes back against their springs while I slipped the cage over the communtator. Holding the motor cover with the other hand and inserting a screw with my left foot I got the thing assembled on the third try. The fan works perfectly again. Exhausted, scratched, hot, sweaty and greasy I went home to unwind and check the weather for the next day.

First Flight