[Yahoo Ultra Light Trikes #41815]

Re: Big Day Yesterday

I was the lucky guy to fly this little beauty.

I haven't made a contribution to the list in several years
now ..beacuse it seemed kinda pointless.... and it was sucking up way
too much energy. Not to mention they kicked me off most of them at
one point or another because I made a habit of telling people (when
they were) that they were more full of shit than the porta-potties on
the last day of SnF.

Be that as it may...Mark built a replica fun racer for under 7K
including wing and engine....and of course countless fun hours in the
building project.I am here to tell you the workmanship was absolutely
outstanding. This guy is a perfectionist and a real builder.(I never
even remember meeting him before although he says we met once several
years earlier).

I think I am qualified to speak on this point because I put over 300
hours on both a racer Fun 14 and an XP11 from 1996-97 era and have
flown 6 racers nationwide since. I have logged nearly 1200 hours
total in all my other trikes.

In many ways it was better than the racer and in a couple areas he
needs to tweek it for improvement. Namely, the engine mount is better
than air creations, and the seat is more comfortable.
The kill switch needs to be rempounted in a more accessable location
and the brake pedal needs to be tweked so you dont have to overextend
your foot. With a solid Chrome Molly suspension it is a little
stiffer in the rough spots on the ground....and in a real hard
landing one might feel it alot more in the lower back, but you won't
be replacing fiberglass struts either.

I rev'd it up to reach CHTs and EGTs and did some high speed taxiing
to feel out the front steering. It was a little squirrelly, and I
think a trailing edge off the front axle support struts would cure
that problem. He used bungees to stiffen it up and having said all
that it was entirely manageable on the ground, with a much tighter
turning radius than a standard Racer.

On the first pass down the runway I rotated and held the plane steady
2-3 feet off the runway to feel out the wing. Winds were blowing
varible at about 15 knots as a storm was on it's way in, but it was
blowing right down the runway.

I landed and returned downwind bringing the plane up to rotation and
flew again at 4-6 feet above the runway with a much higher speed with
the wind in my rear. It landed beautifuly at the higher speeds. I
repated this scenario 4 times and then took off. She climbed out
nicey at about 800 ft/min. I took her up and conducted a series of
left and right banks, increasing the angle of turn progressively, I
took her into a stall and experienced no odd characteristics. I
dropped the engine to idle and took my hands off the bar to see how
the wing tracked and it flew almost perfectly straight forward with
an ever so slight a right roll. I tried the same with moderate power
and experienced a mild right roll. I am not recommending a wing
tuning just yet because there was enough wind to affect the test and
it was so subtle few people would even notice it.

Then I just started flying for fun...This thing was as smooth as
champaign...and so light to the touch.....An absolute joy to fly in
everyway. And it is no dog either...With the wing in the center
hangpoint I was able to put the pedal to the metal and tuck the bar
up to my arm pits and read 58 on the Hall Airspeed indicator....Not
bad for a 14 M single surface wing....I really believe this is one of
the best overall flying designs made with the sweetest balance
between wing, weight, power, prop....it just all works so perfectly
well. One very impressed salty flyer here.

Congratulations Mark on a job well done. Get all the training you
need and I promise you that plane will give you hours of pure joy and
exhiliration in the air.

Repectfully,

Soup!

The wing was purchased as is from Air Creation and the trike is legal
part 103 in every way. This baby flew like a dream....he had pitched
the prop the two blade Ivo-prop to 6200 rpms on the used 447 and it
was perfecto. The engine absolutely purred.