Waiex-B #21 (N21YX)
Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:32 pmI finally got my plane in the air last weekend (June 12, 2022)!
It took me a while to find a good weather day that I wasn't busy, since it is extremely hot and windy this time of year here in West Texas. I was able to get in the air right after sunrise on a nice Sunday morning, when it was "only" 87 degrees F on the ground and about 10 knots of wind from relatively straight ahead.
Anyway, the plane flew great, super easy to control, only a tiny bit of left roll tendency which may not even be worth doing anything about, but no significant flight control issues noted! I wasn't sure how I was going to like the center stick but as soon as I took off I never even thought about it again. The controls seemed very intuitive .
The Aerovee Turbo didn't make the full manifold pressure, only about 35 in-hg, which was a problem I suspected I had but confirmed as soon as I took off. As a result of that it struggled to climb or fly fast, so the engine ran very hot and I therefore only flew for about 20 minutes. I've since replaced the wastegate actuator spring and now it makes 40 in-hg no problem, so looking forward to trying again!
I'll post some pics and data later, and any subsequent test flight findings. I'm about to move from Texas to California so I might not even fly it again until I get settled in, but at least now I know it flies!!
It took me a while to find a good weather day that I wasn't busy, since it is extremely hot and windy this time of year here in West Texas. I was able to get in the air right after sunrise on a nice Sunday morning, when it was "only" 87 degrees F on the ground and about 10 knots of wind from relatively straight ahead.
Anyway, the plane flew great, super easy to control, only a tiny bit of left roll tendency which may not even be worth doing anything about, but no significant flight control issues noted! I wasn't sure how I was going to like the center stick but as soon as I took off I never even thought about it again. The controls seemed very intuitive .
The Aerovee Turbo didn't make the full manifold pressure, only about 35 in-hg, which was a problem I suspected I had but confirmed as soon as I took off. As a result of that it struggled to climb or fly fast, so the engine ran very hot and I therefore only flew for about 20 minutes. I've since replaced the wastegate actuator spring and now it makes 40 in-hg no problem, so looking forward to trying again!
I'll post some pics and data later, and any subsequent test flight findings. I'm about to move from Texas to California so I might not even fly it again until I get settled in, but at least now I know it flies!!