First Flight

So finally after nearly 3 years of building, 6 years of preparation and a lifetime worth of dreaming it was time to fly the homebuilt.

November 18, 2006. Early morning flight from Potomac Airfield. For those that don't know Potomac is about 8 miles Southeast of the Washington monument. This close proximity to the "brains" of the US government makes a few people nervous. The airport requires a United States Secret Service background check. The other painful part of this airport is that there are only 2 modes that they want to see you in when flying there: coming or going. Some people think "they " don't even want to see those modes but that's another subject all together.

First flights are dangerous. Serious business. There are no two ways about it. Untested airplane, untested engine can have disastrous results for both the plane and pilot. For this reason I really want to stay over the airport during my first flight.

During the time getting ready for my first flight I called the FAA controllers in charge of the airspace around Potomac airfield and got stone walled. They told me there was nothing they could let me do other than fly south outside of the flight restricted zone. This meant beyond glide distance of the airport and if for some reason my engine decided to quit I wouldn't have a prayer of getting back on the airport.

This turned out to be rubbish. With a flight planned filed, the plane and pilot ready for departure on a land line I called the controllers for permission to depart, the conversation went like this:

Potomac Tracon: Mount Vernon Flight Data
Me: NXXXX at Potomac
Potomac Tracon: NXXXX, what are you doing testing your engine?
Me: No Sir, First flight of a homebuilt aircraft. I would like to stay over the airport.
Potomac Tracon: Oh, I see. Yes, you are going to stay over the airport. Sqwak XXXX
Me: Yahoo!

So from that exchange I was totally relieved that I wasn't going to have to worry about being far from the airport and out of glide distance from the airport. This was great. Thanks to who ever that was that had a clue what I was up to.

First flights of homebuilt aircraft are rare events and often difficult to witness. Why? Builders who have their heads screwed on right don't tell a soul about the flight unless they are essential for the flight. People that are essential are not numerous but maybe 3-4 people to man fire extinguishers and one person with a plane that can come and look for you if something happens. That's IT. My girlfriend wanted to be there, my airplane partner desperately wanted to be there, the friend who let me help him finish his plane wanted to be there, I wanted my Dad to be there. So a small list anyway. The reason is that if you invite everyone and their brother you have a wee bit of undue pressure to fly and you don't need anything pressuring you to fly an unproven plane. Nuff Said.

By the time the plane and I were ready to go there were about 25 people standing around the airport with nothing better to do than watch a my baby go down in a ball of flames... oh well, I didn't know most of them and if I delay my first flight I won't worry the least bit about disappointing them.

Of the 42 gallon capacity, I only put 15 gallons of gas aboard for the first flight. For many reasons but two major ones:
Less fuel to burn at the scene of a crash.
Less weight aboard.

The first one is obvious the second I'll explain. With less weight I can take off shorter and climb faster. The sooner I'm off the ground and away from the ground the sooner I'm out of the what I'll call the "Danger Zone" where I can't land on the remaining runway infront of me because there isn't enough and I can't turn around and land because I don't have enough altitude to execute the gliding turn back to the airport. So anyway less weight means more options sooner should something go wrong. This is the case for every airplane, every takeoff.

I allowed the oil temperatures to warm up above 75 F. I did one test run down the runway to verify that the airspeed indicator was working properly. Then I taxied back and pushed the throttle all the way in...

300 feet down the 2600 foot runway.
60 miles per hour
Rotate and fly off
right turn continued to a 180 degree turn over the airport and I'm passing through 1700 feet!
The clearance I have only allows me to go to 1400 feet. CRAP! Beg forgiveness rather than ask for permission, right?

Switch from the airport frequency to Potomac Approach.
I check in and don't mention my altitude... They see it anyway but why highlight it?
Right away the controller clears me to 3000 feet over the field. Thank you!

While I'm at 3000 feet the controller is actually alerting and maneuvering jetliners headed to National airport around my little 1000 pound airplane. Wow!

I climb up to 3000 feet in about 45 seconds and start to do a few maneuvers. The aircraft responds the way it is supposed to except for slowing down. I have the stick all the way back and can't get it to Stall.

This is a normal maneuver that you do when you want to land. Basically by pulling the stick back and bringing the nose up you fly the airplane so slowly that it stops flying. If you are 3000 feet above the ground the plane falls 50 or so feet, gains speed from falling and starts flying again. If you do this a foot or less above the runway you get a nice pretty "full stall" landing.

My problem now is that I don't think I'm going to be able to go slow enough to land the plane!!!

After flying with the stick all the way back and being patient for it to slow down I can get the plane to slow to about 70 knots. 65 would be better for landing but 70 will probably work OK. Still fast but what the hell else am I going to do?

15 minutes has passed and with the limited fuel supply on board I tell the controller that I'm headed back to the airport and thank him for letting me tread on his hallowed ground!

I fly over the middle of the airport at 80 knots, make a right turn for downwind, put full flaps down, make a right turn to base leg, another right turn to final with and with the plane as slow at I can go I fly down final approach, land and taxi to the fuel pumps. What a relief! The Girlfriend comes running over to the pumps and in tears gives me a big hug and kiss. Well worth it!