---------------------------------------------------------- RV8-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Wed 09/14/11: 2 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 05:05 AM - Re: First Fllight (George Steube) 2. 06:17 AM - Re: First Fllight (George Inman) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 05:05:23 AM PST US From: "George Steube" Subject: RE: RV8-List: First Fllight Breece, My first flight in my RV 8 was about 5 years ago. I remember doing a couple of medium speed taxi runs and thought the airplane was squirrelly, I was wondering how bad it would be on landing. Turns out the squirrel was driving. The first landing I didn't even have to touch the rudder peddles it just tracked straight. On later flights I learned to use very slight rudder inputs and all the issues went away. I would check the following. First, make sure the airplane tracks straight on the ground (the tail wheel and rudder may not align exactly). Second the movement of the rudder requires no effort if it feels stiff something is binding. Check the rudder and tail wheel freedom, neither should be tight. Third on take off and landing roll don't move the rudder like you would on a big tail dragger, only very minor corrections are needed. Once the first flight adrenalin dies down you should be ok. Good luck. George -----Original Message----- From: owner-rv8-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-rv8-list-server@matronics.com]On Behalf Of Breece Nesbitt Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 5:28 PM To: rv8-list@matronics.com Subject: RV8-List: First Fllight I made the first flight in my RV-8 last Sunday morning. Other than having a yaw to the left and one comm radio not working, the flight went well. However, the first landing was not so pretty. On touchdown, the airplane became very squirrelly. I was all over the place - back and forth. Let rudder - right rudder - over correcting. I had been practicing in an RV-7 and had been doing good landings, so I thought I wouldn't have any problem landing the RV-8. I have a couple of thousand hours in tail draggers - including about 600 hours in an L-19. I was pretty excited making that first landing, so I thought maybe the poor handling was due to that. On the next landing, though, I realized that I was having to put way too much pressure on the rudder pedals to get any directional control. The pedals were very hard to push and I was not keeping the airplane straight down the runway. The next two landings were not any better - maybe worse. The forth and last landing convinced me that I might not be so lucky next time. I'm not going to fly the airplane again until I am convinced that I know what the problem is, and get it corrected. Any suggestions or thoughts (other than to quit flying) would be appreciated. I'm thinking about changing out the tailwheel assembly to see if that might help. Breece Nesbitt N28117 (1.1 hour) ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 06:17:01 AM PST US From: George Inman Subject: Re: RV8-List: First Fllight I made the first flight in my RV-8 last Sunday morning. Other than having a yaw to the left and one comm radio not working, the flight went well. Ho wever, the first landing was not so pretty. On touchdown, the airplane beca me very squirrelly. I was all over the place - back and forth. Let rudder - right rudder - over correcting. I had been practicing in an RV-7 and had b een doing good landings, so I thought I wouldn't have any problem landing th e RV-8. I have a couple of thousand hours in tail draggers - including abou t 600 hours in an L-19. I was pretty excited making that first landing, so I thought maybe the poor handling was due to that. On the next landing, thou gh, I realized that I was having to put way too much pressure on the rudder p edals to get any directional control. The pedals were very hard to push and I was not keeping the airplane straight down the runway. The next two lan dings were not any better - maybe worse. The forth and last landing convinc ed me that I might not be so lucky next time. > I'm not going to fly the airplane again until I am convinced that I know w hat the problem is, and get it corrected. Any suggestions or thoughts (othe r than to quit flying) would be appreciated. I'm thinking about changing ou t the tailwheel assembly to see if that might help. > > Breece Nesbitt > N28117 (1.1 hour) Make sure the main gear is aligned and not a bit toe in. -- George H. Inman ghinman@mts.net 204 287 8334 204 799 7062 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message rv8-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/RV8-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/rv8-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/rv8-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.