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1. 08:26 PM - I finally finished Phase I. (Paul Mulwitz)
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| Subject: | I finally finished Phase I. |
My Zodiac XL, N773PM, finally completed Phase I testing and was signed
off today.
I'm sure many folks on these lists had doubts I would ever reach that
point, and so did I. After 7 years of work and waiting for design
changes the battle is finally over.
If I can do it then anybody can!
For those who want details:
I've found I like using 1/2 flaps on takeoff and prefer full flaps on
landings. Full flaps works on takeoff for a minimum roll but I am
uncomfortable with the control available at such slow speeds. Takeoff
with no flaps works fine but uses a lot more runway.
Easy cruise seems to be around 2700 rpm giving around 110 KIAS. Push in
the throttle and it is easy to get over 120. I don't have wheel pants.
I didn't bother doing a formal calibration on the airspeed with standard
pitot tube and adjacent static tube but I have watched the ground speed
compared to airspeed with low winds and they seem to be very close to
each other.
My normal landing with no traffic issues starts with slowing to 70 KIAS
before pattern entry (to keep from running over Cubs and Champs). I
slow to 60 on downwind and pull power to idle just past the numbers. A
normal approach has me adding full flaps either on base leg or final.
Some times I slow to 55 or below on final to get more sink but normal
approach is at 60. I also have done slips with all flap positions with
some success. There is no loss of control in slips but increased sink
requires a deep cross controlled slip.
Useful load winds up being just over 200 pounds for passenger and
baggage. This includes my somewhat overweight body and full fuel (24 gal.).
I have not done enough cross country flying to have a good idea of fuel
consumption. I would guess at normal cruise the flow is around 5 GPH.
I can't really report stall speed since I can't get the plane to stall.
It just mushes.
I made a couple of small design changes to make it fly just a little
better. The first was to add about 20 square inches to the elevator
trim tab. I have a full width tab and still couldn't trim out approach
speeds with full flaps. I also added strakes to the bottom rear
fuselage area. I was hoping to get some yaw stability and failed, but
it does seem just a little bit happier flying straight with the strakes.
Paul
Camas, WA
XL, Jab. 3300 entering Phase II
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