Highlander 0093 is no longer a flightless bird

[gme9261236]

Well the first flight went off yesterday with a test pilot (I had to work a 4 day and my father was not current) We decided that a test pilot should do the first flight because frankly neither of us had any experience being test pilots and were not exactly sure what we were looking for. We found a great guy who did a thorough inspection and then low speed taxi test, high speed taxi test, slow ground loops and recovery, crow hops and then aborted t/o's. In the air he did slow flight, stalls clean and dirty and power on and off and the whole gamet. He said power on stalls were around 26 mph I believe and that full flap power off stalls he was not sure because the pitot tube stalled before the plane did and the airspeed read zero, it was around 20 MPH. He said it was a great flying airplane and he figured he had it in the air in 70 feet or so on his best try.

Now the small issues we need help with.

He said the plane flew great but the right wing was a bit heavy. This we are pretty sure is just tightening the adjustment on the wing strut.

He said that airplane requires right rudder to fly straight. This was tricky, he suggested removing a washer on the stab flying wires to create more tension and possibly slightly "twist" the vertical stab to fix the problem. I am thinking a fixed trim trab would do the trick. What do you guys think?

Now the bigger ones.
During his second flight he was hammering on it for short field t/o and landing, go arounds and all pattern work. It was hot and humid and on his second time around on downwind said the oil temp got high, the oil pressure got low and the CHT and EGT were both hot.
-in the front cowl infront of the oil cooler we used a 1" hole saw and drilled around 8 holes for the "cool" effect as well as cooling (see pics in landing light thread) We are thinking that because of the high power, low airspeed, high angle of attack and the temp that the cooler wasnt getting enough air which cause the high oil temp which then affected all of the others. Our solution was to cut the opening wide open infront of the blades on the radiator and try again.

I am home now and am going to fly it today to see how it goes but just thought we would keep you all posted and try to get some suggestions for these issues.

Pics to follow-

[scubarider2]

Sounds great!  Congrats.
On the trim tab....that is what I did now flys "feet off"  
On the over heating....mine does the same if I do a long steep climb.  You can just watch the temp gauge keep going until I level off then back down it comes.  I just decided not to do the extended steep climbs.  Not the best of answers but not sure what else to do.
Keep us posted.
Dennis

[Dave Krall CFII SEL SES]

Way to go! Be safe & have fun.

[alan]

Congrats! At long last the emu becomes an eagle.

On your heavy right wing (mine was heavy on the left side) just adjust the rod end on the back side of the left wingstrut out. Just make sure you have enough threads left over. I had to tighten mine all the way in but now the wings are "even".

On the rudder trim, mine had the same problem. Wait until you have the wings even, then fly it. If you still require right rudder, bend the bottom "bay" of the rudder to the left about an inch as measured at the bottom of the rudder. This acts as a trim tab but is almost invisible. I tried the "twisted stabilizer" thing but got no results.

I guess I didn't look at your air holes, just the landing light. Now that I have, that is definitely your problem. Even if you have something like an expanded metal ramp on a utility trailer it acts like a sheet of plywood as far as air resistance goes. Yes, there is some air getting through, but it is disturbed and much too slow. You need smooth, high speed air for proper cooling. Here in Texas it is in the 90's all summer and even in the high 90's our Highlander stays way cool in a long climb. I think I could climb 'till I ran out of gas and she would still run cool. I just cut a hole the same size as the oil cooler and mounted it as close to the hole as possible.

Tweak on her a little at a time and before you know it she'll fly like an eagle.

Alan

[gme9261236]

Thanks for the great info guys.
I flew it yesterday for the first time and man did it fly great! The temp problems seemed to be a non issue with that new large opening infront of the cooler which was a relief. Still needs a little bit of right rudder and I think Alans fix will be the winner on that one. Plane has a ground rool of just under 70 feet on T/O but only cruises at 75 so we are going to make some prop adjustments today and get that takeoff roll closer to 100 or so and the speed hopefully closer to 90. We are also getting around 1100 FPM in the climb which we may lose some of that with the adjustment but anything over 700 FPM would be accetable. It is one of the more docile landing planes I have flown yet and was a real non event. As long as it was in the 3 point attitude even if it plunked down a few feet it just seemed to stick there with a light bounce of the suspension and then track straight down the runway. I have been landing pretty fast since I am still getting a feel for it but have been progressively slowing it down. I have been doing 60 on downwind, 50 on base and 40 on final but figure I could still be pretty safe doing 35-30 with flaps over the fence. The only real issue left is we have been having a heck of a time with the tailwheel, it doesnt want to unlock while taxiing. We have had the tail springs loose, then real tight, then snug and everywhere in between. Even on the ground while pushing it you really have to put some serious pressure on it to get it to unlock. We are going to call Matco today to see if they know what the problem is. It taxis great so its not an issue of safety but we could certainly use the unlock for tight turns in close quarters.

[b1x4nqb]

Awsome to see your plane and hear what it was like to fly it.  Nice paint job.  I think we all enjoy listening to anothers success.  Congratulations!  With repect to the tailwheel, did you notice any difficulty in moving it on the ground with the wings folded?  My tailwheel is kind of grabby when not folded let alone folded and with the extra wing weight distributed over it more.  I said something to Gary last year at Oshkosh and he told me to just grease it up a lot but it didn't seem to help.  I'm a little concerned about it but hearing you say it taxied fine I'm still going to give it a try.  Please continue to post your prop changes and whatever else you can.  Speed, handling, and T.O./Landing data is always welcome.

Paul, PA

[gme9261236]

Thanks for the good words guys.
- we seem to have the heavy left wing pretty much all sorted out and taken care of.
-we are going to make a few rudder trim tabs and mount them with double stick tape to see which one works best and then do a permanent mount.
-oil pressure was fluxuating a bit, we called enigma and were told to ground the rdac (engine monitoring doohickey) directly to the block which we did and it seems to be working a bit better now with fluxuations of 10psi up and down. Engine seems to be running very strong and we think it may be a sender issue that is showing the variations.
-flaps do not really like to go to the 3rd notch. Not really sure why yet but they just do not want to lock in while in flight unless you are going under 40 for the airspeed and even then it requires finesse. It goes in real smooth on the ground without issue but flight is giving some problems.

As for the prop we have an ivoprop medium ground adjust and although they do not tell you I have found that figure on rougly 3/4 of a turn for 200 RPM. Yesterday at max rpm in cruise at 3k' it was getting 4900 rpm and going 82mph. Today did 1-1/2 turn and ended up with 5300 RPM and a cruise of about 70 or so. I am not sure what you guys are running for configurations but we have run nearly the full range and have not hit 90 MPH yet, what gives? We need to do a pitot static check to so we can be sure they are reading accurate.

With the prop set at 5300 RPM max throttle in level flight I can be wheels off the ground in roughly 90 feet or so and can maintain a climb of near 1000-1100 FPM. I have been using around 35 MPH for Vx and around 40-45 for Vy and both seem to be working out well.

For the pattern I usually run around 4000 RPM do give me around 60 on downwind. Flaps 1 notch abeam the numbers and RPM at 2500 for a 500FPM descent and 50 MPH, turn base and 2nd notch of flaps (no 3rd notch because of issues) this gives around 40MPH or so. Turn final and slow it up to roughly 40 and over the trees pull power to idle (with no power it is a pretty good sink rate) and slow it to 35 over the fence (30 would be acceptable as well) In the flare your speed bleeds very fast to low 20s and you touch down in a 3 point attitude. With only 4 hours in the plane I have been averaging around 350 feet of runway used with a 150-175 roll.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the tailwheel issue. The tailwheel does NOT unlock while taxiing although it hasnt affected any of the ground handling or t/o or landing at all. What we feel the problem is that there is not enough range in the steering to easily unlock the tailwheel so found the solution here-->http://matco.elixirlabs.com/users/matco ... /3DT6P.jpg  Look at the note on the bottom of the page. There is an alternate wing that will release the tailwheel at a much smaller angle which is what we are looking for, we would like the tailwheel to unlock at around 3/4 of the full range of turning either side. The part will be in tomorrow and will let you all know.

Ill keep you all posted on other things I learn.

[gme9261236]

Yet another update:
Went back to the field tonight (I have to go back to work for a 3 day so I needed my fix) to try a few changes.

we made a trim tab out of plexi around 6 inches tall and mounted it in the slipstream with a small 2" 45 degree bend. It worked well, so well in fact that we needed to bend it back in which case I bent it too much and will need to try again with a happy medium. I think it will solve the problem though. It is stuck on with double sided tape as of now but we are going to make a backing for it and place it on the other side of the rudder and sandwhich them together through the fabric with a few machine screws (yay, more drag)

We repitched the prop which gave us a 70' ground roll on T/O and 5600 RPM in the climb and a max RPM of 6000 (too much) after pulling it back to 5800 RPM we were seeing 86 MPH for a top speed. Before I left the hangar we repitched the prop and are hoping to get around 5500 RPM in the climb and a max power RPM of 5800RPM and then pulling it back to 5600 to see where we stand for a new cruise speed. Fuel burn is 6.1 when running wide open and every other time it is closer to 4-4.5 GPH. In the pattern it is around 1 at very low RPM settings.

Still find that approaching around 40 on final with flaps 2 notches and over the fence at 35 works well for a power off 3 pt landing. I seem to be using around 500' of runway from the fence to the turnoff which I figure is a 250' or less landing roll. Wheel landings are around a maintained 40 MPH over the fence and easing off the power at touchdown.

Ill keep you all posted.

[DaveU]

Congratulations on the plane.  Nice to have a plane, not a project.

I had similar problems with the 3rd notch of flaps.  Worked great on the ground, but in flight would not catch.  I found that due to the air flow resistance on the full flap setting that the handle was flexing just enough to bind up on the inner "button", not letting it slide into position.  I lubed up the inside of the flap handle with some Tri-flow (silicone) and have not had the problem.  Although I do not use the full flap setting often.

I think that you will find that your pitot system is giving a low indication.  My plane does not do 40 over the fence, more like 50.  I think you are indicating a bit lower than actual.  When I get down to 40 mph with the power off, the sink rate is substantial.  Check a couple passes against and with the wind with a gps for accuracy.

I had a heavy left wing also.  I found that pushing the stick to the right to hold up the heavy wing, needed some right rudder to coordinate the "turn".  Once I rigged out the heavy wing, adjusted the turnbuckle as far as I could, and then drooped the left flap a skosh, viola! no rudder trim needed.  I gained a lot of speed, 5 or 6 mph just correcting the rigging.  I also ended up leveling the headrack and adjusting all of the tail flying wires.  I found that the outer leading edge of a horizontal stab was 3/8" higher on the right than the left.  correcting that made a huge difference in the landing characteristics of the plane.

Sounds like you are on the way to getting the prop dialed in.  Nice thing about the IVO that adjustments can be made quickly.  Takes about a half hour on the warp.

Fly safe, and have fun.

Dave

[gme9261236]

Congratulations on the plane.  Nice to have a plane, not a project.

I had similar problems with the 3rd notch of flaps.  Worked great on the ground, but in flight would not catch.  I found that due to the air flow resistance on the full flap setting that the handle was flexing just enough to bind up on the inner "button", not letting it slide into position.  I think you are onto something with this one. When I am much, much slower it has a better chance of staying in and I found that I had to pull the button up once to get it to lock. I will try the lube and maybe engineer a more sturdy flap handle in the future.

I think that you will find that your pitot system is giving a low indication.  My plane does not do 40 over the fence, more like 50.  I think you are indicating a bit lower than actual.  When I get down to 40 mph with the power off, the sink rate is substantial.  Check a couple passes against and with the wind with a gps for accuracy. I think you are right on this one as well. All signs are pointing to the fact that I am going faster then the plane is reading. I can actually slow to near 35 over the fence without issue so if you are showing 50 then something is not quite right. Can this be corrected or calibrated in anyway? I am wondering that since it works off of differential pressure maybe I am having a static issue. Between the efis and the steam atimeter they are reading 100 feet off each other at 1000 feet but are dead even on the ground.

I had a heavy left wing also.  I found that pushing the stick to the right to hold up the heavy wing, needed some right rudder to coordinate the "turn".  Once I rigged out the heavy wing, adjusted the turnbuckle as far as I could, and then drooped the left flap a skosh, viola! no rudder trim needed.  I gained a lot of speed, 5 or 6 mph just correcting the rigging.  I also ended up leveling the headrack and adjusting all of the tail flying wires.  I found that the outer leading edge of a horizontal stab was 3/8" higher on the right than the left.  correcting that made a huge difference in the landing characteristics of the plane. I wish I just knew more about rigging and exactly the feel I am looking for. I am trying not to fall into a slippery slope here with issues that I keep adjusting one thing only to make another worse. I often have been wondering if one solution is making another one worse.


Dave

 [/b]  

[gme9261236]

Dave,
As i am thinking about it...do you suggest that I temporarily do away with the trim tab for now? What I am saying is should I go with no trim tab because when I can get the airplane wings level by holding right stick it still requires a bit of rudder meaning that the level flight does not relieve the yaw problem it just creates a side slip. Only when I hold right stick AND use rudder does the airplane fly coordinated. We now have it so it flies to the best of my ability to tell hands off as far as aileron but it does need rudder still. The rudder as well all know vastly affects the roll so that seems to be giving me the most issues, it does not help that I dont "feel" that what the slip indicator on the efis is telling me is correct. It is conflicting information in my brain. I am thinking about buying a basic ball slip indicator which is non electronic to be a better indicator. I can certainly feel if im uncoordinated but only to a certain extent.

Where should we go from here?

[Johnny C!]

gme!

Congrats!  She's a beaut!

Thanks for sharing the issues with us, too.

What engine are you using & what's your
empty weight.

Thanks!

Johnny C!

[gme9261236]

Rotax 912 ULS
Ivoprop Medium ground adjustable
Empty weight 707 lbs

[alan]

On your tail wheel, I had the same problem. I greased and tweaked to no avail. I even had it where it would work fairly well but wouldn't break to the right. Also, at it's best, it was so stiff when the wings were folded I had to get down under the horizontal stab and push on the tailwheel spring to get it to manouver around the shop. This was after I had greased and adjusted the bolt tightness. When I got tired of that and of only being able to make tight turns to the left I ordered the cheapest and lightest Maul tail wheel I could find. It cost about $275 and weighs 2 lbs more than the one supplied. It is the same height but about half again as wide. Now it will break when I want and only when I want. That one change improved the landing and taxi manners by 275%!

[b1x4nqb]

Alan,

You described my tailwheel to a tee with respect to having to get down on the ground and shove it to get it to move.  I hate the thought of a paper weight but I sense problems down the road.

Paul, PA