Super Sportster 60 pictures

Pretty plane !

CJ

Nothing flies like a Deere

Nice looking plane, and good photography!

Thanks for the kind words. I am glad I took the pictures when i did.

The Story Of The Green Plane Completed final assembly and balance. The following weekend I took it to the flying site. The engine ran well at mid to high throttle but it would not idle at a low RPM. To keep it running the idle was set so the plane would move forward on short grass. I ran the plane up and down the runway a few times and everything checked out. Decided to go for it and took off, it flew out at less than full throttle and trimmed easily. I flew a few laps and brought it in for a landing approach. With the idle set so high it didn't really want to slow down that well but it landed without incident. I just flew it to the ground and landed it a little hot. I flew the plane several times that day and other than being a little dis-satisified with the roll rate all went well. I took off and landed aprox 15 times, some of those were more like touch and go.

When I got home I yanked the engine off the plane and mounted it on the test stand again and over the next few days I ran over a gallon of fuel through it. The engine began to idle very well, it would idle on the test stand at just over 1800 rpm. On the plane I set it to just over 2k. Everything was working great, the engine was idling perfect and the top end was better too.

Loaded up my stuff and went back to the fiel the following weekend. Took off and flew the pattern doing some light weight hot dogging, and really beginning to like the plane for what it is. Then it comes time to land. The approach run was right on the money and I kept the nose down and let it come on in. Well without the idle set so high like it was the previous trip I did not realize how quickly the speed would bleed off as soon as the nose was not pointed downward. I gave it a little up elevator to level it out and I thought everything was great, I was right in the middle of the runway and the wings were level. The plane really began to slow down and I actually thought good it is working like it is supposed to. I kept feeding in elevator to hold the nose up and the plane was settling down to what I thought was going to be a picture perfect landing. I was feeling pride. Then just as quick I thought "I need more elevator" .... the plane was about 2 ft from touching down in what looked like the perfect flair ... the nose began to drop .... all I could think to do was to pull harder on the elevator, I guess I froze ..... it stalled and the nose dropped .... it hit on the landing gear pretty hard with a nose down attitude ... prop broke ... plane bounced back up into the air ... caught the wing tip ..... I I really hate to hear Balsa crack ..... damage is fairly minor, wing tip crushed, outer rib broken, top and bottom sheeting near the tip cracked or broken ..... fuselage and tail section appear to be undamaged, the fabric covering is not as easily repairable as the iron on stuff, the wood has been repaired, it is ready to have the covering put back on the wingtip, then I will repaint it.

Lesson learned (again), come in under power, don't flair it until the last second, if you crash your ARF it is only money, and if you crash your kit built plane it is also a lot of time down the drain.

Regards, Charlie.

I've been thiking about getting the kit built SkyBolt in the air soon but your not helping things Charlie! :) mk