30 June 2007: First test flight and lessons. On her first flight the "Flying General Lee" flew decently but had a lot
of pull to the right. Had to add a lot of left-rudder to get her to fly straight. After landing I threw in a lot of left
to the rudder and we tried again with much better luck. After take-off and once she had some altitude I gave the
controls to Dale and he flew her for the first time - quite successfully, if somewhat shaky. After about 5 minutes I
took the controls over again and brought her down for her second SMOOTH AND EASY landing. I have to admit
that he's got a lot of guts. Before we went out to the field he called his parents and they were there to watch him
fly for the first time - that's guts!
His 2nd flight was better than the first. He got her a bit out of shape a couple times but recovered nicely on his
own. No doubt about it, this guys going to fly planes.
Once we got the plane home again we took the engine off and re-mounted it with about 4-5 degrees left thrust.
That should help the tendency to turn right a lot.
6 July 2007: She's much better now, not hardly any right-turn tendency at all now except for the first 20 feet or
so of the take-off run - which isn't all that unusual. Actually lifted off the grass once, instead of the gravel road,
which for a small plane with a .25 engine is quite a feat. Dale got in 2 more very good flights today, ran the tank dry
before I finally brought her in "dead-stick" for re-fueling. He's getting her much more under control now, his
flight patterns were very smooth with gentle turns and nearly no loss of altitude at all. No doubt about it, he has
the skill - he's going to be a pilot.
11 August 2007: Well, the General has had her first mishap - a bad take-off which has resulted in the necessity of a
bit of repair work. Nothing major but we need a new needle valve and the plastic engine/tank cover is a total loss.
New valve is ordered and we're going to try to have the new cover built in a few days.
Haven't had a lot of time for adding into the log here, too busy flying. Basically, Dale's got a dozen flights (or more)
in now, he's doing all the flying on his own - completely - right from engine-start, and he's doing just fine. We've
even had a couple flights with the Cub (on ch-38) and the General (on ch-33) together. Can't wait to get the planes
back into the air again. It's nice to have a flying buddy.
of pull to the right. Had to add a lot of left-rudder to get her to fly straight. After landing I threw in a lot of left
to the rudder and we tried again with much better luck. After take-off and once she had some altitude I gave the
controls to Dale and he flew her for the first time - quite successfully, if somewhat shaky. After about 5 minutes I
took the controls over again and brought her down for her second SMOOTH AND EASY landing. I have to admit
that he's got a lot of guts. Before we went out to the field he called his parents and they were there to watch him
fly for the first time - that's guts!
His 2nd flight was better than the first. He got her a bit out of shape a couple times but recovered nicely on his
own. No doubt about it, this guys going to fly planes.
Once we got the plane home again we took the engine off and re-mounted it with about 4-5 degrees left thrust.
That should help the tendency to turn right a lot.
6 July 2007: She's much better now, not hardly any right-turn tendency at all now except for the first 20 feet or
so of the take-off run - which isn't all that unusual. Actually lifted off the grass once, instead of the gravel road,
which for a small plane with a .25 engine is quite a feat. Dale got in 2 more very good flights today, ran the tank dry
before I finally brought her in "dead-stick" for re-fueling. He's getting her much more under control now, his
flight patterns were very smooth with gentle turns and nearly no loss of altitude at all. No doubt about it, he has
the skill - he's going to be a pilot.
11 August 2007: Well, the General has had her first mishap - a bad take-off which has resulted in the necessity of a
bit of repair work. Nothing major but we need a new needle valve and the plastic engine/tank cover is a total loss.
New valve is ordered and we're going to try to have the new cover built in a few days.
Haven't had a lot of time for adding into the log here, too busy flying. Basically, Dale's got a dozen flights (or more)
in now, he's doing all the flying on his own - completely - right from engine-start, and he's doing just fine. We've
even had a couple flights with the Cub (on ch-38) and the General (on ch-33) together. Can't wait to get the planes
back into the air again. It's nice to have a flying buddy.
| Dale's Planes |
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