I’m a pilot and I built a Vans RV-6a. I’ve been around homebuilt aircraft my entire life. The fact is like most things in life worth doing there is an elevated danger factor with these aircraft. A smart pilot/builder does everything within their power to minimize the risk. Don has built a beautiful aircraft and clearly takes a calculated, methodical approach to building and testing. That is a very good thing. Everyone will have an opinion on how it should be done or if the risk is acceptable. At the end of the day one man gets to make the final decision on what’s best and that’s Don. If you truly care about him just post your concerns and don’t bash the man. He will be much more likely to consider what you have to say. Clearly those who are bashing his landing have never flown a single seat taildragger for which there is zero training available. There will be a steep learning curve and there will be bounces. It’s a fact of learning a new tail wheel aircraft. I don’t know Don personally but I know his type. I guarantee you he has played that flight over thousands of times in his mind and is preparing himself and the plane for the next step of testing.
The 363rd fighter group arrived in England in dec 1943. They were the third group to receive Mustangs in the ETO. They had trained in P39's. They cracked up a lot planes due to the difference between tricycle and tail dragger. Colonel called the pilots in and chewed them out for a poor safety record. The next day they cracked up 3 more!!!
Nice! I've never test flown an airplane before I could just imagine the adrenaline. I have flown my fare share of low time experimental airplanes like single digits air frame time, and I remember the rush of that.
She flew!!! That’s awesome Don. We were never worried whether she would or not. Above everything is your safety, absolutely most important. We are all proud of you. That feeling you felt when she took off and landed was a step in learning how she feels in the air. Please continue your approach and patience. If she doesn’t fly high this year it’s okay, only you will know when you and your beautiful plane are both ready.
This man is my uncle, he has been building this plane all my life 30 years of it! I have seen everything in boxes to totes and being assembled too what it is now!! My uncle Donald knows what’s best for him and his future flights and wants everything to be perfect for his first flight! Be patient with him he will get to flight mode when he is ready!!
Congrats on taking the first proof of flying airplane concept and making it a reality. Best wishes as you begin to take to the skies with this wonderful craft.
All right Don, congratulations on the crow hopping. That wasn’t bad at all for a short coupled, sleek little bird . No damage done, a big smile on your face 😊 and you shared it with the world. We thank you for that ya put a smile on everyone’s face . You done much better than I could have on such a short runway. Love that plane . May all your landings from here on be three times smoother. 😊
@@Dynodon64 does that mean no more crow hops at the Meadvill airport ? The fledgling has proven it’s wings are plenty strong , and I’ll bet you are chomping at the bit to take that Pegasus for it’s next flight. I know I would be , love to see all that you have done and what you accomplished . Don’t stop the podcasts yet but have someone film some of your hours off on the calm mornings and evenings. You know , take offs and smooth greased landings. And let me know if you ever go do any yellow barn storming out Fairview way. Thank you Don
Thank you Don for allowing us to watch as you take this journey. I'm so glad you are taking it slow and seriously because at the end of the day, it's your safety on the line. You keep bringing her in slow so you and the plane get to know each other. Very excited to see her get off the ground. Prayers for safety and all goes well my RU-vid friend. Watching from NC.
When you get into that three point attitude, keep that stick back and she’ll stay planted. That was fun to watch and you handled those bounces real well, didn’t let anything get out of control. Looked really stable in flight.
Congratulations!!! It's been fantastic watching you over the years! The WAR Corsair is what got me into homebuilt kits. Keep your own pace, you are doing excellent!
Tailwheel pinned to the runway with full back stick. Or, main gear pinned to the runway with the tail high in the air and the fin in undisturbed airflow. Anywhere between those 2 conditions is "No Mans Land", danger zone. Crow hop means the tailwheel isn't pinned to the runway with full back stick. Or tail nor high enough in the air to have zero lift AOA. You don't want tp play around in the danger zone. Thats generally where most TW planes get wrecked.....letting the tail down after a wheel landing.
Congratulations on your first flight! From here the shock struts seem a little stiff, or maybe it's the tire pressure. There is a school of thought that says in flight testing it might be better to do a circuit rather than staying near the runway and possible obstacles. Check out the overrun areas on both ends to see what you have there. Secure your belts and harness to avoid any issues. You may want to lock the canopy open so it can't move by accident (that was a pre-landing checklist item on the full size F4U). If possible, try to have an observer on the field watching you while you are out there. Borrow or source a good crash helmet for aviation use, or if needed, a separate earpiece and handheld mic if it's not wired.
Congrats. Glad to see it off the ground. Just an FYI.... with a tail dragger.... if you are bouncing, push the stick forward, and it will help force the mains down. It's a little counterintuitive compared to a tricycle gear.
There's a pretty good argument that if you get airborne, and things feel stable, and the engine is running strong, you may be better to just go flying and do a circuit (within gliding distance where possible). That way you're making a stabilized approach (rather than an aborted takeoff), and you have the whole runway to play with (rather than whatever is remaining). Some folks opt to climb in an orbit above/near the field to a safe recovery altitude, and carefully explore the envelope (particularly the clean & landing config low speed/stall behaviour) so they know what to expect handling wise on their landing approach/flare.
The "good" argument that I'm aware of is, if the plane unexpectedly "pops off" and starts to climb in earnest, it's generally better to continue the takeoff than to attempt to wrestle it back onto the remaining runway. Lots of first flights have come to bad ends this way. I helped to carry a Q1 Quickie back from the runway after one of those. Thankfully, the pilot/builder was able to help carry it too. A planned "hop" that's executed to protocol is a perfectly reasonable flight test event.
@@LittleManFlying Even this planned "hop" got a bit ugly on landing, and by that time, there may not much runway left for a go around if it's needed to avoid a crash. I'm not saying you shouldn't ever do test hops - just that you could end up trading one potential risk for a more imminent risk.
Dyno, I started flying in the 70ties and have been around homebuilts my entire life. I have built several planes and currently fly a Vans. There has been much written over the decades about pilots who test by doing short hops down a runway. This is incredibly dangerous. You need to take off, climb to a safe altitude and THEN check the aircraft handling, not at a few feet above the ground. Have you thought about hiring a professional to do the testing? An elderly gent in the hangar across from mine damaged his plane on an early test flight then repaired it and crashed it on the next flight. The plane is totaled and he can no longer walk. Please don't be a hero.
Congratulations! Man what a relief knowing now that it flies straight and is controllable. No reason to think that it wouldn’t be but until that first hop it’s just a theory. Congratulations again! 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Big CONGRATULATIONS to you Don, I've enjoyed every one of you videos and I glad to see you reach this long awaited first ground breaker... keep up the good work.
My father was a World War II naval aviator flew in the south Pacific during World War II. Got his wings in 1940 and retired from the Navy in 1970. He flew a lot of different naval aircraft and one time I asked him to describe the different characteristics of the airplanes he flew with one word. As an example I said Hellcat and he said “smooth”then I said Corsair and his comment was “tricky”. He did say that there was a problem ( among other things ) with the early Cousairs with the bounce problem when landing on carriers. The Navy corrected the problem with the landing gear. ( couldn’t tell you how ) But he did comment about that bounce with the F4U. When I saw your aircraft with that slight bounce, I remembered what he said about the initial problem with the F4U bounce on the carrier landings. And by the way you handled that aircraft beautifully in a situation with that bounce going on that could’ve turned into a serious problem. When I watched that the first time I was just holding my breath thinking, “we got a problem Houston”.Those little bouncy things can turn into a big deal real quick. Again great job. ( I know you’re on top of it, but just my thoughts. That bouncy thing may need a little further investigation and thought as to why or what was causing that issue. ) and I do know you’ve flown that aircraft in your mind 100 times, remembering that incident. .
I didn't expect the plane to bounce like it did. But it wasn't something that I was worried about. I could tell they were getting smaller. The issue was, I was just barely flying, and still in ground effect. Once I started to reduce power, it settled down right through the cushion of air under the plane. So it bounced.
I haven’t been following this project for very long, but it’s still so cool to see it get to this point of first flight! Can’t wait to see the next flight
Nice, congratulations. Now that you're back on the ground and doing this recap, you sound winded, excited, elated, relieved and most of all..happy. Thanks for the video.
YAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!! Congratulations! Funny enough, I have found that coming in to ground effect and back down smoothly is harder than a regular takeoff and landing but it is great practice and experience to feel the behavior. Very happy for you sir. It's been a long time coming and we are truly thrilled for you. +++++++
You may want to get a few hours in a high performance tailwheel-type with and instructor before you really take the Corsair off and fly around. Just to freshen up on flying.
She flew!!!!! Her first time as far as I know, she was totally in the air!! But Don, on a serious note don’t do something you’re not ready to do with her just to shut some idiot up about “will it ever fly?” Your safety is priceless, do with it what YOU will when YOUR ready.
Don, do you understand why it was bouncing and what the recovery for a bounce is? Hint, it didn’t bounce because the struts and wheels are bouncy, and the bounce recovery isn’t done by pushing the stick forward.. please be very careful with future flights without the experience and knowledge of the dynamics of a tailwheel aircraft.
Hey Congratulations 😊. Glad to see you take it far enough to get it in the air and bounce down the runway. You probably will need a second camera mounted on the wing looking at the gear. Great job and I love to see more. 😊
Congrats! That bird was looking good out there. Yet had me nervous as the plane was going down the tarmac. Noticed the plane was zig zaging at time as you tried to keep it centered on the runway. At one point the plane tried to rotate left. It will take several Crow hops more for several days till you get a better feel. Thank God all went well so far. Blessings to you and stay safe.
Hi Don, I have been fallowing your build for a wile I knew one of these times you were going to go down that runway and befor you knew it, it was just going to lift off the ground congratulations!!! soon will be your first go a round. Haven't commented much but as alway's wil be fallowing take care and thanks for the video's.........
Nice! Personally, I am not a huge fan of crow hops, but do believe they have their place. From my limited view point, I was concerned about the runway remaining? If you do more hops like this, is it possible to get off the ground faster and back down with more of a buffer (runway)? It would be nice to have a long runway in order to do more of a sustained flight, before setting it back down. Can’t wait to see more, thanks for sharing!
Great job, CONGRATULATIONS! Crow hops can easily turn into a real flight. ALWAYS be ready to push the throttle forward gain speed and CLIMB. I have done a number of first flights in project planes. You never know quite what to expect with CG, torque, controls and trim. One of the big gotchas in a crow hop is "just barely flying it". Not having enough airspeed for good control authority!. Drifting off the runway from too little rudder or adding power too quickly resulting in extra engine torque and it may yaw or drop a wing. Barely flying an unknown plane so slow and you may not be able to add power to climb without dropping the nose or a wing. (guess how I know this) Another gotcha is the transition from flying slow in ground effect and climbing up out of it and stalling. While it is tempting to do your testing with crow hops, I certainly understand and have done my share, it may be best once you know your controls and CG are close to simply take off with good controllable airspeed and fly the pattern. Keeping as many landing options as you can. Get a feel for the plane, find out where it starts to stall power on and off, do a few passes on the runway then try not bounce your first time landing!
Thank you for the input. I am looking into my next options. The crow hops with this plane requires more runway than I have. This was a learning curve as always. Thinking about what to do next. No hurry on my end.
@2:50... A wee bit of oscillation, but not bad. It settled right back down, when you throttled back. I imagine some of the oscillation came from the surprise of it lifting off, when you didn't expect it to. I think you have to do a few more hops, to see what speed it wants to fly, under different conditions. Regarding your fuel gauge; you may actually want a Fuel Pressure Gauge, versus the gauge you have.
I have a fuel pressure gauge. Yes the oscillations were diminishing as they went on. That's why I wasn't too concerned about them. Plus, I still had too much power on and eased it back slowly.
