The much anticipated Cornell and Stearman flight certs went off today. With clear disdain for the 8 hr Bottle-to-Throttle rule, the Twins showed up with alcohol on their breath... they were't kidding anyone under those dark goggles, they were still partyin' in their little plastic heads. I mean, we have to blame this successful SAD mission on someone, why not the "busted" pilots?
This morning was moist and ungodly hot, but a deep calm lay over the dew, an occasional breeze from the north. I can only imagine what the density altitude was with the heat and humidity. The sun was up over the trees and wouldn't be a problem. I took the Cubby up, then the Alpha for several packs. Wonderful flying, several great flights. The dew was making the grass a bit grabby so touch and go's were a bit difficult as the planes would grind to a halt, and take some time getting enough speed to take off. I took a deep breath... it was time to fly the Twins.
They are beautiful on the flight line.
I started with the Cornell. I had my suspicions about the right wing being tilted up, thinking I could see more of the bottom of the wing than I should be able to. I was right. She lifted off sweet, nicely balanced, and as she came out of ground effect I had to counteract an increasing tendency to roll left. I was instantly fighting a hard roll left, no aileron available to make a turn right, and heading for the trees. She was oscillating hard in roll and would not find an even keel. She stalled and crashed from 10 feet AGL just clear of the north end of the runway.
Damage is limited to the front. The cowl is crunched, the motor and prop are good, but the firewall gave away and took a bit of the fuse with it at the top. Easy repair. I took another hard look at the wings, and while they look awesome I can see the Army Air Corp star on the bottom of the right wing but the left wing remains flat, so there is definitely an upward twist in the wing extending from the root out to the tip, the forward part of the chord is up.This puts the wings in conflict forcing a strong left roll component. She was doomed. I will be ordering new wings... The price on the wings is going up so they are likely closing out stock on replacement parts as they have already discontinued the plane. Will need a new cowl too.
One successful SAD mission completed!
The Stearman was my mistake... She had flown fine last time, still a bit tail heavy in flight, but a little trim and she was fine though a tad sluggish.. I added more weight, a couple of oz, to bring the CG forward some more. I was concerned she was getting pretty heavy. She took off a bit sluggishly, tail down, and despite my having balanced out the leftward CG shift by re-positioning the battery she needed a lot of trim to keep the right wing down. This suggests the wings are not aligned as well as they seem. I seemed to have her trimmed out after a bit, and took her around a couple of scary turns, but in the second turn she stalled dead in the air at about 50 feet, and spun nose straight down hard into deep grass just to the southeast about 50 yards into the blackberry patch. There was no recovering her from this deadly spin.
The grass saved me from more severe damage. The wings are broken off the fuse but appear fine. The N strut on the left and the cabanes are a mess, and I suspect the fuse where the cabanes join is also a mess. The motor seems good, but the false motor part of the cowl is broken on the bottom. I'll be taking some of the weight out, at least the new nickel weights, and just settle for having to fly her with some down trim. A second successful SAD mission...
Needless to say, neither plane was certified ready for flight... I will start the autopsies later, maybe tomorrow. I have had enough for today... so have the Twins.
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