What's New...
It has been a very eventful week here in Auburn
Maine. After having the
folks from the FAA hand us the pink slip (airworthiness certificate) to
the airplane, the state of Maine subsequently sending the Aircraft tax
and use bill (there is always a down-side...ouch!), our 17 year old
daughter participating in her first triathlon (she is sore today), and
this morning we took our 2-year science project into the air....by all
measures a very exciting week.
So what happened on 20 Sept 2009 and 0815 EDT?
After wrestling with the fiberglass cowling one last time, we finally
towed the plane out, about an hour later than we expected.
We started the engine and taxied out with the excitement building
at every line in the checklist.
There was a bit more traffic this morning than
we had hoped. One of the
planes in the pattern offered to extend his downwind leg so I could
takeoff before his landing. I
declined and mentioned it was an experimental aircraft and we were going
to perform its maiden voyage this morning and needed a few extra minutes
finishing up system checks. That
remark generated several "nice plane" and "good
luck" comments as we finished up the before takeoff checklist and
test card checks. We had
revised the first flight test card several times and now that we were
finally checking items off the list this morning its amazing to see all
of the things that you just don't think of until you actually line up on
the runway and feel the engine and propeller start to claw at the air.
Take off was brisk and Teresa (565MB's chief flight test support
officer) remarked that the off yellow primer cowling could be seen
clearly all the way up to the orbit point high above the airport.
After about 1.2 hours in the air and many line checks on the test
card, 565MB returned with all the parts it left with.
Serial number 40749 is flying.
Van's makes a great product and the support across the country with the
ancillary equipment from vendors such as Stein Air and Grand Rapids
Technology is astounding. Customer
support is not lost here...the big auto makers could take a page from
one of their play books. I
don't see them needing a US Government bailout anytime soon...they know
how to make things happen. |