My old Buddy Frank, the old Geezer that built his own airplane just sent me this email about a receint flight. He lives in Colorado. He is a wonderful writer and I wish he would join us here. He has lived a full life and still is. He is in his mid 70's and just built this aircraft. We should all be so young!!
Autumn flight:
A few mornings ago I drove to the hangar and gassed up the Challenger II, then pushed it farther onto the front ramp at 9:30 AM and locked the hangar door. A preflight check and engine start went well, so after warming the engine up I contacted Metro Ground Control on 121.7 Mhz and received clearance to taxi on taxiway Alpha One to active runway 29 Left, which is a short ( 6000 foot) one used mostly for student practice. The main 9000-ft runway -- 29 Right -- was being modified for heavy jet traffic, and had been under heavy construction for a month to create five new curved high-speed exits. It wouldn't be officially opened again until 2:00 PM that afternoon.
Arriving at the runup area, I checked the mandatory C-I-G-A-R-S (Controls, Instruments, Gas, Attitude, Runup and Safety) and all was O.K., so I contacted Metro Tower on 118.6 Mhz, informing them that "Experimental Five-Seven-Niner Foxtrot Mike is ready for takeoff" and further requesting an early north (!) turn out of the pattern. The tower cleared me for takeoff, so I switched the transponder from "Standby"(SBY) to "Altitude"(ALT), taxied onto the runway, opened the throttle, checked for max engine RPM during takeoff and lifting off in about 300 feet, climbing out at a very steep angle at 55 MPH, then turning north after attaining some altitude, heading 7 miles northeast over Erie Airpark, "KEIK" on the latest charts -- the FAA just changed that airport designation from "48 Victor", so it's a good idea to buy new charts as mandated every six months to keep current.
A rare autumn day, the weather was beautiful and clear with almost no wind. Very enjoyable. I flew northeast over Erie, then south of the two 1160-foot antenna towers which jutted over 6200 feet above sea level just east of I-25, and then on towards Milton Reservoir, where I climbed to 7500 feet, under DIA's Class B airspace floor of 8000 feet at that location, and did the required Phase II Static and Dynamic stability tests in all axis:
Thinking: "O.K. now, establish cruise power -- 75% at 5500 RPM -- then trim and finally raise the nose, letting let go of the stick to see how many phugoid cycles it will take for the airplane to return to level trimmed flight." That went exceptionally great, as did the directional tests, which required a forward side slip, suddenly releasing the stick to see if the wings would level instantly. They did. Every needed test was equally satisfactory. This little homebuilt Quad City Challenger II is a fine light airplane, obviously very forgiving with no stability problems anywhere. The 52 HP two-stroke engine (probably only putting out 47 HP at this altitude) was performing quite well and running very smoothly as usual, so I turned north towards East Latham Reservoir and checked the radio's VOR navigation from the Gill VOR on 114.2 Mhz northeast of Greeley -- that facility was named after my flying and aircraft-building buddy John Gill's family, who settled much of that area in the late 1800's. His grandfather dug numerous irrigation ditches with a horse-drawn excavating shovel, and many of those same ditches are still in use today! Greeley Airport (KGXY) didn't have much activity, but I overflew the VOR station then turned around and made a touch-and-go landing just for practice before turning southward towards Pike's Peak and home.
On the return flight, while passing over a cleverly designed man-made maze in a cornfield, I wished I'd brought the camera -- there were a few temporarily lost folks down there trying to figure a way out, looking from the air like ants navigating a broken honeycomb! At only 65 or 70 MPH cruise speed there's plenty of time to examine those small details, which are usually lost in a fading blur at 150 MPH or more.
After a few hours, including another landing at Erie, I was back on the ground at Rocky Mountain Metro Airport, taxiing back to the hangar with a smile on my wrinkled ol' face -- that's what it's all about. The plane now has 26-1/2 hours of flight time, but needs a total of 40 before passengers can be legally carried, although the CFI checked out both John and myself under a "required personnel" clause in the FAA rules. It flies fine with two aboard but the climb rate isn't as spectacular, being somewhat more like a standard training plane. Flying solo, it's still getting over 630 FPM at 8000 feet density altitude! I estimate the lil' airplane's absolute ceiling at 15,000 feet or more.
Like I say, my ancient cup and saucer both sloppeth over.
Autumn flight:
A few mornings ago I drove to the hangar and gassed up the Challenger II, then pushed it farther onto the front ramp at 9:30 AM and locked the hangar door. A preflight check and engine start went well, so after warming the engine up I contacted Metro Ground Control on 121.7 Mhz and received clearance to taxi on taxiway Alpha One to active runway 29 Left, which is a short ( 6000 foot) one used mostly for student practice. The main 9000-ft runway -- 29 Right -- was being modified for heavy jet traffic, and had been under heavy construction for a month to create five new curved high-speed exits. It wouldn't be officially opened again until 2:00 PM that afternoon.
Arriving at the runup area, I checked the mandatory C-I-G-A-R-S (Controls, Instruments, Gas, Attitude, Runup and Safety) and all was O.K., so I contacted Metro Tower on 118.6 Mhz, informing them that "Experimental Five-Seven-Niner Foxtrot Mike is ready for takeoff" and further requesting an early north (!) turn out of the pattern. The tower cleared me for takeoff, so I switched the transponder from "Standby"(SBY) to "Altitude"(ALT), taxied onto the runway, opened the throttle, checked for max engine RPM during takeoff and lifting off in about 300 feet, climbing out at a very steep angle at 55 MPH, then turning north after attaining some altitude, heading 7 miles northeast over Erie Airpark, "KEIK" on the latest charts -- the FAA just changed that airport designation from "48 Victor", so it's a good idea to buy new charts as mandated every six months to keep current.
A rare autumn day, the weather was beautiful and clear with almost no wind. Very enjoyable. I flew northeast over Erie, then south of the two 1160-foot antenna towers which jutted over 6200 feet above sea level just east of I-25, and then on towards Milton Reservoir, where I climbed to 7500 feet, under DIA's Class B airspace floor of 8000 feet at that location, and did the required Phase II Static and Dynamic stability tests in all axis:
Thinking: "O.K. now, establish cruise power -- 75% at 5500 RPM -- then trim and finally raise the nose, letting let go of the stick to see how many phugoid cycles it will take for the airplane to return to level trimmed flight." That went exceptionally great, as did the directional tests, which required a forward side slip, suddenly releasing the stick to see if the wings would level instantly. They did. Every needed test was equally satisfactory. This little homebuilt Quad City Challenger II is a fine light airplane, obviously very forgiving with no stability problems anywhere. The 52 HP two-stroke engine (probably only putting out 47 HP at this altitude) was performing quite well and running very smoothly as usual, so I turned north towards East Latham Reservoir and checked the radio's VOR navigation from the Gill VOR on 114.2 Mhz northeast of Greeley -- that facility was named after my flying and aircraft-building buddy John Gill's family, who settled much of that area in the late 1800's. His grandfather dug numerous irrigation ditches with a horse-drawn excavating shovel, and many of those same ditches are still in use today! Greeley Airport (KGXY) didn't have much activity, but I overflew the VOR station then turned around and made a touch-and-go landing just for practice before turning southward towards Pike's Peak and home.
On the return flight, while passing over a cleverly designed man-made maze in a cornfield, I wished I'd brought the camera -- there were a few temporarily lost folks down there trying to figure a way out, looking from the air like ants navigating a broken honeycomb! At only 65 or 70 MPH cruise speed there's plenty of time to examine those small details, which are usually lost in a fading blur at 150 MPH or more.
After a few hours, including another landing at Erie, I was back on the ground at Rocky Mountain Metro Airport, taxiing back to the hangar with a smile on my wrinkled ol' face -- that's what it's all about. The plane now has 26-1/2 hours of flight time, but needs a total of 40 before passengers can be legally carried, although the CFI checked out both John and myself under a "required personnel" clause in the FAA rules. It flies fine with two aboard but the climb rate isn't as spectacular, being somewhat more like a standard training plane. Flying solo, it's still getting over 630 FPM at 8000 feet density altitude! I estimate the lil' airplane's absolute ceiling at 15,000 feet or more.
Like I say, my ancient cup and saucer both sloppeth over.
