Thom Riddle

My first airplane after retiring and not flying for 30+ years was a 582 powered 701, but I was not the builder. Mine weighed 608 lb.. empty and had an external torpedo shaped 10 gallon tank in addition to the 10 gallon header tank, because my 582 was a guzzler, and it also had a largish radiator that added to the aerodynamic dirtiness. They now have wing tanks. The gross weight of this early model was only 960# so with my 210# and 120# of fuel it was just under gross which was the way I flew it most of the time. I don't know how much distance it took to get off the ground but no matter what the temperature it took exactly 4 seconds from throttle forward to airborne and very nose high. With a 912 or 912S its take-off performance will be amazing. The worst thing about this aircraft to me was what others have said, the engine is on the wrong end and blocks your view way too much for my liking. The best thing about it was the Junker type flaperons. With these Junker flaperons th!
is airplane easily has the best slow flight control response of anything I've ever flown, but it will not fly nearly as slow as most Kolbs at the same weight due to its smaller wing. However, if you are flying very slow and want to see ahead of you too, drop one notch of flaps. That will pitch the nose down enough to see a bit better.

This is a very dirty airplane with the leading edge fixed slats and the Junker type flaperons hanging down in the wind. Mine was a bit dirtier than most due to the extra 10 gallon fuel tank. I cruised at 5900rpm at a true airspeed of 72mph and 6 gph fuel consumption, measured on some reasonably long x-countries. Of course a 912 will do better on all counts. Speaking of dirty, another terrific thing about this airplane was the ability to drop it into a very tight field over a high obstacle approach. For extreme short field high obstacle landings you approach at 55mph or so drop the flaps all the way down, and point the nose as far down as you can. It drops like a rock under full control and has a terminal velocity in this configuration of around 70mph or so, which I think is the flap limit speed. Of course in this scenario, timing the flare is very important but with practice it lands extremely short.

Thom in Buffalo

Home

Builder LINKS (16)