Dave
I have 190 hrs in my Onan powered Q1 so I do not claim to be an expert.
Here is my suggestion : get current and signed off in a taildragger, I did my
rating in a J3 Cub, Read the manual and do exactly as it says. Get the C of G
right and know that it is right. I also had 100hrs of gliding including
composite single seaters which was an excellent introduction.
Get yourself on to the biggest runway you can find. When you have flown tail
draggers, you will recognise that the advice given is exactly consistent.
Be very careful with runway hops. Here is why, once airborne, the natural
tendency is to throttle back and pitch up to slow down, what tends to happen is
the canard stalls and the nose drops. Close to the ground, the natural tendency
is to try and flair, stick goes back, stall gets worse and the classic bounce,
stall, bounce sequence begins. It is arrested in a heartbeat by opening the
throttle and flying out of it - which is why a long runway is a real good idea.
Landing is simple but requires accuracy in speed control and patience. Fly the
pattern at 70 kts I shut the the throttle at the end of the down wind leg and
always flew the remainder of the ciruit as a glide approach (in case the engine
stopped)aiming for 60 over the numbers. Fly it right to the ground ( 1 ft agl
and maintaining that hieght, slowly ease the stick further and further back
aiming to touch with the tailwheel first) if there is no excess energy it will
stay planted. Remember that with all taildraggers you have to keep flying it
until it is stopped.
Cross winds are fine, your technique is the limit generally - see the rating
comment above - get taught to do it properly - crab or wing down matters little.
See the big runway comment above.
It slips like a dream. And is the glide slope control method of choice.
Hope this helps
John
--- In
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
, 'davedrosen' <d2r@t...> wrote:
>
> All,
> I ask those who have flown a Q1 the following:
> I was reading that one always lands tail wheel first with the stick
> all the way back. I also read that you take off with the stick all
> the way back. I think it also said the tail doesn't come up---which
> suprises me. I would think that under all conditions the rear wing
> would (should) always fly before the canard. Is this true. I am
> starting to think about flying this thing--after boatloads of
> high/low speed taxi tests of course. How do you take off and land
> typically. How is the Q in cross winds? Does is slip well? I'm
> getting to the point where I'm thinking of flying-- this spring,
> hopefully.
>
> Thanks in advance.
> Dave R.
> Q1
> Mineral Wells
> Seeing Tunnel at the end of the light.
>
> PS I will post a pic today of my ready to glass cowling.
>