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| Engineering
Notes |
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the weather and the schedules for the various flight test personel |
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fall into sync and we can get some flights in. The Daylight Savings Time |
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hard as it is dark by the time I can get to the airport. Fall weather |
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from Hudson Bay are a big change from the shirtsleeves with the |
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summer CAVOK (severe clear) and the winds seem to always be right |
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the single strip of pavement. In any case, we all run down to the |
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on a clear high-pressure Saturday and procede to load the aircraft. |
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heavy guys up front (420 lbs of gristle and attitude), full tanks on |
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sides (284 lbs of 100LL) and 7 bags of water softner salt (44 lbs |
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The aircraft doesn't mind the couple of circuits so we complete a |
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stop and chuck another bag into the baggage bay. All up weight is now a |
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ounces less than 2308 lbs as we taxi into position beside the runway for |
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grass take-off. As we sit on the button waiting for our chance to go, we |
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agree to try this one take-off with 2 notches of flap "to see if it |
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any difference". ZOUNDS! This is not only the heaviest take-off but |
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the shortest! Somewhere around 130 to 150 feet and we are airborne. The |
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feel is good and the aircraft behaves in all three axis. Next |
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| tests....Gross
Weight of 2500 lbs (Note to procurement department, buy more |
| ballast)
The tests conducted above simulate 4 people, full tanks and 57 lbs |
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baggage. |
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| Ken |
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