Another First Flight - SQ2000

[PaulL]

Finally got to it. June 2 2004. The flight was brief - 25 minutes including taxiing. The bird took off and landed fine inspite that I took off down wind in confusion and had about a 7kts cross wind. Nice to have a 6800 ft runway. Somebody asked me if I enjoyed it. I was so bussy watching the numbers and flying, didn't think about it. But sure glad I had 4 hours of flight training at the KLS Composites factory recently. Canards are not hard to fly but different.

 

From the initial observation it appears to handle fine with good control. I left all the gear down and did not exceed about 120kts.

 

For those that are interested:

 

The IVO prop worked fine for the short operating range i tested. At takeoff it had real good punch (or maybe it was the combo of 220HP engine, electronic ignition...). And when I reached about 110 kts I had to increase the pitch to keep it from over revving. The adjustment was smooth and short meaning it had plenty of pitch left for higher speeds.

 

The Dynon EFIS-D10 worked well too - agreed with the backup horizon, speed and altitude meters.

 

There are some things to be tweaked out yet: The radio worked intermittently, the oil temperature was near top limit, and the charging system had problems. I am currently working on those things. Just got a bigger AeroClassic 13 row oil cooler to replace the 6 row tiny Positech 4211 cooler. Seems that the 220 HP Franklin engines need big oil coolers. The CHT was fine at cruise but near limit at climb. It may be partially due to insufficient oil cooling and I am told that new/rebuilt engines run a little hotter for first few hours.

 

Guess patience is the game for homebuilding. Initially I was expecting to finish the KIT after one year, then it stretched into two then to two and a half. And now I find there are still things to do. But near three years (2200 hrs) is better than 10 - 15 years I've seen - I'm 61 and don't have 15 years for a homebuilt. Hope to make it to Oshkosh this year unless time constraints and parts delivery hold me back.

 

One thing about Stan Montgomery SQ2000 design, its a beautiful bird, everybody likes the looks.

 

You can see more details on my website: http://www.abri.com/sq2000

 

All of you homebuilders, hang in there, keep trucking, you'll get there.

[Jon Matcho]

Paul, this is truly an inspiration and judging from your Web site, you've done an exceptional job! Congratulations on your achievement.

 

Your plane looks fast in the video as it does in your still pics.

 

Looking at your Web site and noticing the doors (again), I can't help but wonder how torsional stiffness is supplied. Is there any sort of spar with the purpose of keeping the canard parallel to the main wing? Or is the airframe stiff enough as-is?

[PaulL]

Jon,

 

There are reinforcements - glassed in aluminum tubes - at al four

door posts (between windows and doors). Otherwise I think there

is no torsional problem with canard. At least four of these birds

have been flying before mine and nobody brought that up. Don't

think Velocity has that problem with similar door design either.

But got to watch high winds with those gull wing doors. The

factory model had their doors damaged when a turboprop blew

into it.l