long ez flying for starters?

[ronny]

Hi All,

 

I just joined the forum.

 

Am at the moment learning to fly (on a Cessna 172)

Would like to move to a Long EZ as soon as possible

I know a nice one for sale which I d like to buy

 

What are you all thinking about a novice to flying moving onto a Long EZ as soon as I get my licence and have some hours on the Cessna

 

thanks for your comments

Ronny

[ErlendM]

Hi All,

 

I just joined the forum.

 

Am at the moment learning to fly (on a Cessna 172)

Would like to move to a Long EZ as soon as possible

I know a nice one for sale which I d like to buy

 

What are you all thinking about a novice to flying moving onto a Long EZ as soon as I get my licence and have some hours on the Cessna

 

thanks for your comments

Ronny

Welcome, Ronny!

I'm in the same situation, I'm hopefully having my solo-check tomorrow actually. And in my garage I am building a Cozy. I can't tell how difficult the transition from C172 to an EZ will be, for me it's many years still until I can sit in my own EZ so hopefully I will log many hours before I change to the Cozy.

[Waiter]

Welcome Ronny;

 

If you can fly a C-172, you should be able to fly a LongEZ.

 

You'll find that the EZs operating envelope is different than the C-172.

 

i.e. Takeoff and landing speeds will be about 15 - 20 kts faster, Takeoff and landing distances will be substantially longer. Landing technique will be different (No stall landings in the EZ)

 

The controls will be a little more responsive.

 

The interior noise is about the same.

 

Visibility in the EZ will be AWESOME!

 

Fuel burn in the EZ will be greater, be careful.

 

Using the plane for travel is realistic, i.e. San Jose to San Diego is about 2 1/2 hours by EZ, 4 1/2 hours by 172, or 7 - 8 hours by car.

 

Waiter

[ronny]

thanks for the feedback

Waiter you r saying that take off and landing distances will be substantially longer.

 

Can you give me an indication of what these typically are.

I did go for a flight in a Long EZ with a friend and he would not touch down on a strip 800 meter long (on a normal day) since we d have problems getting out again.

 

WOuld like to check the fields in our part of the world to see where we can an cannot go.

 

Thanks, appreciate your comments

 

Regards

Ronny:D

[ErlendM]

WOuld like to check the fields in our part of the world

And where might that be?

[Big Steve]

Ronny:

I built my Longeze without a pilots license just before I got it finished I broke down and got the license. I got a little back seat time in and eze then started flying my Long. No big deal like waiter says if you can fly a Cessna you can fly an eze. Just be careful and stay current. STeve build on

[Waiter]

I start getting cautious when the runway length gets down to 2500 ft.

 

Of course this depends greatly on engine HP, Propellor, aircraft weight, and Pilot Experience.

 

 

A 1600 lb LongEZ with 160 hp can easily consume 3500 ft.

 

Waiter

[Drew Swenson]

I would typically go to 2000 ft in a Longez O320 without the 50 ft obstacle. I currently use 3000 ft for my Cozy. Had to break out the book recently when I inadvertantly landed on a 2600 ft runway (with trees at either end). Offloaded my pax to get out of there.

[Marc Zeitlin]

A 1600 lb LongEZ with 160 hp can easily consume 3500 ft.

TO lengths are totally dependent upon Density Altitude and GW. Any aircraft flown at 275 lb. over POH MGW will be a dog. That shouldn't be a big surprise.

 

All that said, I've taken off at Palo Alto, a 2400 ft. strip, with 1/2 fuel and two people and used less than 2000 ft. on an 80F day at SL. Conversely, I've used 3900 ft. of a 4000 ft. runway with a DA of 5500 ft. while at MGW (which was very stupid). I've also used 5000 ft. of a 10K ft. runway with a DA of 10K ft while about 100 lb. under MGW.

 

CG position will also have a large effect on takeoff distance.

 

All this in a 180 HP COZY MKIV, pretty much stock (but with MGW set to 105 lb. over book - 2155 lb.)

[Waiter]

All that said, I've taken off at Palo Alto, a 2400 ft. strip, with 1/2 fuel and two people and used less than 2000 ft. on an 80F day at SL

Exactly. I used to operate out of PaloAlto all the time. An O320 LongEZ is no problem, An O235 requires a watchfull eye, and an O-200 VariEZ needs to be very carefull.

 

Fortunately, the 50 ft obstacle for PAOs runway 31 is the Dumbarton Bridge, about 10 miles north :-)

 

Another major factor for Takeoff Performance is Crosswinds. The need to apply brakes during the takeoff roll eats up runway. I once stopped at Corona for fuel (They had the cheapest fuel anywhere), After I landed, I decide not to buy any fuel. I'm glad I made that decision. I use about 2500 ft of the 3200 for my takeoff roll.

 

Waiter

[argoldman]

Just a hint with takeoffs, especially free castering steering variants:

 

Start on the downwind edge of the runway (if possible) make your initial run diagonally as much into the wind as possible so as to minimize the braking necessary to keep on the runway. When the rudders take command do what ever you like (of course restricted by the width of the runway). This will reduce your ground run.

[ronny]

I must say I have just discovered a problem here.

 

Been looking everywhere for a soutable Long EZ to buy.

Just found out that the runway in my place ( like 5 km from my house) has a runway of 2600 feet. Rereading your comments here tells me this will be a nono.

 

The next decent runway is at least 30-40 km away from my house.

 

Anybody willing to design some flaps on the EZ ??? please

 

Ronny (very sad now, will analyze all the strips in Belgium)

[wolf.]

ronny don't worry an 800m strip is perfectly safe, especially since you are about seelevel and it does not get that hot in belgium. In Switzerland there are 5-6 varie/long ez operating out off birrfeld airport which is about 600m long. There is a guy in Italy flying a cozy out of a 800m strip. I personally consider 600m my limit to operate in safe conditions (of course maybe no overgross at 40C with strong X-wind) In my long I had an EFIS which gave me the takeoff distance (up to the 50ft obstacle) and best was 250m (alone, wintertime, seelevel, 2h fuel, no wind) worst 550m (2 full fuel, slightly overgross 40C) wolf.