1stFlights
First Flights
First Flight August 12, 2001
Danny EBERS
PO Box 221
New London, Missouri 63459
Phone 573-985-3721
Builder of two homebuilt ultralights, flier of several 2 axis ultralights, built his HM190E FLEA from Falconar plans (modified for fuselage changes and rudder pedals). He built her from pine with aircraft spruce wing spars. She is powered by a 30 hp KAWASAKI belt drive and a homemade laminated pine prop. The aircraft is painted with SW enamel over a black latex undercoat. Danny trailers his FLEA home. It wasn't a problem to learn to fly her. He reports that landings require some throttle. Danny has done only one parachutal descent (45 degrees from 1000' AGL and at the end to squirt out with some throttle). He reports there is no problem with CG at his weight of 170# and an empty weight of 270#. Please contact him if you are interested in FLEAS or his project.
Jeff McCormick
1st Flight Successful
Wed May 23, 2001 8:15pm
Wellington KS in "Winnie The Pou" Hm-14
Notes from Stewart Marshall:
I have made the first taxi trials with my scaled up HM-16 (wing area and overall size about the same as a 293, but HM-16 type fuselage). I was using a friend's cow paddock which was not very smooth, so I went back to the taildragger configuration briefly, The results were predictable!
The little plane is very hard to steer above a certain speed. low speed taxiing was no problem, but there is a point about 15 to 20 mph where the rear wing begins to come up and the steerable tailwheel ceases to be effective but at the same time the 16 is still not moving fast enough through the air for the rudder to have full control. Until it picks up more air speed, it is very hard to control if it hits a lump in the paddock with one of its wheels or a gust of wind veers in from the side. This problem would be even worse when landing, since you would have less prop blast to the rudder and thus even less control from it. Of course, the major factors are the extremely short wheelbase and relatively high CG. And also I think the IfM-16 was handicapped by having no rudder area beneath the back wing as with the HM-14 and other Fleas. All rudder area on the 16 is above the rear wing and there may be a relationship to the ground effect. I compounded the high CG problem with my petrol tank in the upper wing as with the original plane, and this 5-gallons of fuel represents quite a bit of weight high in the air and aggravates any nose over tendencies. Another serious difficulty I had was my bungees were too weak on the main wheels, and when the little plane darted sideways in a partial groundloop at one point, the landing gear allowed the plane to tip too far sideways, the right rear wingtip hit the ground, and the plane went over forward with a prop strike, ending up standing on its nose. I had idled the engine back down at that point so there was no damage to the prop from the soft ground or to the wing tip. Amazing! But we do not want to make a habit of this!
The little machine would be happier with a tricycle gear but this is a bit awkward on a rough grass strip. I have been corresponding with Frank Easton about his castering main wheels on his ME2Y and this sounds interesting. But I also have my Heath floats almost done and I think this is going to be the ideal solution, particularly since I live on an island and have a boat launching ramp in a state park just 2 blocks from my home. I may also lower the upper wing a bit, with shorter cabanes, to help the high CG problem. I had some extra height initially to make it easier to get into the cockpit, but it may not have been a good idea.
There are some photos of my Flea an the Internet now, on the Pousquetaires Flying Group List:
http://groups.google.com/group/pousquetaires
Look in the photos section. And there are a couple of posts with specs and info in the posts section under "Larger HM-16" - Cheers for now, Stewart