Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/118927
G e or g e R i c h a r d s , H i s K i w i Fa l c o… The nose bowl was also a purchase, but George wasn't happy with it; so he modified it to his taste. The instrument panel, a place where builders really show their tastes, went through several iterations. "I actually did three instrument panels. The first was very basic and analog. Then came the version that was built around a Dynon moving map display, and then the current one that uses a Garmin G3X." George found an overhauled 160-hp Lycoming IO-320 and Hartzell prop that were fugitives from a Twin Comanche, and he retained the standard exhaust rather than going to something more exotic. When it came time to fly the airplane, George said, "I read Test Flying Your Homebuilt and made up some test cards. Then I logged time in another Falco. I feel really strongly about getting time in the same type of aircraft, so nothing is strange to you. Many people don't do that. "I tried to consider everything that could go wrong and have a plan for it since I knew, being largely a chicken, when I was lined up and ready to go, if I had a reason to back out, I would. "The day dawned perfectly. Then, after all my taxi tests I was lined up for takeoff, and I tried to think of a reason to chicken out but couldn't. So, I pushed the throttle in. From that moment on, it was all business. All emotion was removed including elation. It tracked straight, lifted off smoothly, and climbed straight and true. "I kept the gear down on the first flight, as I'd read that the main reason of the first flight was to land it safely. I climbed directly above the field and did some low-speed handling and stalling to get a handle on its approach configuration and calculated 1.3Vs based on what I was seeing. Then I made what's probably one of my best landings in the airplane. "During the test and since, I cruise at 165 knots true at 8,000 feet. However, with the exception of the USA trip, I'm usually not above 1,500 feet where I see 155 knots indicated at 31 liters per hour. That's just over 8 gallons per hour. Its handling is pure Falco, which is to say positive, delightful, and easy." The Oshkosh trip was something of an afterthought, but one that really got him focused. "I was at AirVenture in 2010 and was standing at AeroShell Square when airplanes were taxiing out to leave on the last day. I watched and somehow felt that it was something I 14 Vol.2 No.4 / April 2013 George buttons up the Falco's canopy. had to get involved in, so I started making plans that night to bring my airplane over." The Paperwork The problems of building an airplane are largely mechanical in nature. However, bringing that airplane in to tour the United States meant solving problems that, logistics aside, are almost entirely bureaucratic in nature and much more difficult to deal with. George said, "The TSA [Transportation Security Administration] sees the airplane, more than the pilot, as the risk. However, if my airplane had worn a Canadian 'C' or a Mexican 'X' registration rather than a thoroughly unexpected ZK, it could have come in with no problem. Airplanes from those countries are apparently seen as no risk. All others have to follow some very strict rules. Unfortunately, the TSA regulations are written for larger transport and cargo type airplanes; they didn't expect to be dealing with a tiny Kiwi homebuilt. But rules are rules, so I had to jump through all of the regulatory hoops." The rules include George having to list every single airport at which he would be landing, including weather alternates. Every leg, every flight had to be pre-approved. That's the reason he couldn't fly at Oshkosh for EAA's air-to-air photographers. Since he didn't know we would be asking him to make that flight, he didn't have it on his list. So, we had to be satisfied with static and detail shots. "The TSA, not the FAA, controls what an airplane does in this situation and, not being aviation-oriented, they don't realize that they should have given more consideration to safety when making up their rules," said George. "If, for instance, I would have had a mechanical and had to divert to the near-