When the Q-200 upgrade was announced I decided that it was what I really needed since I wanted to cruise at the advertised 200 mph!The project was started in Wisconsin and about half way I relocated to the Minneapolis area and moved into Marvin Getten's hanger at Flying Cloud airport. Marv provided a lot of support, help, and guidance, and really helped.
My Q-200 was equipped with a newly majored engine, vacuum pump, artificial horizon, DG, wing tip strobes, belly board, reflexer, Warnke prop, and originally weighed in at 599 lb. using very accurate scales. I have not yet installed a starter, upholstery, or radios. I estimate total cost to date (1987) of about $22,000.
My previous flight experience consisted of about 500 hours in Cessnas, so before test flying my Q-200, I got about 10 hours of dual instruction in Citabrias and an hour riding with Marv in his Q-2 while he shot landings.
Finally, in the Air
After about three hours of taxi testing, the first flight was made on June 9, 1986, with Marv coaching and former Quickie dealer Elliott Youngberg videotaping the happy event!! Over the next couple of weeks I made several flights and did have handling problems resulting in a few ground loops. Also, two of my subsequent flights were made with no airspeed indicator!! It checked out in the shop but in the air it wouldn't work.
Early on it was obvious to see that there was some type of rigging problem, because in order to maintain level flight, I had to fly with my elevators down about 8 degrees. I called Scott Swing, and he said that the angle of incident of my canard was wrong and that I should raise it up!! Well, I could see that there was no other way out, and so I bit the bullet and went to work. I cut the canard free of the fuselage on the two sides and the front, cutting out a wedge-shaped piece. I pulled the engine just far enough to make the cut across the firewall. The front of the canard was raised about 1.25" and repaired. The entire cut-out and repair, including the fillets, moving the rudder pedals, and repainting took one week.
After modifying, in level flight the elevator trimmed at about 1-2 degrees down. An improvement but I didn't gain any of the airspeed that I'd been hoping for (I was getting about 160 mph).
On one of my flights after this, I landed with the parking brake on and skidded off the runway. It is was my practice to have the parking brake on in flight to prevent wheel spin and the accompanying vibration. I have now added "Parking brake-Off" to my landing checklist and made a change to my in-flight brake system.
Despair
During all of these flights I was constantly tinkering and trimming and adjusting everything, but I just didn't feel that my proficiency was coming up to speed and always felt that I was on the verge of another ground loop. Then, on my 15th flight, on the 29th of July as I was just touching down, the rudder pedal attachment points tore loose, and I was left without any rudder or tail wheel directional control. I was able to keep the wings level, but I was off the runway moving at a high rate of speed. I saw buildings and aircraft coming towards me and I vigorously applied the hand brake. The tail rose up and the prop tore up the rain-soaked ground and the aircraft pole vaulted over using the spinner as the pole!
My beautiful plane came to rest upside down (you can picture this, can't you, Jim?). Besides the spinner and prop being destroyed, the lower cowl was severely damaged, the canopy smashed, and there were compression fractures of the left wing and tail cone and vertical fin. Except for some scratches, the canard was okay. The harness system held, and I was uninjured. I believe that when I repositioned the rudder pedals while changing the angle of incidence of the canard, I didn't have enough of a glass-to-phenolic bond, resulting in failure.
Doubt and Transfiguration
Rebuilding started soon. Even though the wing was only fractured on the bottom just outboard of the aileron pivot and didn't look all that bad, I took the cue from Bob McFarland's accident and resolved to build a new wing. It only took about two hours to remove it from the aircraft. At Oshkosh I was able to pick up a new canopy for only $150, and although I was still heartsick from the accident, things started looking brighter.
After Oshkosh I knew that I had one hell of a lot of preparation in order to even begin repairs, but I had a terrific resource in our local composite chapter 587. I mailed a postcard to each member requesting help, and they came through gangbusters! More than 10 people showed up and in one day we removed the broken canopy and prepared the frame for the new one, sanded the fuselage inside and out to prepare for the wing installation, removed the tail cone fillets and completely removed all paint and filler from the tail cone, removed paint from the upper and lower cowling, and hot-wired a new set of wing cores and a new vertical fin!! On one Saturday those guys saved me at least a month's work!!
I was able to salvage several parts from the old wing including the ailerons. (Our accomplished crew can now do a wing or canard lay-up in 2.5 hours!) The second time around was easier because I had accomplished all of the tasks before and knew what to do, but it really wasn't very much fun. I only made one significant change in the rebuild. I changed the ground angle of attack of the aircraft to 7.5 degrees by lowering the tail wheel as
described by Scott Swing in Quicktalk #29, and this was quite easy to do. Aircraft aesthetics were forgone in order to have the plane back in the air as soon as possible. Ed Schwitzer of New Prauge, MN, let me have a slightly damaged prop that I was able to have repaired to reasonable performance. Paint was only applied as necessary so it doesn't all match right now. However, I was pleased to find that the plane gained only 9 lbs. in the rebuild, and I suspect most of that was from the heavier canopy.
During this time I spent a lot of time thinking about the accident and really questioning my own ability to handle this hot little airplane. When I ordered the kit, I wanted a fairly reliable craft that would be useful for me and not just something to buzz around in on Sunday evenings. I decided as much as I loved the looks of the taildragger, if I didn't feel comfortable with the ground handling problems, I'd convert to Tri-gear, or maybe just sell the whole thing to someone more qualified than I.
After getting another few hours of dual in a Champ, I made my second "first flight" on May 3, 1987, just short of 10 months after the accident. I freely admit that I was more scared now than the "first" first flight. I could feel improvements in the aircraft right away! My takeoff roll increased slightly, but the ground handling was very much improved, which I attribute to the change in the ground angle of attack. This is going to be okay!
Now, five weeks after my second "first flight," I love my airplane. It is a real joy to fly! I have put on 50 hours in the last month and have made over 40 landings and no ground loops! I am getting quite comfortable with crosswind landings and have even landed on a 25' wide runway with crosswinds. This plane is going to remain a taildragger. The fuel economy is good although I'm still cruising at "only" 160 mph. I've made several cross country flights, and it really eats up the sectional charts.
The plane, like a house, is never finished. I'm still having problems with engine cooling on the 80 degree days and have a lot of experimenting with baffling to do. The whole thing needs to be repainted and upholstery installed, and I have a new Warnke prop ordered. I'm still using a handheld radio (which the tower controllers hate) and navigate using landmarks only. All this is just as well, for it if was finished, I might wind up doing something silly like ordering a new kit of some sort and building something else instead of continuing to improve mine.
My general advice to builders has mostly been said before in Quicktalk, and Jim Masal gave some of the most realistic advice in Q-Talk #3 and #4. First, this is one hot little airplane. It is not docile (at least mine isn't). You must be on top of it at all times, and don't expect anything else. If you feel that you may not be capable of handling it, get some dual with an instructor in something tricky and see how he feels. This is often a hard thing to call, but please be realistic with yourself. You can fool yourself and you can fool your friends, but you can't fool Mother Nature.
On building an airplane.... The most important single thing that a builder must do is to keep his hands on the project. Sound obvious? There were many, many times where I was discouraged and felt, What's the use? Keep at it. Do something, no matter how small, all the time. Also, when you have a seemingly major modification or repair to make, just jump in and get started. Don't waste time worrying about the size of the task ahead. You'll often find that it wasn't as hard or time consuming as you thought once you finally get started. A guy that needs to change his ground angle of attack could have most of the work done in a single day!
Again, as Jim has said, don't build or fly in isolation. By now there are lots of people that may be able to help you. Use the people resources available and have other people help and often. The chances are that by now someone else has had your problem and came up with some sort of solution. Stay in touch with other builders. I had some non-flying buddies help with finish sanding, and they helped save weeks of time.