Dec 14, 2007. First Flight!   Finally the sun came out, the air cleared somewhat and the airport began to dry out. Oddly enough, about 5 of my flying buddies figured out that I would try to go to the airport and fly today, and they showed up just at the right time.  It was nice to have a gallery of friends, well wishers, ground crew and photographers. You meet the nicest people at airports!



I pulled my Rocket out and climbed in. Strapped down and started up. It was a relatively balmy 60 degrees in my hangar with the sun on it even though it was about 30 outside, so my oil was somewhat warm before I even started. Waited for all the instruments (the EFIS) to show green and taxied out.



"Oh, you gotta get you wunna THESE!"



Here's some YouTube vids of my first flight:

First Take Off     Not much to look at, but glad to have the documentation.
First and Second Time Around the Patch    T-N-G, 190 knot pass!
First Landing    sweetness!
Taxiing Back to My Hangar after First Flight    Yeah, baby!
Second Take Off    500 feet is all it took. I can do better. A LOT better!


Dec 1, 2007:  I now am the proud owner of an airplane!  My F1-EVO Rocket is no longer a kit, but a bonafide airplane! Woohoo! Inspection with FSDO went smooth as silk, and was actually quite a pleasant time.  I learned a few things, did lots of paperwork and about froze my butt off because my space heater quit near the end. Well, it was worth it to get that special pink slip and my repairman's certificate.

The plane sits in the hangar. Ready for first flight, except that I need to re-install the engine cowls (from the inspection).

My AIRPLANE:

Engine START!  WOOHOO!!  The engine runs beautifully, started right up on the first try. Thanks to Mattituck for such a fine product.

Now THAT'S what I'M talking about!  11/02/07 was a big day. Hooked up jacks to tap into the avionics stack and went for a drive. Talked to the tower on the strut antenna. Taxied over to the big taxiway (wider and longer than most runways) and  dropped the flaps. Prop full forward, a little gas, forward on the stick. About 50 feet later the tail gently elevated. The view out the front was SPECTACULAR!








This plane is a PUSSYCAT on the mains with the tail up. Wow, what a treat! Glad to say that my mains seem beautifully aligned and the plane tracks true. All systems are GO!!!!!!!  Click this link if you want to watch a 14 meg mpeg of a taxi run. Warning: it's SLOW to load.


F1 BOSS werdz of wizdumb: " Think TRACTOR, not Space Shuttle..."

The digest version of my building progress:

I gathered the certification paperwork for the feds. The Indianapolis FSDO is one of the few that still does certification inspections. Once I had my paperwork ready, I forwarded that to the safety supervisor, and he in turn assigned an inspector. One thing that was not in the check list, and which I neglected to send with my packet, was an application for my repairman certificate. That application is supposed to be sent in with the airworthiness application. The inspector made an appointment with me and gave me a list of things to have ready. He came, went over the airframe, and went through the paperwork, and signed off my airplane. And I got my repairman's certificate!

With the help of some fellow hangar rats, I loaded up the plane with all the parts and weighed it. I calculated the base Weight & Balance after computing the Empty Weight.  I copied another pilot's website and modified a page to online W&B calculations for an F1-EVO. I made a copy of the W&B to be in the POH and a copy needs to always be in the aircraft. My Rocket weighed in unpainted at 1314, with 62 pounds on the tail.

My old aviation insurance agency tried like the dickens to get someone to give them a quote for Rocket coverage on my behalf. As you might expect, getting Rocket coverage is difficult and expensive. Only three carriers are known to provide Rocket (Harmon, F1, whatever) coverage.

The Garmin/Garmin AT stack is installed in the panel, with respective trays, and the wiring harness completely installed. The TruTrak autopilot contoller came direct from the mfctr and is installed and working. 5 antennas area installed and ready. The  Horizon I dual screen, single AHRS  EFIS with EIS engine monitor is installed in the instrument panel, and the AHRS installed and calibrated. The EIS unit is mounted and the power wires connected. The magnetometer is mounted in the turtledeck and the wires are connected. Works GREAT!  I upgraded the memory in each EFIS DU to 1 gigabyte, and uploaded terrain data for all of North America and all current software.

My Mattituck TMX-IO-540 engine runs like a champ.  Purrs like the proverbial lion. HAH!   Screw YOU Mike Moore you cheating bastard. When are you going to pay me my money back, you crook?! The Engine Cowl has Skybolt C-loks installed and all the screws and nutplates are installed. The air filter is in the scoop and the scoop screwed to the lower cowl. My MT Propeller and governor are installed, the prop is torqued and safetied, and the spinner is installed. The engine hard baffles are assembled and the soft baffles are riveted to the hard baffles. I've installed the Airflow Performance FM200 assy on the bottom of the sump. I've installed the Vetterman exhaust and the Rick Robbins heat muffs are installed. The fuel hoses are in position and the control cables installed onto their respective brackets, adjusted and cotter pinned. Spark plug wires are trimmed, crimped and attached. The wires for the Plama III coils are trimmed and terminated, and the ground shield soldered. The EGT and CHT wires are installed, terminated and connected. All sensor wires and hoses are installed. I've hung the oil cooler and the cooler ducts and hoses are finished. I've run engine control cables, and  the fuel and MAP hoses. The alternator and starter are wired and good to go. I went back and modified the mechanical fuel pump drain port to drain out the bottom and installed a drain hose.

I have both  EVO tapered wings installed.  The flap fairings (gap seals) are finished. The bracket assys for the aileron push tube mechanism, the push tubes, caps and rod ends are all finished. I dimpled the covers for the inspection holes. The aileron push tube slot doublers are installed. I've finished the bottom aileron gap seals both top and bottom. The aileron end caps, and the wing tips are about finished.   I've installed my heated pitot. I started to install my nav lights with strobes and the wing tips are screwed down. I've mounted the PIAA 1500XT landing lights and I fashioned a plexiglass  lens to cover the cut out in the LE. The lower wing root fairings have been started, and the fiberglass root fairings have been fitted. The landing gear wheel assemblies are aligned and installed. Nylon brake lines and compression fittings inside the cabin are finished, ATF fluid inserted and brakes bled and tested successfully.  The parking brake valve is located, but needs the T-handle push pull cable installed. The wheel pants are set to place and the gear leg fairings are partially trimmed and clekoed to position.
The Main  Electrical supply and ground wires are installed from both batteries to the buses. The Blue Sea BatteryLink ACR battery isolatorAlternate/Secondary  Dual Battery System is installed, modified, and working properly. Service wires from the starter and alternator are set with solenoids and B-lead  circuit protection. The Main DualBus , the E-bus and the B-bus are installed.
 
I formed brackets for the LSE Plasma III dual electronic ignition control units and stacked them into place. I made a bracket for the MAP sensor on top of the LSE controllers and  wired the various engine sensors to the GRT EIS.  I've drilled the firewall and connected 3 bundles of EFIS and Plasma III ignition wires, all are installed and ready to go!