Now that its all done its time to take some pictures. Since the maiden
flight was to be the very next day I figured I better have a few pictures
to remember it by. I was pretty nervous about it and not at all sure my
creation was actually going to fly. This was my very first scratchbuild.
This is one of those unplanned pictures that turns out so well.
After taking the above pictures my dog (Mikey) walked out the door
and set down in that pose. All on his own. He IS very photogenic after all.
He was witness to most of the construction. At one point during an
intense sanding session I looked over to see there was sawdust on his
head. He didnt really seem to be amused.
I liked this picture so much I made it my avatar on RCU and its the
background on my laptop. It has two of my favorite things...my dog
and my Ultra Sport.
Well this is it...the moment of truth. The day is Monday, April 24, 2006.
The location is the Spoon River Flyers club field in Maquon, Illinois.
Witness to this event is fellow club member Jeff Hacker.
Well its now or never. Taking a deep breath I commit my creation to
the air. All of my worries were unfounded. The Ultra Sport lived up to
its reputation from the very first flight. Minimal trim adjustment
was necessary.
After a short 5 minute flight that seemed more like 30 I bring her in
for a nice soft landing on the first approach. I put 4 more flights on
it that day and aside from a landing gear placement issue that caused a
tendency to nose over it flew wonderfully. Next time out I moved the
CG back a little and fixed the landing gear.
I managed to get 62 flights on the Ultra Sport this season. I was hoping
for 100 flights but I had 3 new student pilots to train this season.
That took up a lot of flying time.
Whats next? Well this winters project is going to be a Sig Hog Bipe.
But next winter...RCM has Ultra Sport 1000 plans...hmm...think about it...