I'm with Jon on this one. You shouldn't leave the ground until you
have your airplane set up correctly. If the tail comes off first, fix
it cause the added steering is helpful. If the nose comes off first
fix it. If the cg on the edge fix it. its too late once your
committed. Forget the reflexor and belly board. Your plane should be
set up so that none of these devices are needed for flight. Remember
the plane was designed to fly without a belly board or reflexor. Only
after the Q200 came about did the other controls show up. The plane
historically flys left wing heavy so be ready for it! Once you know
how much, crank the left elevator down to compensate for you (about
1/4" as I recall). Phil is right, this plane is a trike, trying to do
wheel takeoffs and landings is doable but only makes it harder to
control and that is somethnig you don't want to deal with on first
flights!

My plane is set up to "levitate" both wings about 70-75K without
additional input. If I hold the stick with slight back pressure it
will fly off level with me in it. I reflex in flight for an aft heavy
condition (cross country loaded)until aux fuel is burned off and use
it after landing to put weight on the tailwheel for better control.
The belly board helps slow the plane and give a better feel and view
over the nose. So far my plane has never deviated from the runway
centerline more than a couple of degrees and has NEVER been ground
looped (yet). I just am an average pilot with average skills so this
not rocket science, its common sense.

Regards,
Jim Patillo N46JP Q200

--- In Q-LIST@..., "Jon Finley" <jon@f...> wrote:

Hi Larry,

70mph certainly will not get my airplane airborne and I have NEVER

seen

that low of an indicated airspeed in flight (with my GU Q2). Sure

would

be nice though.

2/3 of total travel?? This sounds like way too much to me. I would
also suggest that this is too much for the first few flights (until

you

figure out what the airplane likes). First, find out how the

airframe

behaves at neutral control settings and then start introducing
adjustments. The one exception is the elevator position which

should

probably have a bit of right roll added from the beginning (left
elevator slightly lower than the right elevator at neutral stick).

Given what is said here, I don't think I fly like most others (so

take

this with a grain of salt). I typically take off with neutral to
slightly aileron up reflexor when solo. I let the tail raise

(slightly)

when it decides to do so and let the airplane levitate into the

air. It

is a beautiful flying airframe and can be incredibly gentle and

smooth

when you just let it do it's thing. However; be prepared on the

first

several flights for "it's thing" to NOT be the desired thing

(especially

in roll). Don't force it into the air, don't over-control (PIO),

and

use the longest runway possible.

You might find it useful to dig thru the archives (if you haven't
already), there are many threads regarding first flights.

Jon Finley
N90MG Q2 - Subaru EJ-22 DD - 467 Hrs. TT
Apple Valley, Minnesota
http://www.FinleyWeb.net/Q2Subaru



-----Original Message-----
From: Q-LIST@... [mailto:Q-LIST@...] On

Behalf

Of larry severson
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 4:04 PM
To: Q-LIST@...
Subject: [Q-LIST] Abort


I have a GU Q2 with the 6pack (Aviation Products) tail wheel and the
Postma
VG configuration. The reflexor was positioned 2/3 up. TOGW was 800

lbs.

On
my first flight attempt (today), I accelerated rapidly and straight

down

the runway. When I got to 70MPh with no lift off, I aborted with no
problems. Taxied back to the hanger.

My question is, what speed should I expect to lift off at with this
configuration? I recognize that the AP TW will cause an increase in

LO

speed due to the changed angle of incidence. I just did not think

that

it
would be this much.

Is there anyone out there who could do the first flight? My wife

would

be a
lot happier.

Larry Severson
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
(714) 968-9852
larry2@s...