Well I haven't tried aerobatics yet so I bought this thing...

Christen Eagle II

Wish me luck! Starting instruction to compete in Sportsman next year. Instructor is Jason Newburgh a long time airshow fixture around here.

Loved flying it right side up, hopefully more fun inverted!!
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Nice wings! You should be chatting with LouB747........

 

Did not realize they were still wire bracing wings. Interesting. Fokker gave up on wire bracing in 1917 with the introduction of the Fokker Dr.I. But that was not a 9 g airframe.

 

In the early 90's I lived near Walt Redfern and visited him many times when he was building a Fokker D-6 replica. When we installed the upper wing, I could not believe how heavy it was. Those two box spars were indestructible...and heavy. Wires are pretty light and strong and make a nice song.

 

Nice! I'm been partners in an Eagle II for a couple years now. It's fun, and I like a lot of things about the plane. I find landings a bit challenging, but maybe because I'm not used to sitting 18 inches off the ground. I'm not a real acro guy, and just do the basic maneuvers. Negative G doesn't do much for me, I guess I'm getting old. I do like flying it low level pulling Gs in turns. The only real gripe I have with the plane is yaw (others say the same). It seems almost impossible to keep the ball centered. Anything you do seems to put it out one way or the other. I guess being short coupled has that effect. It seems to have plenty of power. Looks like you have taller gear. There a gear mod to strengthen the airframe. You might want to check and see if it's been done. Cracks have happened on a number of Eagles.

Congrats. Looks awesome. Look forward to more pics and some videos.
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Awesome!

 

That looks awesome!

Matt

 

+1 Multiple GoPros please!

 

I flew with a guy (Whit) in his Christen Eagle II out of John Wayne airport years ago and the airline pilots were saluting us as we taxied around them.

 

We have put them everywhere. Best is below the tail for a unique angle. Duct tape works well for the wing strut.

http://youtu.be/cmBo6hUo2Bg

 

Nice!

 

Nice. Does it have smoke?

Haven't flown any of them, but by most accounts Eagle easier than a Pitts S2 which is much easier than a Pitts S1.

Used to hand the Mooney about 2 ft high after flying the 206 amphib.

 

Yeah, try going from 747 to Eagle. About as extreme a difference as you can get.

 

Mate of mine is A380 captain.. and also built and flies 100hp 2 seat Jabiru.. another example of extreme!

 

I was friends with and flew with two airline pilots who, like Lou, flew small biplanes when they were off duty. They performed "precision maneuvers" as they called them. All were good pilots in anything and claimed that aerobatics made one a better pilot. One of them who has passed flew a Bucker and did everything. I saw him do an outside loop one day and popped a blood vessel in his forehead so he quit that stuff because he was in his 50's. His favorite saying was, " I fly nose draggers for work and tail draggers for fun."

 

Isn't that like landing a 5 story building?

 

Something like that. I've heard your eyes are at 32 feet while on the ground. In the flare you're around 45 I'm guessing. It feels totally natural when you're used to it.

 

I heard that a take off in bad weather that the wheels can be in IFR and the flight deck is VFR. That's really big.

 

Nice. Enjoy.

 

So you're the one, I came across it on Barnstormers and you beat my buddy by about a half hour with the phone call for it. Congrats!

 

Yeah I heard that. I missed out on another one that was in California and was waiting to pounce. The fact it was close by to my Dallas home made it easy.

Went out for my first session of "bounce and goes" with my instructor today. Since I have no taildragger time to speak of it was quite and experience. Never grinned so much while being terrified LOL.

Spin training next week. Can hardly wait for my first inverted flat spin recovery......not.

 

Does anybody teach Rudder Exercise Stalls? That will awaken your feet and if you do get that training you should have spin training first because you will probably put the airplane into a spin the first time you screw up a stall with full back stick medium speed and a high AOA. The only effective control is the rudder.

 

Good luck with the new plane, Mark. Did you get this in lieu of the AutoGyro? Or is that still on the agenda.

 

+1. In most Cessna's it pretty easy, since they just mush down in a stall regardless. But other airplanes .....

 

Yeah, I had 0 tailwheel time when I got my Eagle. Yes, it's quite an experience! If you have any questions, send me a PM and we'll talk. I haven't spun mine yet. I guess I should at some point. Apparently if you are too aggressive with the recovery it will go into an inverted spin and vice versa. There's an accident report stating this as the cause. Anyways, have fun with the landings. They can be very interesting. Power can save your ass when things don't look or go right. Everytime I'm on the downwind I think to myself, damn, I have to land this thing!