Yes! I was wondering if anyone was going to ask....
So, I drove down. 700 miles-ish. I met with the seller, great guy. We talked about the plane and plans for trailering it, then he gave me the manuals and docs for the plane and engine. I took them back to my hotel room and started reading. Read every page, learned a lot.
Next morning, we got together and went out to the airport. Airplane looked good, I inspected it and found some squawks. We spent a few hours working on it and going over stuff. While wrenching around in the cockpit, I found a wasp nest. I cut it off, but on and off had to jump out and run off when Mr. Wasp came looking for me. We rolled it over to the pump and I put in a half tank of gas, mixed with 2-stroke oil. We primed it, cleared the area, and I gave the pull cord a yank. Took a couple times, but then it fired up.
HOLY CRAP IT'S LOUD!
The doors were off because of the heat, and the noise and prop blast were... pretty surprising.
I did some practice taxiing, then checked the windsock. Limp, maybe a little bit towards the right, so I picked the appropriate end of the runway and finished taxiing.
I checked the pattern, then took the runway and gave it power. The plane started rolling. Unbeknownst to me, while I was pulling onto the runway, the wind suddenly switched 180 degrees and began gusting slightly. On my first tailwheel takeoff, I was taking off with a quartering tail wind.
Accelerating, I pushed the stick forward slightly to pick up the tail and was then on the mains. I continued to speed up, and just as the plane took off, I was hit by a light tail gust. It pushed the plane off to one side towards the edge of the runway, and the right wheel touched the pavement again. I kicked the left rudder, took the wheel off the pavement and steadied things up. I flew down the runway at about 5 feet to get more airspeed, then began a slow climb. This was about when I noticed that my airspeed indicator was reading zero. I checked my altimeter, it hadn't changed from when I had dialed it into the field alt.
Aw geez.
I tipped the nose forward a bit to build up extra airspeed because I didn't know the stall characteristics. Using visual references, I flew the pattern. On downwind, I experimented with the controls to see how it responded. I turned base and final in a stabilized descent, having to rely on the feel of the plane to figure out my speed. This was suck.
I lined up, reduced power, and brought it down. At about 50 feet, another gust. The plane tipped to one side, I kicked the rudder over, jammed the throttle, aborted the landing and flew out the runway heading. Obviously (still oblivious to the quartering tailwind) there was something else about the plane I needed to know. I climbed out, turned crosswind. The engine was screaming, the wind was almost taking my glasses off, and I wasn't wild about the experience so far. I turned downwind, and a bit of motion caught my eye.
The wasp.
Somehow, Mr. Wasp had hidden somewhere in the cockpit and was pissed. He came flying out from behind the panel towards my face. About 6 inches from my nose, the wind blast from the prop caught him and chucked him out the side. Holy cow, close one.
I turn base, then final, and set up for landing again. I stabilize my approach, bring it in. Pulling back the throttle, I bring it in, flare, and touch down. As I touch down, my wheelspeed is of course higher than optimal because of the tailwind (which I am still oblivious to) and I'm not quite perfectly lined up with the centerline, so when I touch, the plane veers to one side. Again, I abort the landing. Full throttle, fly the rudder, keep the ball centered, fly out the runway heading, and turn crosswind. By this time, I know that something's not right. While on crosswind, another gust hits and throws the plane sideways. I keep it coordinated, but I have a clue that it might be external. I turn downwind and look down at the airport and see two planes taxiing to the opposite of the runway I expect.
???
I find the windsock, and it instantly tells me the whole story. Feeling like an idiot, I make a gentle left 270. On this turn, I touch the edge of a local rainshower and am briefly wetted. No need to wipe my glasses dry, the prop blast takes care of that for me. Really not wild about this.
I re-enter on base, then turn final. This time, I've gotta get down. The approach stabilizes and I note the new lower groundspeed. Things are falling into place, it's a much better approach than before. Bringing it in, I bring it over the threshold. My flare this time is MUCH better, and when I get a little gust, it's no longer a tailwind, so I'm able to deal with it much easier. I fly the runway heading for a few seconds with the wheels just above the runway, then gently pull back the power. Carefully, I begin a stall and bring the wheels down. Touchdown, the lower ground speed is making a big difference. Driving down the runway with the tail in the air, I pull the throttle to idle.
That's when it gets interesting again.
When I pulled the throttle, I lost some P-factor. Not quite fast enough on my toes, the tail starts to turn one way a little. In a trike, this is a non-issue, and all the planes I've flown before I've been able to manhandle the rudder a bit to fix this, but this is an unfamiliar plane, it's a conventional gear job, and it's super lightweight.
I give it some rudder, but (in what I read later is a classic mistake) overcompensate and swing the tail too far. The tail swings back and keeps going. At this point, nothing I'm doing on the rudder is making a difference. I don't have brakes, so I reach up, pull the magnetos to kill the engine, and brace myself on the frame. I'm still trying to use the rudder to straighten things up, but I'm a passenger. At about 10-15 mph, the plane veers off the runway, at 5 mph, I'm still turning, and after a few seconds, I come to a rest on the grass, facing 180 degrees from the direction I landed.
Aircraft: Undamaged.
Pilot: Uninjured (except for a bruised ego)
Airport: Untowered and oblivious.
I've managed to ground loop a plane w/o brakes, something of an accomplishment, I suppose.
I bring the plane back to the hangar and spend some time thinking about my flight. We check the pitot static system for blockages, find none. No problem, he has some spares.
While we're doing this, I'm thinking about the feel of the plane. Mentally, I make a list of things I like and don't. I'm comfortable in the seat, the ground characteristics are predictable, it maneuvers ok, but.....
The Rotax screaming in my face at 6000rpm is deafening.
The prop blast isn't great, even though doors would attenuate that.
The worst part, though, is how easilly the wind threw it around the sky.
It's soooo lightweight that it has no inertia, it seems. The slightest wind is feels like a huge gust in a Cherokee or Cessna.
The tailwheel stuff I'm not too worried about, I can (and should have before) get training for that, but the engine and basic feel of the plane in the wind are just a bit too much for me. I'm looking for a plane to fly a lot, not just during the 45 minutes each morning when there's no wind.
Finally, I turn to the seller and tell him I'm going to pass on the plane. I offer to pay him any expenses he incurred, but he waves me off. He has another buyer, and he tells me that he doesn't want me to buy it if it's not the right plane. He gives me my money back and we shake hands and part, and I drive another 700 miles back home.
The plane is fine.... for someone else, it's just not what I was looking for. The seller is super honest and a good guy, we'll probably stay in touch (we have other aviation interests in common, and there are no hard feelings).
The hunt goes on...
BTW, Golfer, the lawnmower engine was indeed teh suck. I was willing to give it a shot, but... not my cup of tea.
