The Paperwork is finished and the Certificate of Airworthiness is issued.

We are ready for the maidenflight, the only waiting is now for better weather after a period of snow and freezing weather with -20 degrees.

Finally the "big" day has come and we made the first flight on march 21st

2012. A sunny day with the perfect conditions to make the test flight.

Exciting moments to be airborne for the first time but the "Lady" flew as a Minimoa should fly .....BEAUTIFULL

Photo's made by Bert Kuiper at EHHV

The test flight:

Weather conditions:

Wind NW 0-2 m/s, temp. 15 degr. visibility + 20 km. blue sky, thermals light

Aerotowed by an Aviat Husky, comfortable tow speed up to 100 km/h, best speed is 90 km/h.

The type is known for heavy/slow on the aileron, so we used gentle turns during aerotow.

With a pilot weight of 80kg the plane flew hands-off stable with 75 km/h.

Stalling is very gentle without wingdip at 50 km/h with a slight warning in advance. No assymetry control during the flight. Maximum speed flown  150km/h with very smooth behaviour. Recovery from a side slip is slow.

With an approach speed of 75km/h handling was normal.Spoiler effectivity is sufficient to correct for a normal approach angle, round off and sit down at quite low speed.

A very pleasant first flight.

Points of improvement:

Light reflection on the instrument panel. Painting it light grey and tilting a few degrees can solve this.

Sloppy on rudder. Installing cover plates over the gap between tail section and rudder, as on the original,  can improve this.

 

PH-80 in all its glory for the first time
PH-80 in all its glory for the first time
Breefing for a new experience
Breefing for a new experience
The end of a beautifull day
The end of a beautifull day
A toast on the succesfull flights
A toast on the succesfull flights
Minimoa