Really raunchy air today, but what the hell.



https://vimeo.com/149583657

Looks good, you can definitely see the shocks going to work.

It's interesting how much harder the shocks work on the full stop landing, when you put all the weight on them. On the fly-bys the look like they aren't doing as much work, while the wing is still lifting the plane most of the time.

Battson wrote:Looks good, you can definitely see the shocks going to work.

It's interesting how much harder the shocks work on the full stop landing, when you put all the weight on them. On the fly-bys the look like they aren't doing as much work, while the wing is still lifting the plane most of the time.

The wind was "sporty" today, 5 gusting to 30, which made testing a bit more challenging. I do like the fact that with this suspension I can land slower (meaning of course shorter) under these conditions because an inadvertent drop-in won't damage the plane.

One of the things I wanted to show on the sandy river bottom drag shots was how the shocks handle uneven surfaces (you can see this by watching the track behind the tire grow and narrow), that at these speeds would usually launch one back into the air, or possibly put one a little out of sorts. Non-event with this suspension.

I don't think I posted the first test flight I did with the TK 1's with the smaller shocks (maybe over in mods I did). Nor did I do any kind of write up, so here goes:

The difference between the TK 1 system and the AOSS is immediately noticeable from the moment you start moving the airplane. There is a slight compression of the shocks in turns that is a bit unsettling at first, but if you watch the end of my first video (below) you’ll see me doing high speed ’S’ turns without excessive wing dip. The same holds true on side hills, the downhill suspension will compress some allowing the wing to dip, but not to the point of concern.

Certainly takeoffs from rough terrain will feel smoother, but the real amazement occurs during the first landing. It will feel “pillow soft”, so much so that you won’t believe it, so you’ll do it again and again. And if you are like me you’ll start trying rougher and rougher landings and be astonished at how soft they feel. Equally important is the rebound is metered so at worse the plane will momentarily bounce an inch or so back into the air, but usually you’ll just “stick” the landing (watch the drop in at the end of the first video).

If you continue to push the landing envelope you’ll soon realize that the tailwheel suspension is now the weak link. The mains will never again feel rough, so you’ll land stuff that the tailwheel now complains about. Hence the reason I have Dan’s new T3 tail wheel system arriving Tuesday.

The whole initial experience reminds me of the first time I drove a Ford Raptor. After a bunch of King Ranch’s the Raptor’s suspension felt mushy, almost “Cadillac” like. I didn’t fully appreciate it until I put it through the paces at high speed on rough terrain. There’s not another pickup truck made that could even come close to approaching the speed at which the Raptor can handle rough terrain, and if it tried it’d soon leave parts scattered everywhere while the Raptor took it in stride.

That’s what the TK 1 Racing suspension does compared to the AOSS.

If you’ll watch this first video below, at the end you’ll see me drop it from about four feet after hanging the nose high SQ2 style. You can hear the suspension barely bottom out, but even so the hit was softer then with my AOSS suspension, and I didn’t bounce back in the air. Initially I had the smaller shocks which didn’t have enough capacity to adequately support a loaded-up SQ2. TK 1 sent me slightly larger replacement shocks which are what I’m testing in the second video above. I’ve got a 100psi less pressure in them and am not bottoming out.



https://vimeo.com/144569279

Barnstormer wrote:I don't think I posted the first test flight I did with the TK 1's with the smaller shocks (maybe over in mods I did). Nor did I do any kind of write up, so here goes:

The difference between the TK 1 system and the AOSS is immediately noticeable from the moment you start moving the airplane. There is a slight compression of the shocks in turns that is a bit unsettling at first, but if you watch the end of my first video (below) you’ll see me doing high speed ’S’ turns without excessive wing dip. The same holds true on side hills, the downhill suspension will compress some allowing the wing to dip, but not to the point of concern.

Certainly takeoffs from rough terrain will feel smoother, but the real amazement occurs during the first landing. It will feel “pillow soft”, so much so that you won’t believe it, so you’ll do it again and again. And if you are like me you’ll start trying rougher and rougher landings and be astonished at how soft they feel. Equally important is the rebound is metered so at worse the plane will momentarily bounce an inch or so back into the air, but usually you’ll just “stick” the landing (watch the drop in at the end of the first video).

If you continue to push the landing envelope you’ll soon realize that the tailwheel suspension is now the weak link. The mains will never again feel rough, so you’ll land stuff that the tailwheel now complains about. Hence the reason I have Dan’s new T3 tail wheel system arriving Tuesday.

The whole initial experience reminds me of the first time I drove a Ford Raptor. After a bunch of King Ranch’s the Raptor’s suspension felt mushy, almost “Cadillac” like. I didn’t fully appreciate it until I put it through the paces at high speed on rough terrain. There’s not another pickup truck made that could even come close to approaching the speed at which the Raptor can handle rough terrain, and if it tried it’d soon leave parts scattered everywhere while the Raptor took it in stride.

That’s what the TK 1 Racing suspension does compared to the AOSS.

If you’ll watch this first video below, at the end you’ll see me drop it from about four feet after hanging the nose high SQ2 style. You can hear the suspension barely bottom out, but even so the hit was softer then with my AOSS suspension, and I didn’t bounce back in the air. Initially I had the smaller shocks which didn’t have enough capacity to adequately support a loaded-up SQ2. TK 1 sent me slightly larger replacement shocks which are what I’m testing in the second video above. I’ve got a 100psi less pressure in them and am not bottoming out.

https://vimeo.com/144569279

It's great to see the suspension and tires in action. It certainly gives a good view of what's happening.

Been some interest in how TK 1 handles sidehills, so here are a couple of photos.

Another raunchy air day, but hey it was New Year's Eve and I just had to go play. Short video, nothing exciting.



https://vimeo.com/150482601

Thanks, always fun to watch. Besides, for those of us too lazy to get the plane out due to our weather conditions, we can live vicariously through you.

It's a bright, sunny, beautiful day with calm winds here. Overnight low of -16F and it as warmed to -9F by 9 am. Dang, I'd like to fly today, but the thought of getting out in the cold, opening the hanger, moving 2 planes out of the way, pulling mine out, fueling it, and then hoping it starts easily is overcoming any motivation I have. Oh well, may be later today when it breaks above 0 F since it is pre-heated. Also, there is at least a foot of snow on the ground in the valleys and a lot more at any elevations much above that, so the only potential landing sites are plowed roads.

I think I'll keep any flights within easy gliding distance of a plowed road since it isn't possible to successfully land any where else for a while.

Thanks blackrock.

Took a friend flying today. Mostly I forgot to push the record button, but I did manage to shoot some video. More of the same but always fun to share with someone whose never done it before.



https://vimeo.com/150623771

Thanks again Phil, that's some great video despite the technical difficulties. If the good stuff was missed, that must have been really impressive! That happens to me too at the worst times and I wind up missing the coolest stuff. Must be Murphy's law or something.

The T3 is supposed to arrive tomorrow so I'll have to head south to try it out. Maybe Death Valley and areas nearby for a test run since I'm planning to be down that way in a few weeks. Still to much snow here.

You are going to love the T3. It's a game changer for sure as is TK1 Racing's front suspension. There's no going back now.

Looking forward to hearing your report for sure.

A person very close to me asked if I would take her visiting friend flying in the SQ2. She'd never been in any small airplane before and was a little apprehensive, until we took off anyway. Once again I forgot to record some of the flight but got enough to be of interest to us anyway.

Once again I have to comment of how amazing the TK1 Racing main gear and the T3 tail wheel suspension are. They are truly game changers. The gravel bar I landed in the video was slightly down hill so I had to keep the tail wheel on the rocks when I was on the binders. And I was landing downwind so I was faster then usual. The initial rocks were about fist to volleyball size, but as I slowed I went through a stretch that was basketball to medicine ball size. Hardly felt a thing. Fantastic suspension mods.

Anyway, here's the video about best friends and dedicated to best friends (see if you can spot the Aoudad and Scimitar-horned Oryx).



https://vimeo.com/152151060

Another great video from you Phil. Nice country and great you share it with others, too.

I agree with you about the T3 Suspension being a game changer now that I've flown it. Your right, WOW, what a difference it makes.

Mike

Great stuff. My plane has little tires, but I'd love to come out there and hit what I can with you guys one of these days. I generally make it to Fredericksburg for breakfast at least once a month.

Bill

Includes a new perspective on the waterfall.



https://vimeo.com/152577522

fiftynineSC wrote:Great stuff. My plane has little tires, but I'd love to come out there and hit what I can with you guys one of these days. I generally make it to Fredericksburg for breakfast at least once a month.

Bill

About the only place that might work with small tires is the strip on the island, which is around 900' long. But before landing you'd want to drag it first to make sure it felt ok with your tire size.

You should definitely plan on coming over for the Texas STOL Roundup, we will do fly-outs Sunday morning including going to the island.

Barnstormer wrote:

fiftynineSC wrote:Great stuff. My plane has little tires, but I'd love to come out there and hit what I can with you guys one of these days. I generally make it to Fredericksburg for breakfast at least once a month.

Bill

About the only place that might work with small tires is the strip on the island, which is around 900' long. But before landing you'd want to drag it first to make sure it felt ok with your tire size.

You should definitely plan on coming over for the Texas STOL Roundup, we will do fly-outs Sunday morning including going to the island.

Sounds great. I plan on making it. See you then.

Bill

So the plan yesterday was to meet up with our Air Boss for lunch over at Llano to discuss the upcoming Texas STOL Roundup. Of course playing along the way was in order.

I knew one of my friends would meet us for lunch as he was checking out a PT-22 that our Air Boss has for sale, but halfway to my playground I heard two other friends on the com landing at my home airport for a bladder break. So now there would be three friends joining us for lunch. I gave them my hangar code, told them I’d see ‘em at Llano and continued on to play.

Once play was done I was the first at Llano. Soon after a Carbon Cub arrived. A little later a 180 and a 185 as well. And I was told there might be one other friend coming, in a Harmon Rocket. Quite the impromptu gathering. Well the last friend did come, but not in a Harmon Rocket as you’ll see in the video, something much cooler.

Anyway the meeting was obviously shot, but it was great to meet up with my friends.

Video note. I’ve not been happy with the use of a ND filter and what it does to the video colors/quality. So I shot this video at 100fps without the filter and it certainly helped with the prop artifacts. Will try 120fps next time.

Anyway here it is, hope you enjoy.



https://vimeo.com/155219071

Awesome video Phil.

Is that Duke Silver on the sax?

Renegade wrote:Awesome video Phil.

Is that Duke Silver on the sax?

Lol, Duke Silver