Flight Testing the Stall

On a beautiful morning at 10:30 I was able to get out for a test flight to find the stall characteristics of my rebuilt Q2.  We took off on runway 26 in calm air and headed north for about 30 miles.  My friend Jeff alongside in his Citabria acted as a safety pilot in case of issues.  I felt much comfort having him along to watch over me.  As we headed north and out of the control space of Calgary, I began a series of forced stalls at various power settings.  The plane is behaving as it did when I purchased it, stall speeds were a constant 68-70 mph.  The characteristics were also as expected where the forward wing would just mush downward then pick up a few mph, rise and repeat over and over.  Very little wing drop would occur and it could be controlled with rudder and some aileron.  This is just as the canards are supposed to behave and this one is no exception.  My purpose was to find out exactly when the canard was loosing lift and control.  This test would show where my absolute minimums on landing in the flare should be.  I am very pleased with my results.  Our return trip southbound allowed for some more stall tests with a following wind and confirmed previous numbers.  I probably completed over 20 stall tests on this day, a very good day.  Total flight time was 1 hour in the air and all temperature and pressures stayed nicely within limits.  I have a radio static noise problem still occurring and found a small leak from one valve cover which will need a new gasket.  Short flights with accompanying aircraft will be recorded as I spread my wings further from home base.

Flight Test after Rear Wing re-Alignment

Yahoo...Yahoo...10:00 am I had all things checked and rechecked on the Quickie Q2 with all paperwork in order.  It was time to test fly my plane once again after resetting the angle on the back wing.  The flight of one circuit using the 5000 ft runway at Springbank Airport (elevation 3960 ft) went fantastic and I could not be happier with the results of my modification.  It flew hands off the stick with only slight adjustment to the pitch trim.  The moment arm of the T-tail being so far back offers super adjustment to pitch in takeoff and landing profiles as well as cruise.  It should prove to be very effective at adjusting for different weight loading options.  Next step is to do a one hour flight over the airport and check pressures, temps, rpm and stall speed characteristics.  Following flights will be circuits to practice landings and experiment with heavier loading.

Aft Wing Bonded In Place and Surface Finishing

Day 28: The plane is now being put back together.  All linkages and cables have been reconnected. Only the engine re-install remains and it is time to test fly it again.

Day 26: All surface finishing around wing cutout and turtle deck have been completed as well as about 12 other blemishes that I was not happy with on other areas of the plane.

Day 19: Aft wing is bonded back in place with the new angle.
The turtle deck above the wing has been modified and is back in place.  Surface finishing of all areas around the wing cutout have to now be completed.  The drive tubes for the ailerons have been adjusted in length as a result of this wing modification.

Aircraft Aft Wing is being Re-Angled

Day 6:  The aft wing has been cut free.
I have been busy daily at the hangar working to correct my problem.   With help from a local fellow here in Calgary that also has a quickie (not yet flying), we were able to determine the root of the problem is the wing angles.   I did major reading on the Quickie forum and found out a few others have had the same problem when building to the level lines in the drawings.  This angle reference between the two wings is called decalage.    We measured the angle of degrees many times and found I am out by three degrees.  The front canard wing should be set to climb at + 1 to +1.5 degrees if the aft wing is considered to be at 0 degrees.  This is as a result of, my incorrect rebuilding using the level lines.   You may know that I had the fuselage completely cut in half at one time and when I re-assembled I did not get the angles correct.  We took a bunch of angle measurements on my airplane and then did the same on my neighbors Quickie Q2 aircraft, his is correct with his Canard about +1.5 degrees.  My rear wing was lifting by around +2 degrees over the Canard if the canard was considered at 0 degrees.  This was backwards to what it  should have been.  Some early builders had the same problem building to the 0 level lines.  My decision was to re-angle the aft wing which would be easier than doing the front canard.  In six days I have completed cutting away the aft wing, it is now rotated -3 degrees, this will result in a decalage of +1 to +1.5 on the Canard (forward wing) if the aft wing is then considered to be at 0 degrees.   The wing was then flipped and the underside sanded in prep for the bonding and fiberglass tape,  Then there will be surface repairs and turtle deck repairs to complete.

When I bought the plane it was flown with 2 people on board and about 1/2 fuel.  My ferry flight home which ended in an engine outage and damaging forced landing on the highway did allow me to note the aircraft was trimming for level flight very well.  Many of these planes are active with most having the larger 100 hp (heavier) engine, some are also racing on a regular basis so my nose heavy attitude was really confusing me.  But hey, building is as much fun as flying.

Test Flight #2 of Q2 C-GMBK

May 17/16  Springbank Airport elevation 3960 ft using the 5000 foot runway.  After much calculating of weight and balance and reading of others who have had the similar problem I decided to test fly again with more weight in the aircraft.  My first flight was with 5 gallons of fuel in the header tank which is ahead of the instrument panel and only my personal weight of 160 pounds. This had me nose heavy flying on the forward edge of the "Centre of Gravity" envelope.  On this second flight I would have 5 gallons in the header tank and 2 gallons in the main fuselage tank, 58 pounds of sand in the passenger seat, 25 lbs. of lead in the baggage compartment and my weight of 160 pounds.  I took off with and initial one circuit to see if all was going well, it was and I climbed to 6000 feet for orbits off to the unused side of the airport.  I remained aloft for 55 minutes and found that I could not trim the aircraft for level flight and my pitch trim was always at maximum for nose up attitude.  Some constant aft pressure was still required on the stick but much less than previously.   I came around an landed a much better landing this time.  More calculating is required to identify this problem.

Test Flew Quickie Q2 C-GMBK

May 11/16 I test flew the Q2 for one circuit at the Springbank airport west of Calgary.  The test flight showed that I had a  much to forward C of G or something else was causing the nose down attitude.  I could not trim out the aircraft and had to hold lots of aft stick pressure.  I kept the circuit high and had 1000 feet on final for good forward speed of 90 on final.  A two bounce landing had me rolling out and wondering what was wrong.  I had to hold full up elevator in the ground effect and I  was probably three feet high causing the bounces before rolling out.  Another serious look at aircraft loading is in order.

Taxi Practice

April 21/16. An exciting time getting back working on my Quickie Q2 after 4 months off. Beautiful warm days allowing me to get the airplane out in the sun. Yesterday was overcast and the airport quiet. I got the airplane out for taxi practice for 20 minutes on the unused Runway at Springbank. The plane performed well doing s-turns, braking, 360's and straight runs. Last week I had to fix a radio interference problem and also found the starter had a loose wiring connection. Just a few more items to tune up. I found the brake sensitivity lacking and the right wheel still needed adjustment. The weather is staying rainy and cooler for a few days so I can give these attention inside the hangar.