EV97 Eurostar

1 - EV97 Introduction - Upper Airwork and Circuits

I could bear it no longer... walking past such a beautiful aircraft day in day out that gets great reviews and uses 11 litres per hour when unhurried!!!... Must be the future of flying. Although all my flying so far has been Group A and flying microlights will not contribute towards my Group A hours I can fly the Eurostar using my PPL(A) without needing a PPL(M). The rental rates basically make group flying spam cans much less attractive. And there's two of them!!!

Well I certainly wasn't disappointed. Alpha Papa - Duralumin skinned. Obviously more fragile than a spam. The no-step areas are very serious as you can depress the skin by hand where there are no ribs easily. Interestingly enough it has split flaps so one can expect decent descent rates on final.

The airmanship starts as soon as you approach this aircraft. The canopy is fragile and you have to ensure the wind won't catch it when opened. Floor is easy to check for loose objects; around where the stick sits in the seat and certainly the flap gap is an important place to check. Dropping the flaps will help and is part of the external check anyway. Easy to check the fuel contents electronically with a quick on and off of the master switch - John said there is a dipstick that you can use although it's not normally done. I would consider that finding out what the plane had done before you since filling and consolidating that with what you see on the check is and should be part of the booking out process. So much so that it's on my checklist V2. I'm a visual sort of guy that likes to connect the dots.

The walkaround is very easy - spatted split rim wheels hide do hide the gubbins. Control surface are easy to check and the split pins and marked locking nuts for the elevator required sticking your nose in. Didn't want to stress the rudder bungees so just a cursory on these with more in the cockpit. Kiev newspaper blades... rather not have known that but that's exactly what they are!! The fuel drain is exactly as John described as a washing machine tap and sure enough the fuel didn't stop coming out until several flicks later. Oil very easily checked. The manual states that 'gurgling' is only required when not recently run. And of course these machines are probably the most used on the airfield so no gurgling required. Good thing as in my mind gurgling just gets people used to putting themselves in harms way with a prop trusting their family allowance to a very small earthing connection made in China by someone paid $1.5 dollars a day!!

Noted no stall warner and I forgot to ask about pitot head heater. Noticed that it was a pressure head with dynamic and static very similar to the Yak with static holes instead of slots. You can see the exit of the exhaust manifold looking past the spinner. Defo worth a look for cracks as splits can cause fires very quickly as plenty of flammable materials in the engine bay.

For my benefit John took the top cowling off to show me the Check A. Very compact battery; One connector to check for tightness. The water cap just like a cars. Water was fully filled and the cap rubber was good. Careful to put it back on correctly not to roll the rubber. Twin separate carbs. Keep forgetting that its an automotive designed engine. Opposed 4 with dual spark plugs. Checking the water hose was important. The quarter turn screws were very easy and actually the top cowling can be a one man job.

Based on the fact that there is no handbrake John recommended we point the aircraft at an open space for starting. Easily manipulated onto the tarmac. Incidently the brake pressure can be felt easily and it will be a good idea to train competent passengers as handbrakes to cover any of your head down time.

Getting in - First of all ONE at a time as 'competition' entries will lead to tears as the plane may tip spilling the 'its a knock out' competitors onto something important that is unlikely to take their weight - Hard zero - the canopy backside hard ridge where you can hold is clearly marked for holding. Aware that putting my foot through something on my conversion would probably score another hard zero; I found that emulating the karate kid in his heron like match winning pose bent double (without the killer kick - another = hard zero) putting right foot down on the floor; then parking ones arse using the left hand on the hard ridge worked great - then bringing the left foot in carefully and you are in. Very Extra like seating position. No adjustments so tip toes for the toes brakes given I'm a short arse 5' 8' (5' 10" with the affro) I'd get used to it. Never noticed that once I got going as my legs appeared grow longer and find a comfortable position as they would do with any Ferrari I was lucky enough to drive!!

Closing the canopy - very easy just make sure the two locating slide bars are inside the hard canopy ridge otherwise I can see that damaging it would be easy also if anything was forced.

Pre-start checks - John demonstrated the correct take-off position for the trim alongside the flap with one stage - very easy.

The manual stated increasing the fuel pressure by depressing the starter with the mags off. John said they don't do that (checklist to be adjusted to suit). Because the aircraft had not been run for a while. It was started with choke out. No starter warning light showing and Oil pressure present - couldn't be easier. Set 2000 RPM and slowly release the spring loading choke ring. The engine was cold and John recommended increasing to 2500 RPM to speed up the warming up process. I noted that the throttle friction nut was next to useless and RPM would creep up by itself. Victor Tango was actually worse. Another thing was that the whole throttle would rotate when the friction nut was actuated - I gather its not meant to do this and John confirmed. Throttle cable coming loose of coming undone will cause serious problems on the ground and the air if it happens; so something to be aware of. Before starting it was getting really hot inside the greenhouse canopy (must remember to bring a baseball cap next time). The DV window has two settings - perfectly positioned for the right airflow at the right time - excellent design. With the engine idling airflow was excellent. In flight the smaller window is used again excellent position simple and easy to use.

Taxiing - easy and 2000 rpm worked well in most cases with minimum brake. I was probably overcautious on the prop as it does feel every divot and the clearance from the ground is not something I've pegged yet. Steering very positive and easy. Braking easy with not too much of a nod remembering to keep the stick back.

Power and pre-take off checks are married into one. HP run done at 3500 rpm which was easily held on the brakes. Main thing to remember was that the Oil Temperature MUST be at least 50 deg C to avoid carb icing. The cowling is so designed so that at that temp or above the area around the air intakes and carbs are heated to create a constant 'carb heat on' environment.

The view bubble canopy is like flying a flight sim in outside view mode. Can't be better. The wing position is far enough back with the relatively high seating position that your view of the ground is pretty good.

Radio - 1 second on - 3 seconds off. Liked the easy volume setting. For me 6 for background and 10 for concentrated listening.

Take-off - John asked me to expect alot of right rudder and it didn't disappoint. It was quite a manic affair. Supposed to be 4 seconds smooth application of the throttle. Also needed alot of right boot in the climb. ASI jumped around which made nailing certain speeds a little hit and miss. Loved the trimmer. Finger and thumb for the stick. Obviously this aircraft was going to affected by gusts more than heavier singles but it did feel dynamically neutral .... Full power gave around 4800 rpm. Nice and quite unlike the CT which I remember was alot louder at full pelt and in the ruise. Not much noticeable sink wise when the lift flap was removed. Over 1000 ft/min climb at 70 mph.... wow a mini spitfire.

After levelling out I tried a few wing rocks. Nice and responsive. Turning without rudder noticeable RH turns were more out of balance than LH turns - repeatable. With rudder nice balanced turns. Also noticeable was large engine RPM changes often had an effect opposite the the expected yaw given the RH tractor!! I suspect wind effects were taking a little precedence as it was not smooth air. Could be something to do with the Russian Newspapers as well!! Predicting the yaw becomes more of an eyes out affair. Fine by me. Need a few more hours before I nail it in this aircraft. We cruised well enough with 4000 RPM - slight high nose attitude at +-90 mph. Climbed at Max RPM with a nice natural pitch up and easy to nail 70 mph when required...80 mph gave a much better view and probably safer in busy areas and it still gave an excellent rate of climb - didn't log it. John pointed out how much lag there was in the altimeter (exactly the same later in VT) The VSI appears to be your best instrument. Descending, set 3000 RPM, with a pitch down, of course no carb heat to be concerned about. Speed didn't run away and 90 mph seemed to give a good picture.

Stalls - Not too sloppy all power off - Both with and without flap - good airframe shudder with a reasonably sharp straight nod down. A hint of Left wing drop when the stick is at the back stop. Recovery easy and I hardly noticed any dip in height. 60 Steep turns; I added a few hundred RPM and was careful not to pull too hard into the turn (less than 2 G - no desire to stress this airframe given its light construction) held up nicely with a check forward required on rollout as usual to not climb on exit. Repeatable 90 decreasing to 80 mph increasing to 90 mph again on exit with 4300 RPM. Not tight enough to hit our wake but that was not the intention.

Slow flight - set 3000 white arc; Lift flap cruised at 70. I could see that there could be variants on that ; 2 stages and 60 maybe ... PA28's use drag flap quite successfully with 2 stages at 65 knots (Q)

Steep descending turns - trimmed 80-90 did left and right at 45 degrees -no dramas lost height well.

Back to the circuit. Joined overhead. Found I was generally high by 100-200 ft on downwind. Overshooting the climb. Noticed I do this in all aircraft I'm checking out on until I get the measure of them. Probably need to kill the climbout sooner. Also noted that the RPM kept creeping up which didn't help. More vigilance required. Three touch and goes - Significant was a bit of a crosswind - had me crabbed and correcting above the runway - slight wing down helped - one T&G had quite a rotor gust and AP responded well to a large counter rudder opposite aileron correction. The preparation was important. Tight circuits were fine. Base, reduce power to 3000 rpm (eventually be able to do this on sound then correct after like the chippy), correct yaw, white arc 1st stage, pitch for 70 2nd stage correct and trim for 70...hands off check picture, VSI generally heading towards 500 ft/min. Gentle final turn; lined up before flap, 3rd stage, pitch down for 60 and trim; Because it's all finger and thumb its an easy aircraft to let go of the stick and see if you are really trimmed. VSI over 500 ft/min!! The ASI jumps around quite abit (similar in the way the chippy does). Also some unsettled wind on final which may be contributing. We aimed for 3000 RPM all the way in and generally as long as you were over the motorway or the pylons (later in VP) at 500ft there appeared to be little change. Gripping the throttle was very important. Like most Cessna drivers your thumb is used as stop on the friction nut so you are effectively making small changes up and down by extending or squeezing your hand. John wanted me to be 60 mph over the threshhold. once rounding out I found that making sure power was all the way off needed an extra little check. Round out and running out of energy seemed easy. My third touch and go we were a little high and dropped in. The preceding two seemed not too bad. John recommended flying this aircraft straight just above the runway as long as you can - all made sense and thats what I tried to achieve - adjusting my picture as energy was lost to sinking proportions and adopting a picture to protect the nosewheel but ensure the tail was not too low of the AoA was not too high hopefully not allowing for a sudden drop in. Motor skills still require work - Think I did OK but like most aircraft the more you do the better you will be able to recognise the right and wrong picture.

My landing went fine and I was pleased that I'd looked after this lovely little rocket.

Personal planning notes - The dual headset bag worked perfectly even if it looks like one of my better halfs make-up bags. Good call by John on removing Hi-vis as I could see the reflections of clothing on the bubble canopy and Hi vis could be an issue plus they burn extremely well. Opted to keep the kneeboard in the very convenient side pocket. Re-think required as its probably too wide to wear and could have cause control restriction in a bind. The RAF type is alot slimmer and may work or I'll make something to suit. The ball mount is a great forward thinking by Mainair and I'll source a ball attachment for my 296 so I can sort myself out. The canopy misted up a couple of times. Maybe good to have a small chamois block in the LH seat pocket for clearing.

Highlights - well the whole experience was great and fun - finger and thumb control - love the light touch trimmer- 11 litres per hour!!! great climb rate and I found very controllable with good control authority just above the runway essential for dealing with cross winds

2 - EV97 Conversion - 2 Circuits / 2 Landings

Rain shower had passed through and conditions were still a little iffy. John and I agreed to take a look. As it turned out the cloud base was upto 950 ft in places and looked a little lower in places. The wind had changed and 09RH was now to be used. Mainair have a rule about not doing TGs on 09 runways so we made two circuits two landings. My first was an absolute greaser ensuring that we flew over the main bump. The second I arrived a little short and had to add power just before the threshhold. Recovered nicely with a little drop in. Braking technique was demonstrated - backstop when braking - good reminder

The cloud base was lowering so John and I agree to call it a day.

Ready for more action :-)

3 - EV97 Conversion - 7 Circuits (4 normal - 3 Flapless - 1 Glide to land)

Another Eurostar session - It was looking like low cloud would scrap the day but true to form the end of the day things just seemed to get better just in time. Cloud base lifted above 1000 ft although there were some CBs around.

Detailed check A - Additional things checked rivets in the firewall, spark plugs ontop and under; heater tube for damage - carb mods for the air filters by waggling them. Re-visited the water cap; there should be two little flaps that engaged. I swore it came off easier than it went back on. John pointed out the additional starter cable dangling behind the nosewheel. We drained the fuel and checked it against the fuselage; Flick test for the down tube. Lots to check at the business end of the elevator controls and the rudder.

Transponder note - Didn't use it bacause it was only a circuit session. Basically ON (Alpha) and Alt (Charlie) are unseen from the left hand seat but easy to figure out as the next two out of sight switch positions.

Radio note - flip / flop - seemed straight forward with the top frequency being the one in use. The bottom is the standby mode. The left to right flip / flop changed the active field to either side of the decimal point.

3 normal circuits - better on downwind turn with much better height control. At about 950ft I was powering back aafter a short period of energy building - wing tip along the runway for the circuit - 500ft over the Motorway way again. Very repeatable and I must say although it gives a high picture the Eurostar losses speed very quickly withy power off so it needs driving in with height in the back pocket, Only a small reduction in power gives quite an increase in rate of descent. Again big power swings on application of go around power. High nose attitudes on climb out. I was undercooking it at reaching 70 mph quite quickly. Flaps away on the runway 2 stages leaving lift flap on. Performance 4000 rpm gave 80 mph on downwind. 1) nice - big swing and LH departure 2) nice touchdown but took off a little early- probably a little too much back stick 3) more nose wheel protection after applying power on the whole was noted - not bad though and I was getting the departure under control. Hell of a kick left with a immediate take-off crab which was quite pronouned if you wanted to maintain the runway centreline.

3 Flapless - a little further out on base - good glider and generally had to reduce the power below 3000 rpm. THis is where it departs from mostt Group A which for such a high nose attitude would require power to maintain Perfect machine for slipping and we did on the second one (gave +-700 ft/min increasing to 1000 ft/min) On the last one we used 65 mph as the final speed instead of 70 mph. John asked to get down on the numbers; I was rounded out just over them but not touched down till another 50 yards or so - still I think I did well; John said he wanted to have my babies haha. Next a glide to land. Wings parallel with the numbers as per Johns instructions; John had the power so he could warm the engine once on the the approach. Over the motorway high, dumped 2 stages; still high and then went for a slip in at 60-65 mph; straightend up and held her level and she treated me to a nice touchdown.

Off to Mainair where John was suggesting we stick some more fuel in. Just under 1/2 and I estimated 2-21/2 hours. Given I was going to just do one circuit that was good enough. For me a good confidence boost and very interested to see what this hotrod was going to be like with no-one inthe RH seat

4 - EV97 Conversion - Solo Circuits

Whilst I was on a roll Mainair like to get the convertee to do a solo circuit. Conditions were improving all the time. After an oil check started VT up in quick fashion. Take was was breathtaking. In no time at all the ASI leapt above 40 mph and not long after she wasn't going to be held back; At 65-70 knots the VSI was showing 1300 ft/min!! I was at risk of reaching my turning point before the end of the runway. Didn't happen; cleaned up then turned at 70 mph. Close in circuit; went by in a flash. Base was fine and on final approach got some thermals over the flats but nothing too severe. It became very stable for the landing. Love this machine.