Saturday I saw my new Ventus II cm 15/18 for the first time, down at the ridge. Tom Knauff and Paul Weeden had got it through customs, inspected, licensed, and all I needed to do was push the Start button. I've been studying the manual for weeks, but we spent hours reviewing the procedures and making sure I was ready, as this is a very complex aircraft.
First start, and it went up on its nose at 1/4 throttle before I even get moving. This in spite of the sailplane balanced so that I'm at the aft CG limit with my light weight. Woulda been nice if they warned about this in the manual, and saved me a scratch on the belly... Oh well. Shut it down, check everything, and resolve to feed in power GENTLY while accelerating, until adequate elevator authority is obtained (forget about doing a static runup unless there's a 15 knot headwind, and I'm still not sure it's possible).
So, here we go, fire it up, GENTLY feed in power, the thing rockets down the runway, full power, RPM OK, gets to liftoff speed very quickly, accelerates to blue line in a blink, and climbs at around 800+ fpm (I'm under max gross by a lot and its colder than standard atmosphere by a lot). The climb is normally limited by coolant temperature, but with outside temp around 45F it stays way below the 110C limit. Up to 2000 feet, cool it running 20% power for 1 minute, retract, and relax for a while.
Flew it for a few hours, practiced air starts, landed engine out (like half spoilers, no big deal), did another takeoff (GENTLY with the power now!), and enjoyed the local ridge. 2,500 foot ceiling with some wave above, but the closest hole was down near Altoona so I just stayed local enjoying the new toy, though others went up and also ran the ridge up to Lock Haven. Note the tall new tower near Karl's place!
Lots of practice will be required to get proficient with the motor systems, though as a glider it's an absolute pussycat. Looking forward to spring and longer days.
See you at the gliderport.
Dave Nadler