First flight surprises & tips

[Bryan Cotton]

Congrats! Sounds like a gutsy first flight.

[gammaxy]

Actual winds gusting to 30mph is too much for a Sonex. Certainly way too much for a first flight by someone with little Sonex experience.

I gradually expanded my comfort region to 20 knots, but had two experiences while taxiing where the tailwheel lost traction and the airplane weathervaned into the wind during gusts. Now 15 knots is my limit. In my experience flying the Sonex, landing and takeoffs aren't terribly difficult since the airplane has plenty of aerodynamic control authority (I've never ran out of rudder), its when the airplane slows down that you can lose control.

Michael Smith shared this story about the prop strike he experienced due to a 20knot wind:
https://airfactsjournal.com/2017/06/pro ... s-learned/

[mike.smith]

I never raise the tail on takeoff in a 3300 powered Sonex. I just fly it off three-point. That will give you the shortest ground roll. In fact, I only slightly raise the tail on an AeroVee powered Sonex. I find that most pilots raise the tail too high when making takeoffs in tailwheel airplanes (not just Sonex), usually to the point where they unnecessarily extend their ground roll.

That's my observation as well (AeroVee). I spent a year and a half taking off with the tail up in the air. I then changed to 3 point take-offs and I definitely find my take-off roll is shorter. That's on pavement. On grass I definitely get the tail wheel off the ground, but as Joe suggests, don't over do it.

For what it's worth, I would never ever consider taking off or landing in a 30 kt wind, even if it were straight down the runway. A 20 kt cross wind can ruin all your years of work on the airplane. It's just not worth it. Maybe a nose dragger is different, but I would much rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air, than being nose down in the weeds.

Consider that, "A tropical cyclone in which the maximum sustained surface wind speed ranges from 34 kt (39 mph,17.5 m/s) to 63 kt (73 mph, 32.5 m/s)." So a 30 kt wind is rather close to a tropical storm wind speed.

[wlarson861]

I have flown with a 20 knot crosswind and it will never happen again. Taxing out the wind blew the tail wheel skidded away from the plane even though the elevator was full aft. I made the take off because of get home itis but it was stupid. At home there were no such winds so We survived. The Sonex is great with crosswinds compered with other aircraft but all have their limits,

[Rynoth]

Posting here a link to a write-up I made of my first flight experience, surprises and tips:

http://www.rynoth.com/wordpress/waiex/2 ... -analysis/