I've had the airplane (a Pitts S-1S) in my hangar for nearly a month, but I finally flew it yesterday. YESSSS!

After returning from my Pitts tune-up training in Phoenix last Thursday, I was anxious to get right out and fly the airplane before all that good learning drained out of me. But the weather gods were not cooperating, and a snowstorm arrived in New Jersey about the same time as me. My plans for a quick first flight were buried under six inches of snow. As it happened, the airport was plowed out within a day or two, but then the winds kicked up a bit and forced me to exercise the muscle that keeps you on the ground in the face of great temptation to fly. I had gotten no significant exposure to wind on this last Pitts training session, so Budd recommended that I stay away from crosswinds for a while. The forecast showed that the wind was to die down by Monday, so I made my plans for the first flight then.

It was just about the coldest day of the year yesterday (~20 degrees F), but at least the wind would not be a problem. I got out to the hangar to preheat the engine at around 9:00AM. I fired up the electric blanket, which was wrapped around the cowl, and a small electric space heater, which I placed under the engine (away from the fuel system!). Since the airplane has not lived in a cold climate before, I decided to be extra nice to the battery and give the preheat plenty of time- I left the Rube Goldberg setup in place for a couple of hours.

By the time the preheat was done, I had been joined by a fellow aerobatic pilot, Ron, who has been mentoring me through the buying-a-Pitts-and-then-flying-it-without-breaking-anything process. We pulled the airplane out of the hangar, and I zipped up all my layers of clothing, hopped in, and strapped down. I was surprised at how easily the engine started up.

After letting the engine smooth out for a minute, it was time to make my way to the runup area. Taxiing around in this airplane is a trip all in itself, because it has a Haigh locking/swiveling, non-steerable tailwheel. For those unfamiliar, the tailwheel locks in the in-trail position for going straight ahead, but casters around like the front wheel of a shopping cart when it's unlocked. Actually, the effect is more like turning a shopping cart around backwards, then trying to run down the aisle with it. I zig-zagged around the airport property, eventually making my way to the runway threshold.

I did my runup and other pre-takeoff checks. Then, waving to Ron, who was by now standing in the snow with a handheld radio, I pulled out onto the runway. After making sure the tailwheel was straight, I set it to lock in place. I went over the takeoff procedure once more in my head: stick back, feet awake, full power, count to five, forward stick to pick up the tail, then hold attitude and let the airplane fly itself off. Well, after I opened the throttle, I got about as far as two or three in the five-count, and the damned thing was off the ground!

I figured on climbing out at something like 110 MPH, which is a good 15 MPH faster than we had done in the training sessions. But I couldn't bring myself to pitch up enough to get the speed down below about 120 MPH! The ground was WHOOSHing out from under me- not just falling away, but WHOOSHing away. Between that and the steep pitch angle, it quickly became clear that Budd and everyone else were right- this little airplane really is a rocket! Now, I'm not normally a real demonstrative kind of guy, but I couldn't stop myself from yelping over the UNICOM like Slim Pickens riding a nuclear bomb! I reached pattern altitude before crossing over the departure end of the runway.

After flying out a few miles to get the feel of the controls, I re-entered the pattern for my first landing. It, um, didn't go very well, so I availed myself of the throttle nice and early, rather than let a bad approach turn into a worse landing. Next time around things were lined up a bit better, but I still kept the go-around option toward the front of my mind (as everybody keeps saying, there's not much that a straight left arm can't fix!). When it was time to break the glide, I decided that I could try to make a full-stop landing out of this approach. The airplane touched down a little firmly, and the spring-steel main gear chattered a bit before settling down. The noise level of the small main-gear tires and the even smaller tailwheel made me wonder if I had broken something, but everything continued to work as I corrected a couple of small swerves and gingerly applied the brakes. As I slowed and turned off the runway, Ron's voice on the radio reminded me that it was OK to breathe again- advice which I needed!

I did four more landings on that flight, including one fairly nice one where the tailwheel touched just a hair before the mains. It was a very good day.

Tom P.

• RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,djpacro, 23:42z, 12-10-02
  • RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,TomParsons, 00:05z, 12-11-02
• RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,aboyd, 01:50z, 12-11-02
• RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,vgbaron, 03:01z, 12-11-02
• RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,DHamblin, 12:20z, 12-11-02
• RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,Ben_Chiu, 19:39z, 12-11-02
• RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,CRodin, 04:03z, 12-14-02
• RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,TomParsons, 18:57z, 12-17-02
  • RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,djpacro, 23:45z, 12-17-02
• RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,Patty_Wagstaff, 17:37z, 12-25-02
• RE: First Flight in My Pitts!,Ninepilot, 04:23z, 01-20-03

Sounds like you had a lot of fun.

The Haigh tailwheel is really good. If its behaving like a shopping trolley when it was unlocked then the castor angle may be wrong. The vertical bolt around which the tailwheel assembly pivots - the axis of that bolt should be off vertical - leaning forward at the top.

We had the same problem with our Laser. Impossible to taxi it in a decent wind. Solution was to reweld the tailwheel assembly to change the castor angle. I'll have to check the exact angle, maybe only 5 or 10 deg from vertical. Totally controllable and easy to taxi in all wind conditions after the change.

PS I can imagine you'd go to jail for calling on the radio that you're riding a nuclear bomb into town.

Regards,
Dave Pilkington

>The Haigh tailwheel is really good. If its behaving like a
>shopping trolley when it was unlocked then the castor
>angle may be wrong. The vertical bolt around which the
>tailwheel assembly pivots - the axis of that bolt should
>be off vertical - leaning forward at the top.
>We had the same problem with our Laser. Impossible to taxi
>it in a decent wind. Solution was to reweld the tailwheel
>assembly to change the castor angle. I'll have to check
>the exact angle, maybe only 5 or 10 deg from vertical.
>Totally controllable and easy to taxi in all wind
>conditions after the change.
Thanks for the tip- I'll check that out. I assumed that the combination of the wind, the crown of the pavement, and p-factor meant I had to live with the instability. I don't mind the Haigh- it's just different from the one I'm used to. I do admit that my feet felt a little disconnected from the airplane on the landing rollout.

>PS I can imagine you'd go to jail for calling on the radio
>that you're riding a nuclear bomb into town.
I didn't say THAT on the radio! I believe it was more of a, "WHOO HOO HOO HOO!" thing.

Tom P.

Congratulations! Aren't they just a barrel of monkeys?

Suggestion on the tailwheel for a Pitts: think about an APS from AC Spruce. It's better than either the Maule or the Lang, IMHO, and 'way cheaper.

Free advice:

1) Put lots of 100LL through that engine! The more you fly, the better a pilot you will become.

2) Start aerobatic maneuvers just a bit higher than you think you really need to.

3) Do lots of landings. When the airport is quiet, seize a few minutes to do a bunch of quick touch and goes.

4) Slowly but steadily expand your personal crosswind envelope. After a while, you will be landing in crosswinds that no one else can - the Pitts is that capable. Technically speaking, it's got a tiny vertical fin close to the main gear.

5) Avoid contaminated runways (ice, snow) like the plague until you get a lot more hours in. Landing a Pitts on a narrow, ice-covered runway with tall snowbanks and a blasting crosswind is not a lot of fun. Neither is 3 inches of slush. If nothing else, I worry about the wheel pants filling up with crud and locking up the tire, which makes the landing even more interesting.

6) Keep a good lookout! You'd be amazed at how many Pitts come to grief both on the ground and in the air.

7) Be careful when landing on grass runways, because of the lack of visual contrast at the edge of the runway. A snow-covered runway has the same problem.

Welcome to the cult^H^H^H^H club!

Tom -

FINALLY!!!

I've been following your efforts from the beginning and muttering under my breath - "when's he EVER going to fly this thing!!" -

Well, you did and I am really happy for you.

Enjoy and *please* - keep us posted on your progress.

Enjoy,

Vic Baron

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Registered to: Vic Baron
-OLR.PL v1.81-

Cool! Kinda like your first ever solo again as far as emotions I bet!

Dave Hamblin
(formerly DaveH on old site!)

Greetings Tom:

Congrats! Wonderful story as well.

Best wishes and only good things for you and your new ride.

Ben

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Registered to: Ben Chiu
-OLR.PL v1.80-

Contratulations !!!! I was really drawn into your story. It made me relive my first several flights in the Skybolt. I have the same Haigh tailwheel, but I find it both stable and maneuverable in taxi. I wish you many happy hours in your Pitts !!! Have fun.
Cary

Thanks everybody for the nice words. Owing to the crummy weather in NJ, I've been up only once more since the first flight. I got to experience the splendor of operating a Pitts in a busy pattern- not nearly as much fun as when you have the airport to yourself! The 152s that waited forever to turn crosswind, the Cherokees that decided to mosey onto the runway and sit there just as I pulled the power abeam the numbers on downwind (thinking they had two minutes to get out ahead of me, when they actually had about 30 seconds!), the twin driver who pulled out on the runway about 12 seconds before I planned on touching down- it was all part of the holiday scene of unwanted potential togetherness. Andrew, I see why you recommend waiting to do landings until the airport is quiet!

Dave P.- I took another look at the tailwheel bolt. It is tilted just very slightly forward. I'm not sure if it has the full 5-10 degree tilt you recommended, but it is not exactly vertical at least.

Vic- You and I were BOTH wondering if I'd ever get to fly the thing!

Dave H.- You're right. It did seem like as big a deal as the first solo.

Cary- I'm not actually dangerous taxiing around in front of the Haigh tailwheel, but do I hope to get a little smoother once I have more practice. I notice that the tilt of the surface I'm taxiing over has something to do with which way I drift off, and how fast it happens. But if you average out the effect of taxiing on various inclined/crowned surfaces, it seems like my right brake (and leg) gets much more of a workout than the left brake. This is consistent with the airplane log's entry for a right-brake-only replacement last year. I assumed that was a p-factor thing.

BTW Cary, the 2003 Sportsman Known is posted on the IAC Web site now! Time to start studying and chair-flying!

Tom P.

The tailwheel seems set up pretty well then. Its worth having a look at the main gear now. I suggest that you check for toe-in/toe-out next.

My best advice here is for you to join the
Biplane Hangar Group

You say you have spring steel main gear? Not aluminium?
I can't remember whether the recent email thread on that subject was on the Biplane Group or the Acro Exploder.

Regards,
Dave Pilkington
IAC - Chairman, Technical Safety Committee
(former Chief Engineer at Aviat)

Tom,

Loved your account of flying your S-1S for the first time. It brings back memories of the same for me. I soloed mine at Grayson County Airport in Sherman/Denison, Texas, in September 1984 and remember it like it was yesterday!

Happy Holidays.
Patty

Hey Tom--

The account of your first Pitts solo was very well written! I too shared many of the same feelings on my first solo of my Christen Eagle last summer. Those first few hours of solo flight are ones that you will remember forever. Slowly, but surely, I am becoming more confident in my ability to safely control this thing on the ground, but it sure is something that requires ALL of my attention. These are wonderful airplanes, and it is very rewarding to learn from mistakes, and progress to the point that you actually feel comfortable landing this beast...

I have found that it is a real sweetheart to land if you just can relax and "enjoy the ride"...and oh yeah, touch down perfectly straight...

Anyway, nice work, and keep at it!!!