Falco Videos

Falco #19 First Flight continued at Sand Canyon Airport

After many hours of working on the creating and downloading process I have finally posted the documentary movie of the first flight of the Falco since the upgrade. You can see the movie here.

This tape was preceded with the taxi test tape which should appear in the you-tube box with this one. The flight lasted about 30 minutes and I edited about 45 minutes of tape to come up with this footage.

The flight was designed to be 2 turns around the field with some quick level turns at altitude, then a low pass to check the gear doors, followed by another low pass from the other direction. On the end of that pass I noticed some deer on the runway and I dove at them to scatter them. (Watch for that). Still not sure about the gear doors, I made the 3 rd low pass while Al Bird and Lance checked them and then into the pattern for the landing. We had wanted to get down as soon as possible to check every thing out. I could have stayed up there for hours it was so much joy.

The hardest thing about the flight was the "P" factor on take off. It was hard to hold it on the center line. I will get used to that.

It may not look like it but on the low passes I was going about 125 mph. At that speed it is hard to tell if they are open or not. On the next outing I will install the camera on the door opening and record what they do.

This is all a little technical but the short of it is we do not know what is happening to the doors in the wind stream. They are held open by a spring and we want to make sure they are not in the way when I do retract the gear. I can't hardly wait for that one.

Configuration for this flight by intent was gear down for the entire flight. I also did not cycle the prop pitch at any time. We simply wanted to have as few possibilities of error as possible. Temps were all good considering the climb settings. That means the Air box is working great, at least with gear down. I saw 140 MPH top speed and as you can see the Falco was very stable and very nimble to handle.

Most of you know I have not flown much since this airplane went into my shop 8 years ago. In fact my log books show only 4 landings since 06 and those were in the last 3 months when I got my Bi annual and not in type. The last plane I flew before that was a Chieftain twin. I would just like to say that I think the Falco is one of the best flying aircraft I have ever had the privilege to fly. To that I can only say that we owe a great deal to the designer "Frati" God rest his sole, and of course Alfred at Sequoia for keeping it alive and well.

I am sending this to all on my list including Sequoia aircraft and if you want to know more about this aircraft design you can visit www.seqair.com to get more details. There is an article in the last news letter on page 19 about my trip home 8 years ago.

Many thanks to my neighbors and camera crews. Bo and Luann McDonald, Sue Johnston and of course my lovely wife Janet took the stills. And thanks to Sharon Dorrance, Sue Johnston and Lance Alter for the support and complements.

It is hard to put into prospective the feelings you experience going through this process. I came away with a good confidence in this aircraft and deep satisfaction of accomplishment. From here we will be expanding the envelope and flying off the hours required by the FAA.

Steve Crisp