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He removed and installed the two cowls with no assistance from me using just a screw driver in less than two minutes. Inspection revealed a very neat and compact 912, 100 HP installation. There was a place for everything and everything was in it's place. With the top cowl removed you can easily check your carb intake sockets, airfilters, throttle linkages, ignition and cooling system.
With the cowls installed you check your oil level via an access door to the top of the oil tank, on the rear right hand side of the cowl. You can also check for water in the fuel by simply turning a valve on located on the lower left hand side of the engine cowl.
The nosewheel, main landing gear, wheels, brakes, are also fully accessible. The rudder pedal cables and control system push pull tubes are all visible and easy to get at. The flap mechanism is also all out in the open. The wings are attached to the fuselage by a single pin that runs from the front spar to the rear spar and is secured by a locking mechanism. The strut attachment fittings at the fuselage and wing are covered with plastic covers which you slide back to inspect the fittings. The ailerons and flaps feature unique fittings that allow for quick disassembly and reassembly of the wings to the fuselage, and are again completely out in the open for inspection.
Another area that provides quick and easy access for inspection or repair is to the fuel tank which is located behind one of the seats. To get at this area you pull the seat cushion forward, remove a fibreglass panel and the fuel tank area is completely accessible. You can also see the fuel level in the tank by just pulling the seat cushion forward and looking at the site gauge located in the fibreglass panel.
The tail section, elevator, and trim control are also a snap to pre-flight.
Fueling
The 3X55 Trainer comes standard with an 18.3 gallon fuel tank and you fuel it via a port located on the mid section of the fuselage behind the wing.
Entrance & Exit
From the outside the 3X55 Trainer looks like it might a little difficult to get into. Waldemar stands over 6 feet tall and is 200 lbs. He opened the pop up door and entered the plane with no difficulty at all in a matter of seconds. At 5 foot 6" and approaching 200 lbs. I was also able to get in and out surprisingly easily.
The 3X55 Trainer that we flew had a nicely finished off interior with leather seat cushions. The cushions are used to adjust for different pilot heights, lengths etc. As flown the cushions fit me like a glove. Allowing me to comfortably reach all of the control systems and fly the plane without any problem. Even with these thick cushions Waldemar was also comfortable but indicated that if he were a customer of his size and purchasing a plane he would recommend ordering one of the thinner cushion sets for the pilot side.
Once sitting in the seat you pull the two should harnesses over each shoulder and connect the seat belt. You then reach out and grab the door handle and pull the door towards you and lock it into place. The door mechanism is a work of art in itself locking and unlocking not in one or two positions but in three, by simply moving one handle forward or back.
Another feature of the door is that the factory designed it so that in the case of an emergency the pilot can pull an emergency lever located above the door which releases the door frame from the upper hinge. The pilot then pushes out and the door comes completely off.
Start UP
Now that you have yourself secured in the seat, you can easily move the stick and rudder pedals. Check to make sure the flap handle located above you head in the center area between the seats is in the 30 degree take off position. Put on your headset and plug it into the intercom and radio connection located in the rear center console between the seats. Turn the master switch on to supply power to your gauges, radio and engine. Check to make sure the fuel valve is turned on, if you don't and it isn't a warning light will light up on the dash!
Now you apply the choke, check to make sure the throttle is at IDLE, yell clear prop, wait a brief second, then turn the ignition switch to the starting position. The engine fires after only a few cranks and you ease back on the choke until the it runs smoothly and wait for it to warm up. You look over an instrument panel that stretches from one side of the cabin to the other. The instruments you are interested in oil, pressure, oil temperature, water temperature, volt meter are quite visible in the center panel. Your flight instruments, airspeed, altimeter are located in the left hand panel and your hour meter etc are located on the right panel.
As the engine warms up Waldemar will have to apply the toe brakes located on the left side of the plane for us as we will be flying from the right seat, where we are more comfortable because that is the seat we fly from when training.
Once the engine is up to operating temperature, you bring the rpm up to 3500 and do an ignition check. Then return to idle release the brakes and start to taxi out onto the taxiway towards the runway. You will find steering the 3X55 Trainer is a cinch. There is literally no pressure and input via the rudder pedals results in a very comfortable left or right turn. Before entering the runway you will do a 360 degree turn to check for traffic in the circuit. This is where you will be surprised to find that without using brakes you can do a 360 degree turn in the length of the plane.
Take Off to Altitude
You will also notice in that 360 degree turn that the visibility left, right, forward, upward even back over your shoulder in the 3X55 Trainer is superb. With no traffic in the circuit you taxi down to the end of the runway, do a 180 and set up on the center line. Waldemar will then get on the radio and do all the stuff that your suppose to do before take off. When he is finished you will firewall the Verneer style throttle. The 3X55 Trainer will race forward and with the two of you on board and full fuel the plane will jump into the air on a paved runway in about 200 feet.
During that 200 feet you will easily be compensating for a 20 mph 90 degree gusting crosswind using rudder and aileron coordination. At about 45 knots (don't you just hate it when you have to take time to convert over to MPH), and about a minute later, with nearly 900 feet of altitude gained, Waldemar reaches up and retracts the flaps for you.
Turns and stalls
You back the power down from full power and set the plane into a steady climb with the airspeed reading around 90 knots. Reaching 2,000 feet you then level the plane and set up for a a series of coordinated turns. Here the exceptional visibility really stands out, with nothing in view you start a right hand turn. The plane responds immediately with no indication of adverse yaw. Little movement is required on either the rudder pedals or ailerons, and there is no pressure whatsoever on either control system. You then repeat this a number of times left and right with the same results.
At the 180 degree mark you come out of the turn back into straight and level flight. Cruising along at 4700 rpm your indicated airspeed is 90 knots. You use the electric trim to trim the plane and release pressure on the stick. The plane continues on mile after mile with no input from you at all. You then push forward on the stick and release it. The plane goes into a decent and then returns back to straight and level flight. You pull back on the stick and release it the plane begins to climb and then comes right back to straight and level flight. During this period of the flight you notice that the temperature in the cabin is getting a little warm, you reach up and open the air flow vents. You also notice the sun is in your eyes so you reach up just like you would in your car and pull down and position the sun visor!
After about another 30 minutes of flying you slow down to around 70 knots or so deploy one notch of flap the planes slows down a little more and you deploy two notches. Now you reduce power to an idle and start coming back on the stick. You slowly come back until the stick is back as far as it can go the plane while mushy still continues to fly with full control. With the engine at an idle and the stick in your lap and the airspeed indicator reading just over 40 knots the plane will not stall!
You then level the plane then apply a little power to get some altitude. Again you slow down this time using only one notch of flap. This time with the stick all the way back the plane gets a little mushy then at around 45 knots it drops it's nose and 50 feet later you are flying again.
Again you climb to altitude, come back on the power and start back on the stick at around 50 knot indicated the nose drops and about 75 feet later you are flying again. At no time during any of this did you feel any tendency for the plane to drop over on one wing or the other.
Cabin Nose - Dead Stick Landing
You now do some flying feeling the plane out and listening. Communication through the headsets is very crisp and clear with no sign of static or engine noise. You then pull back one ear phone to hear the cabin noise. The noise in the cabin is about what you would expect in your average passenger car driving down the highway at 60 mph. In fact you could carry a conversation on between two people while flying along WITHOUT the headsets if you wanted to.
While flying you decide to see just how well the plane will glide. In the circuit over your own GRASS field at about 1,000 feet high and over a mile and a half out you reach over and turn the engine off. The plane sets up at a very comfortable angle and begins a very gentle decent. With your headset removed the only sound you hear is the wind whistling around the plane. At about the 1 mile mark from the field you deploy one notch of flap. The plane responds by gently lifting it's nose a little and then setting into another gentle glide. At the 1/2 mile mark you kick in the full 30 degrees of flap the plane again gently lifts it's nose and resets it's glide angle.
At the 1/4 mile mark you realize that you are still miles to high, so you feed in a little rudder and aileron. The plane responds superbly, BUT you are still high and have to continue the slip right down into ground effect. Once into ground effect you straighten the plane out and wait for it to touch the ground. That touch comes about 250 feet later. First the mains touch, you keep a little back pressure on the stick holding the nose off. When the nose finally does touch, your ground speed appears to be no more than a person would be able to do walking fast.
It is now late afternoon the cumi's have started to form and the wind is gusting to between 20 and 25 mph from the left. You decide to call it a day and head back to Rainbow Sport Aviation. You are now on a grass strip, still with a 90 degree gusty crosswind. After doing a preflight, etc. you set up at the end of the runway. You apply full power, easily counter the crosswind, and are airborne in just over 300 feet. Which is what you expected on a grass strip versus a paved runway. Half way down the runway you reach up to raise the flaps, only to find that you didn't have any flaps on! You fly back to Rainbow Sport Aviation's home base set up for the standard circuit and make an uneventful landing.
So what do you think?
If I were you I would be very pleased with the performance and handling of the 3X55 Trainer.
I would be impressed with its quality of construction and workmanship.
I would be amazed at it's visibility and quiet and comfort of it's interior.
The only negatives that I would have to consider are:
the lower number of aircraft flying, compared to other manufacturers of that style of aircraft, especially in North America.
the lack of a dealer network due to the plane only recently being introduced to the U.S. and Canadian market.
the lack of history that a plane such as this would have if used in a training environment.
the lack of information on the type of costs involved in the repairability of a composite aircraft.
the lack of information on resale value incase the craft has be resold
For more information contact:
Rainbow Sport Aviation
3253 Lednier Terrace
Mississauga ON , L4Y 3Z7
CANADA
Ph:630 536 9446 :905 848 9645
web-site : www.rainbowsportaviation.com
e-mail: sales@rainbowsportaviation.com
In early 2007 Rainbow Sport Aviation and the 3XTRIM factory will be opening a facility in the Buffalo area to service U.S. customers.
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