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We then take a couple of hours off and
then run ground school from 1 p.m. until 4, break for an hour and then
fly until dark. With weather, aircraft servicing, mechanical break
downs etc. we generally average about 4 hours of flying a day for 10
days with two students, which was the case here.
The first thing that anyone should do before they fly
any plane is a preflight. On a plane that is several years old, that you
haven't been "up close and personal with," don't know the builder, or
it's history, you do a pre-flight as if you know someone has purposely
sabotaged the plane.
Since we were on straight Full Lotus floats we were
able to bring the plane up onto shore, by just pulling it up out of the
water. But when we did we heard the sound of water moving in the floats.
Removing the bladders we found over 10 gallons of water in the bladders!
Full Lotus recommends checking the bladders on a
regular basis, with that amount of water in them I would suspect they
hadn't been inspected in years.
Doing a preflight on the Rebel proved to be very
easy. You can get at the top of the engine by just pulling two piano
hinge pins along the sides of the cowl. But for a thorough pre-flight,
you
 have to remove the prop. Once the prop is off it
will take you about 10 minutes to remove the cowl.
Now everything is out in the open and easy to
inspect and or repair. A couple of items that required replacement were
the two rubber intake sockets used to connect the carbs to the intake
manifold.
These have been updated a couple of times by Rotax, and the
ones on the plane were showing signs of cracking.
The motor mounts
rubbers were also cracked, and were replaced, but after 400 hundred
hours of running over several years you would expect this.
We also updated the oil dipstick to the newer style.
The new dipstick allows for more oil capacity, and the alloy used in the
metal lets the oil stick to it, giving a better reading. One of the
throttle cables was showing some signs of wear and was replaced. All of
the spark plug caps were loose on their wires. This is something that I
have seen a number of times. All you have to do is screw them back onto
the wires. In some cases you might have to nip a little off the ends of
the spark plug wire to get them to bite in again.
Glancing at the starter I could see it was and
older model which has a hard time turning the engine over in cold weather.
Checking with the owner he indicated that the gear box had been updated with a
slipper clutch. Without it the 912 S really thumps and bangs on start up and
shut down.
If buying a used plane you should check for these two updates. He
also had the stator unit updated. Together these three updates cost close to
three thousand dollars! So if you are looking at buying a used plane with a 912S
you should check to see if they have been done.
Checking the radiator expansion tank it
is covered
in a white sandy film. An indication that the engine had been run hot,
and overflowed. The coolant level appeared to be okay. (Rotax
has updated the radiator cap the older caps were approximately 14 lbs.
the new ones are closer to 18, which helps eliminate this problem.)
One thing that I did notice, that came back to bite us
later was that there was only one ground cable running from the battery
to the engine. You should have two one
running from the battery to the engine the other running from the
battery to the airframe. The ground wire had been crimped and
separated from the cable. This left us grounded for several hours one
morning while we searched for the problem, and finally found and fixed
it.
The next problem was water in the gascalator. After
draining it several times, and still finding water we drained and
flushed the tank. There is also a drain in the tank, so the previous
owner must have not known what it was for, or wasn't checking it
regularly.
Moving on to the control systems in the cabin.
Everything is out in the open and easy to inspect. The flaperon handle
is located in the center in the ceiling between the two seats. The dual
sticks and their linkages are all out in the open, as are the rudder
cables and guides.
Proceed along the leading edge of the wing,
quite a bit of paint was peeling off it. In checking with Murphy they
indicated that this generally occurs if the aluminum has not been
properly prepared before priming and painting. They also recommended the
use of Sherman Williams paint called Jet Glow which is used by Boeing.
Walking around the tips we check out the strobe
lights and move on to the trailing edge. The control surfaces are the
only part of the plane that uses fabric. All of the hinges are out in
the open and easy to check.
You then move down the rear section of the fuselage to
the tail section, and continue on to the other side. Once finished with
the plane you then do a preflight on the floats. Checking the air
pressures in the bladders, the stiffener tubes, mounting hardware etc.
Murphy's website indicates that two twenty-two U.S.
gallon fuel tanks are standard on the Rebel. For whatever reason this
one only had one tank in the right wing. To fill the plane you really
need a ladder to reach the tank. To fill it you climb up on the ladder,
and have someone hand you the fuel can. Lay it on the top of the wing,
and then using the "Super Siphon" siphon the fuel into the tank, making
SURE to ground the plane FIRST!
Note: While flying I didn't notice that
having only the one tank effected the plane regardless of how much fuel
was in it. But we did have a problem when we stalled the plane which may
have had something to do with only having fuel in the right hand wing.
To get into the Rebel the pilot unlocks his door with
a key. It opens forward, he then makes sure the seat is all the way back
and climbs in. Once in, he reaches over and unlocks the other door. The other pilot can
now open his door and get in the same way. On
floats you climb up onto the float, then use the step on the float mount
to climb in.
Seated you reach down like you would in a car,
and adjust the seat. You can then close the door by pulling it in,
pulling the locking mechanism forward and releasing it. With the door
locked you can release just the top half of the door and it will flop
down and rest on the outside of the lower door panel. But if it doesn't
clip into the  little retaining fitting, when you apply power the upper
door on the left hand side of the plane will bounce up and down from the
prop blast.
We will be using standard aircraft style headsets
which plug into sockets on the left and right hand side of the
instrument panel. These have a volume control on the ear piece. They are
also connected into the radio and are voice activated.
We have life vests on board. A paddle within reach for
each of us. Our seat belt and shoulder belts done up. We go over the emergency
procedures one more time incase we have to exit the plane in an emergency
situation.
The plane is in the water, beside the dock
with the nose facing
out. To start the engine, TURN THE FUEL ON, bring the
throttle right back to an idle. Apply the choke (the choke WILL NOT
WORK if the throttle is above and idle). Make sure there is nothing in
the area in front of the wing. Yell clear prop. Wait a second in case
someone is in the area! Once everything is clear, use the key to crank
over the engine. The 912S will crank about three or four revolutions and
then spring to life. Now let it idle for about 30 seconds and then
slowly release the choke. While the engine is warming up take a look at
your instrument panel, and check your rpm, water temp, EGT's, oil temp, and oil
pressure.
Because we are on water it is going to be difficult to
bring the engine up to operating temperature. So we will warm it up as
we taxi out to the main lake. As we break free and into the water reach
forward and just in front of the dash you will find the retract cable
for the water rudders. Pull it forward and then
 release it. Now to get
to the lake we will be using, we have to travel through a
very narrow and shallow canal.
The wings tips will in some cases will be
inches away from the trees on the bank. So we will have to stay right
down the center line of the canal, which will be a challenge with the
three S turns.
As we exit the canal, the plane suddenly comes to a screeching
stop!! With the low water table we are lodged up on top of a rocky shoal. If we were on any other type of floats this would be a problem but with
the Full Lotus we just apply power and climb over it!
We are now out into the main lake. It is about three quarters
of a mile wide and 3 miles long with two islands one half way down to the right
and another about three quarters of the way down on the left.
Let's taxi down to
the southern tip and get ready to take off. We have been taxiing for about 7
minutes now, the engine temps are up and were facing into the wind ready for
take off. Bring the engine quickly up to 3000 and do a mag check. Everything is clear in front of us. No boats, canoes, fisherman or
swimmers in the area, and no boats have traveled in the area that we are going
to be taking off in.
Retract your water rudders. Reach up and deploy two notches of
flaperon. Set the electric trim to neutral. Pull the stick back to neutral and then
come back about another inch. Now apply full power, see how the nose of the
plane comes up, gently come forward to neutral. The plane is leveling off. Now
you need to "FEEL" what the old girl is telling you. At about 45 mph she begins
to feel light on her feet and is ready to lift off! Gently back on the stick,
there you are airborne. Now keep it in ground effect and let her pick up a
little speed.
You are at, 65 start a nice gentle climb out! What the hell!!!! The
engine is quitting! Drop the nose a little, DON'T TRY TO START IT! Land straight
ahead! Level her, she how she floats in ground effect, don't come back on the
stick so fast, okay she's back down on the water, use the stick to keep in on
the step as long as possible, it is slowing down, just release pressure see how
it settles in. Now what happened?
The fuel shut off is TURNED OFF not ON! We ran out of fuel.
This is something you will have to be conscious of in the future. The fuel lines
from the tank to the engine apparently hold enough fuel to run the engine for
over seven minutes. If we had not taken as long as we did to get out from the
other lake we would probably have been airborne just approaching the end of the
lake!
Turn the fuel on. Bring the throttle back to an idle - it is
still sitting in the full open position. Apply the choke, check out the area and
crank her over again. Taxi her back to the end of the lake and let's try
this again!
Back on the stick one inch past neutral. Apply full
power, gently forward on the stick, she is on the step. Hold it there, pick up
speed. You're at 45 mph lift her off. Pick up speed in ground effect, you're at 65
start a nice gentle climb out. you're up to 70 drop a notch of flaperon, you're at 80 flaperons to neutral. Keep her climbing at 80, your VSI is reading just over
600
feet per minute.
The instrument panel is easy to view from either seat. Oil
pressure is steady at 65 lbs, oil temp just over 230, water temp around 210 F.
Voltage gauge just under 14 volts.
Climb out by circling the lake. The safest place for us
to land is back on the lake so lets not get to far from it until we have enough
altitude to make another stretch of water. Visibility is good over the nose. The
side view in not bad, and with the top of the doors open you can stick your head
out and look back. But overhead could really use a set of sky lights. It would
also brighten up the cabin.
You are at 1800 feet, make note of a couple of land marks
for navigation. Otherwise you won't know one lake from another when you get 5
miles from here! See the mine smoke stack over on the right, the rail yard on
the left. We are dead center of them, and we are the only lake within that area
with a small island on one side and a large island on the other. There is also
only one road coming in from the main highway to the lake.
This old girl really clips along on only 100 HP. 5,000 rpm
gives an honest 85 mph. Cabin noise is a little noisier than most but the only
time you will notice that is if you remove your headset. Remember setting the
trim to neutral for take off, well once we disengaged the flaperons, the plane
has been flying hands off with no pressure at all on the stick.
Let's set up for a little cross country. Remember fly
with enough altitude to make a safe landing. This means you won't be able to fly
in a straight line, or "as the crow flies" but rather in a zig zag pattern from
lake to lake. Climb out to around 3,000 feet as you're flying. This old girl
really likes that 80 to 85 mph range for just about everything.
See how the stick has a nice positive feel to it and the
ailerons are very effective and require very little input. Aileron pressure is
very comfortable, and gives great feed back. We are at 3,000 feet, set
up for a 180 degree turn to the left. Check out the area first, now feed in a little left
rudder, now co-ordinate with very, very, light aileron input, continue to
look out the front left as you come around. You are loosing altitude, see how
you're airspeed is picking up.
Apply a little back pressure on the stick.
You're just about to the 170 degree mark start feeding in
opposite rudder, apply a little aileron, you're there. Now do one to the
right. Again clear the area. Apply rudder, co-ordinate with stick, a little back
pressure. See how it looks like the wing tip is planted and the plane is
rotating around it. This old girl almost flies herself!
Let's see how stable she is. Trim her for
straight and level flight at 85. Push the stick forward and release it. It made
one small oscillation and then returned to level flight. Pull back and release.
Same thing. You could almost fall asleep in her and she would continue on for
over 4 hours with the 22 U.S. gallons of fuel we have on board.
But you lost nearly 500 feet in that first turn. Climb back up
to 3,000. Let's see how she handles a stall. Level her off. Start coming
back on the power. Use the stick to keep the nose level. 80, 75, 70, 65,
see how you have to dance on the pedals to keep her straight, 60 mph feel the
shudder in the stick- holly crap! She dropped off to the right, forward stick
and left rudder, we dropped about 75 feet. I wasn't expecting that!
Climb up to 3,000 again. Level her, bring the throttle
back, at 80 deploy one notch of flaperon. Use the stick to keep her level 75, 70,
65, 60 keep dancing on the peddles, stick shudder 55 - DAMN she dropped off to
the right again!
Climb out one more time and lets try it with two notches
of flaperon. 75, 70, 65, 60, 55, 50, keep dancing, shudder - 45 - there she goes
again off to the right.
Editors Note: Normally in stall the plane
should drop it's nose, and with forward stick and application of power will
start flying again within 50 to 100 feet. A plane dropping a wing is a cause for
concern because it could lead to a spin.
We've been gone for about 30 minutes let's head back.
What do you mean - which way is BACK! Find your smoke stack, you know it is
south of where we took off from. Now find the railway yard. Set up and fly along
an imaginary line between them until you come across a long skinny lake with two
islands on it. Remember when lost or confused -go from known to unknown.
Ah - I see you found home. you're still at 3,000 were about
5 miles out, bring the power back to idle and see how well this old float plane
glides. Keep her at around 80 mph. Coming in like this with the nose dropped a
little the visibility out the front is like looking through a big picture window.
Now set the little island on a spot on your windshield. Keep
your stick steady, see how the island keeps dropping and then disappears off the
bottom of the windshield, that means we are going to be
high if we keep coming in at this attitude. If it was rising on the windshield it would mean we
are going to be short.
Rather than deploy flaperon let's see
how she handles a gentle side slip. Apply a little right rudder, now feed in
just enough stick to keep the plane flying forward as if it was attached to a
steel cable. She does that really nice. Straighten her out.
From 5 miles out and 3,000 feet we have traveled over 4 miles
with the engine at an idle and still have 1800 feet of altitude! Okay we have
used the downwind leg to check our landing area. Deploy a notch of flaperon and
enter base. you're on base apply a second notch of flaperon. Notice how the first
notch really didn't effect the plane, but the second has raised the attitude of
the nose. Maintain 65 mph with the stick, as you get closer to the water you're
going to enter wind gradient which will mean we have to compensate with the
stick.
100 feet, 80, 60, drop your nose a little, 50, 45, 40, 30, 25,
start to level her, 15 level her, 10 use the stick to hold her off, you can
hardly feel her touch. You're on the
step play with the stick to keep it there as long as you can! Beautiful
landing couldn't have done better myself, you two were meant for each other.
What do you mean you want to do some more? You have, run your
plane aground, had an engine out, got lost, stalled a plane three or four times.
Okay one more circuit. You know the routine.
While we are climbing out there is a couple of things you
should know. First when flying on floats have more power than you ever think
you're going to need. For this plane the way it is constructed 100 HP with the two
of us on board and one fuel tank you have a good combination. More fuel, amphib
floats, and you will be using a half ton truck to do the work of a one ton.
When flying on floats have 30 to 40% more floatation that what your
plane will gross out at. Believe it or not your plane with the two of us on
board, floats, float mounting hardware, radios, paddles, etc comes in pretty
close to 1400 lbs.
We are flying on 1650 floats, which are sitting low in the
water. That is why in rough conditions the floats dug into the waves and started
to submerge, rather than ride up on them. It is also why they went under water,
when we backed the power down too quickly.
With the aluminum float system from Murphy Aircraft built for
this power and weight you will be off the water in about 8 seconds at gross, in
about 300 feet. But what you give up in performance you get back in durability,
with the Full Lotus system.
We're at 3,000 feet. Now what I want to do is set her up on
high downwind. The lake is nearly 3 miles long so we will just sit about 800
feet off the shore line for our circuit. We will turn base deploy out flaperons,
coming in across the bottom of the lake and then turn in on final. You ready?
Then level her off and bring the power back to idle. Now reach over and turn the
ignition off.
See how quiet it is? Now turn the switch back so that when we go
so start it you just have to hit it. Now concentrate on your landing. See how
nothing has changed. She still flies like an angel. I can't believe how well she
glides, considering you have the floats and all the mounting hardware hanging
out in the wind.
You're coming through the 2,000 foot layer, feel the turbulence.
1500 feet time to turn base and deploy flaperons, 1000 feet turn final. Okay fire her up. What do you mean she won't turn over!
Then forget about the engine and concentrate on the landing. You already know you don't need an engine to land!
Steady now just keep the nose pointed down in that nice glide angle, like the
plane is on a cable. If you glance over at the air speed you will see it is a
constant 65 mph.
50 feet, 40 feet, 30 feet, 25 start to level, 15 level, EASY -
too FAR back on the stick. GOD we popped back up to 15 feet, we are going to hit
a TON! What? We should have thumped into the water after stalling in from 15
feet. But the floats took the hit instead of us.
Either get your paddle out and
get out on the floats, or call on the radio for someone to pull us in.
Did I mention that the plane should have two grounds running
to the engine. So if one fails the other will still allow you to use the
electric start.
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