Roger Anderson Flies!

Roger Anderson's UC Flies!

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Roger flew for his UltraCruiser for the first time October 3, 2002. Here are the details he gives us:

My UC flew for the first time today. We completed the W&B this morning and we are now at the aft limit with empty an empty fuel tank. My W&B numbers after wing relocation are 131 lbs left, 134 lbs right and 10 lbs tail.
We took some time to do taxi tests and I inadvertently made the first flight of approx. 50 feet in a fast taxi. I would heed Morry's suggestion about not doing fast taxi because the UC flies suddenly without warning at very low speed. Since I was now a little shook up by my experience, my good friend and experienced pilot, Ron Weiss, took the UC on its first real planned flight. He flew the little bird for approx. 15 to 20 minutes. This plane flies very well. It had no bad tendencies what so ever. It flew straight, true and very fast right out of the box. We did not have to make any adjustments at all. I followed Morry's set up directions for the stab incidence and the plane was perfect. There are two things that a new UC pilot should be aware of and they are: the UC slows down very quickly when you reduce power, we would recommend coming in on final at about 2000 rpm cutting the throttle to idle after roundout in ground effect, and we have a very severe ground control problem at high ground speed that can only be controlled using the brakes. I have the O'Brien hydraulic brakes that work very well and that turned out to be essential at high ground speed on asphalt. My UC is very light on the controls but not overly sensitive. The only issue that we need to address at this time is the ground handling. I am going to look at Jack Roberts spring loaded tail wheel design, this may help.
Thanks to Morry Hummel for this wonderfully designed ultralight. I know there have been struggles and controversy along the way but the wait and effort have been worth it. This is truly a great little aircraft.

Roger Anderson

Flying Report

(From a February 3, 2003 Yahoo group post)

Hi guys,

Ron Weiss and I both flew my UltraCruiser again on Saturday. It was Ron's birthday so he had to have a birthday flight. He flew the UC for about one hour when we had a nice window in the weather late in the afternoon. His flight included a short trip between Fresno and Madera, pattern work, a fly bye and a touch and go landing. After Ron landed, I took a shorter flight of approx. 30 minutes, just doing pattern work.

We now have a little more than three hours of actual flying time on this machine and eight take offs and landings.

My UC now handles very well in the air and on the ground. We see no reason at this point to make any further changes such as increasing the control travel or size of the rudder. My UC controls and flies exceptionally well just as it is. We are also positive at this point that we have solved the ground handling issue because my UC is very tame now and controls well at all ground speeds.

I don't know how much more we can add by giving any future flying reports unless something changes or we find some other issue. I can tell you that, at long last we are having a blast flying this great little aircraft.

Unfortunately, Ron's birthday was also marked by the loss of the shuttle. Such an incident goes beyond words to describe the loss felt by all of us that take to the sky. I was reluctant to send out this flying report because of this accident, but I believe those who once flew would want us to continue with exploring the joy of flying.

Best wishes to all.

Roger Anderson

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