Deuce Flight Trial 6

excellent takeoff run saw the Deuce cover just over a kilometer (~1/2 the runway) at full throttle to achieve minimum takeoff speed, took a few big hops. Still a few minor items to test but the big item of the day looks like a PASS

taxiing back to the HAB, C7 will once again study data before clearing flight trials later today, assuming weather conditions improve enough to allow for flying

rain held off and skies have cleared with a ceiling of around 4km, C7 found earlier ground trials satisfactory and have cleared Jeb & Val to perform flight trials! They are heading out now to preflight

preflight complete, Deuce has clearance from Flight to taxi out to runway 27. It is a bit breezy out of the SSW but within limits, not enough to bother taxiing all the way out to Rwy19. Jeb once again in command to use his past experience to gauge Deuce handling changes

in position and holding, takeoff clearance has been granted, the crew are running through the final takeoff checklist - Flaps: Set, Brakes: Check, Trim: Set, Strobes: On, Control Movement: Free, Tail Wheel: Locked...

textbook departure from KSC as the Deuce climbed out at 75m/s with a slight sideslip as the wind gusted. Gear raised, wings cleaned up by 800m - now passing through 1.2km for 2.5km ASL approaching 10km to the west of KSC

Jeb has vectored hdg225 to stay clear of the mountains, still working his way up to 2.5km to establish a level cruise. He says it handles like a Civvie, a bit unbalanced along the longitudinal axis but no longer wants to just roll over to the left

coming back around north with a smooth 25° banked turn, now at 2.5km cruising around 135m/s at full throttle Jeb almost flew too close to the mountains on the turn he forgot more room was needed for how fast he was moving (Civvie generally operates at 90-100m/s)

Commander Val shares her view from the cockpit looking towards KSC, 36km off into the distance, from 1.7km AGL as they cruise northeast. Jeb has his hands on the controls but giving no input, aircraft is happily flying itself straight and level

Flight is pleased with cruise performance and given Jeb permission to begin a series of steep turns, starting at 30° and working up to 45°. Such turns dump lift & can drop aircraft into a spiral if tail slides out or nose falls too quickly

both Jeb & Val took turns performing steep turns and had no sideslip issues or any trouble keeping the nose up to maintain 2.5km +/- 150m. Deuce is heading back for KSC to perform some stalls over the water, recovery ship is standing by

cutting throttle and nosing up, Jeb will hold the yoke full back and continue to do so as the aircraft gradually sinks unless it fails to recover itself, in which case he will pitch down and apply throttle

outstanding! Aircraft nosed itself down to recover speed & after a few bobs settled into a glide at ~63m/s with a vertical speed no greater than 6m/s at idle thrust. Jeb says at no point did it want to roll over. He's now setting up for a landing pattern

15km east on final for Rwy27 Jeb dropped gear w/o issue and will make a pass over the runway to assess approach speed with room to recover. Based on stall testing just performed, he should aim to maintain ~50m/s with full flaps

climbing out and coming around for a touch and go on this next pass, Jeb says even with full flaps approaching 60m/s has the aircraft running out of pitch authority and nosing down, aiming now for a 65-70m/s approach

touch and go was successful, Jeb says it definitely gets slippery below 80m/s and likes to tail wag but this was expected based on engineer's preflight briefings. Everyone happy to see the aircraft mostly performing as anticipated. Deuce is coming around now for landing

we have touchdown and full stop! Jeb made a tight pattern, dropping gear on base leg & rolling out of a short 5km final, bringing the aircraft down gently at 57m/s. Everyone in Flight Control has big stupid grins on their faces - a great return to flight for the Deuce!!

the lack of a rocket launch has made this past week no less exciting, that's for sure. Catch up on all that happened along with additional information via bit.ly/OpsSummary1-15…