1st, 2nd, & 3d Flights Today

Today was the day, not the best of days hot and blustry but clear. Rolled down the runway and lifted off for the 1st time, have to admit I was a bit nervous and pretty shakey but into the air we went turblance and all, managed to get it straightened around and rounded the pattern for the 1st landing, kept the speed up as was suggested by the facory pilot and came in about 80, rolled out and caught my breath and talked over the 1st flight with my A&P, Rolled out for the second flight and managed to improve my takeoff some, went around the patch again and came in just a little slower and rolled out to the terminal for lunch with the guys. After Lunch I decided to make the day a tri-fecta and went out for the third flight, take off went ok and things seemed to smooth out some but when I went to call for clearance to land i had no comm!!!! Turned on all my lights and circled outside the area for a short period to get the towers atention and then after clearing the area made a landing on 22, Rolled out to the hangar and called the tower to explain my delima and landing withour clerance, tower advised all was ok and thanked me for calling and advising my situation, fortunatly very little traffic today and none in the area at the time. Next time I will carry by hand held along as a backup. Put the airplane in the hangar and found the comm problem, the hole to the antennae was not large enough to let the connector lock into place, removed the antennae and made the hole larger, put new RTV around the antennae to prevent water leakage and tightned all back in place, comm check was lound and clear so we are ready for the next flight!

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Comment by Chris Aysen on August 23, 2010 at 12:21pm
Congratulations Phillip!
Comment by Jerry Latimer on August 21, 2010 at 6:06pm
Congratulations. You've joined a select group of people. That is people that have built and flown their own aircraft.

Jerry
N316JL
Comment by Ben Haas on August 21, 2010 at 5:35pm
Way to go Phil !!!!!!!!!

It's been a long time coming but the first flight in the plane you built is a feeling that CANNOT be duplicated....

Congrats and fly safe ol buddy..

Ben.
N801BH
Comment by Bob McDonald on August 21, 2010 at 6:43am
Congrats on the first flight. Very big accomplishment. On my 1st flight the radio mic sensitivity was too high so I had the engine / background noise activating my intercom side tone the whole circut. On my 2nd flight just as I was touching down a inbound Gulfstream jet lost an engine, declared an emergency straight in final and tower requested I abort & clear the active runway. The CH750 is good at aborting...full throttle..hard left rudder & aileron..pull back hard on the stick and I was on an extended downwind for the cleared runway in a heart beat. :>)
Comment by Debra and Patrick Nesbitt on August 20, 2010 at 8:19pm
Has simliar situation when I first started flying my 701, lost comm with the tower, realized it was the headset jack, switch to passenger side plugs all was okay. Congrats on safe first flights.
Comment by Tim Garrett on August 20, 2010 at 4:28pm
Congrats!!! My radio went out on my first flight, too. Loose headset jack. Glad the tower worked with you. The FAA is there to help you!
Comment by Jonathan Porter on August 20, 2010 at 3:57pm
Well done... sounds like a normal first set of flights.... if there is not a little something - it means you missed it!!!

Wishing you many happy and safe flights!!!

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