"The Speck of Incredible Speed" (July 2000)
I recently test-flew the Lancair Columbia 300 at Oshkosh.
First: My favorite part of aviation: The QUIET part. This might be the part
where you wander silently through a gigantic old hangar, examining whatever
aerial oddities might reside there. You could find Learjets, run-of-the-mill
Cessna 172's, or perhaps even a TBM Avenger from World-War-II! Maybe a old Beechcraft
QUEEN-AIR, looking like a big huge fat Baron with gigantic reciprocating engines,
and an interior that remands you of how hugely different the 50's were from
the present day! Maybe you will find a sleek new Baron, or the rare Piper Malibu.
You never know what you will find when you snoop around in the gigantic old
hangars left over from the 70's, or the flight-lines out on the airport tarmacs...
but the silent, solitary examination is arguably one of the most seductive and
pleasant pursuits of aviation.. since almost every general aviation airplane
in the country is at least 25 years old now, the examination of these planes
is a time-warp as much as anything else. Also, you can examine the planes at
your leisure with NO STRESS AT ALL, which is a bit different than when you are
actually flying them!
On this hot, sunny day at an airport near Oshkosh, I was to report to the Lancair
factory representative to test-fly the brand-new, all-composite, rivetless,
fast, sleek, bulletproof, safe, far-flying, efficient Lancair Columbia 300...
but I must as always show up at least 45 minutes early to indulge in my silent
ritual of the "examination of the airplanes" mentioned above. I had
never actually SEEN a REAL Lancair Columbia before... only countless pictures.
The corner of the ramp reserved for Lancair was EMPTY! The customer previewing
the plane before me was still in the air... they will be back soon, I was informed.
Fair enough. That leaves my planned time to snoop. I wandered slowly out amongst
the myriad General Aviation planes on the line... Mooneys, Cessnas, Piper, and
Beech's were all there parked in the grass, their thin, dull, wrinkled-and-riveted
aluminum a testament to the 25 years of accident free faithful plodding each
one of them had already delivered, both a testament to the manufacturing methods
of 40's, and the fact that even if something is old, it still works! The time
warp as soothing as always, and soon I had wandered clear out to the end of
the runway, far away from anyone else. Having wandered about a half-mile through
the grass along the runway edge, I could barely hear the occasional engine or
propeller from back at the ramp area. All was silent out amongst the parked
airplanes by the end of the runway: A very quiet place indeed. Occasionally,
a dull gray spec would appear in the sky and gradually grow larger as it slowly
circled the field, easing into the traffic pattern which I could conveniently
survey from my solitary nest of airplanes-in-the-grass. It would eventually
resolve into some some Cessna or Piper angling for the runway, and come coasting
smoothly and quietly in, the engine growling softly at reduced power, and the
propeller "whop-whop-whopping" as it basically coasted through the
air. When you are only 50 feet away from a landing light airplane, you can really
HEAR the air. You hear it over the prop, and even a WHISTLING as the air moves
over the wings and fuselage. A few moments later is the brief "SQUEAK!"
of rubber on pavement as the plane touches down. Watching landings from right
beside the runway is fun for the same reason watching the TV show COPS is fun:
No matter what happens, it is SOMEONE ELSE that crews up! Har! Also, it is nice
to get that unique perspective on the landing where you can see and hear and
almost feel everything the craft is doing for your safe little perch. Adding
this line to the paragraph 2 years later: May the pointless, useless, misplaced,
idiotic, misguided paranoia associated with Sept. 11 never stop people from
enjoying airplane-watching.
Well, after a watching a few dull gray specks moving slowly into the traffic
pattern, I noticed something very odd: There was this bright SHINY SPECK! A
SPECK OF INCREDIBLE SPEED! This speck was reflecting all the sunlight back to
me for some reason, really GLINTING in the sun! But every general aviation airplane
in this Country was painted in 1975, so the paint is always dull and non-reflective...
how could this spec glint so brightly? And it's speed was easily twice that
of the others... he was SCREAMING into the pattern! You could tell that from
watching the spec 3 miles away! What could I be seeing? Could this be it? Could
this be my first-ever glimpse of a REAL Lancair Columbia? The craft arced onto
final approach, it's speed bleeding off until soon it was established on final
at the same speed as any Cessna or Piper! The continuous curves in every direction
and generous cuffed wing with the nose-so-trim-how-is-there-room-for-an-engine
soon made the craft unmistakable: It could only be a Lancair Columbia 300. THe
plane was as slow and quiet as any other as it glided past me with the familiar
"whif-whif-whif" of the prop and touched down with a CHIRP and rolled
away from me towards the ramp. My turn to fly now! I RAN through the grass past
all the planes back to the ramp full of annoying people and commotion and noise
to find the Lancair now stopped with the gullwing doors (DeLorean style) open
and the factory test pilot and prospective customer climbing out. Sam Houston,
the factory test pilot, being a big jovial fellow with a big white mustache
curled up at the ends: The RED BARON STILL LIVES!
Another guy was standing around the airplane fidgeting and shuffling his feet,
obviously wanting to talk to someone about something, and asked me if I was
next to fly. He wanted to ride in the plane before placing his order, but had
not booked a time slot to fly the plane. No problem! Hop in the back while I
fly! He won't get to FLY the plane but he can still ride int he back to see
what it is like. After introductions all around, we hopped up into the plane
and belted in. The instrument panel was very, very scarce and simple: the basic
flight instruments, a handful of gleaming new radios, and a nice big moving
map that does as much on one clean computer display than an entire cockpit-full
of gauges on a Boeing 747 from the 80's. Perfect.
The cockpit gives you that "comfortably in command" feeling they
talk about in those Buick ads. You sit pretty high, not buried "in the
machine" like I am in my Corvette. Instead, with the Columbia you get
a the feeling of sitting up straight and high, with the airplane (and indeed
the whole world) below you . . . sort of like sitting way up in a T28, or driving
an SUV or minivan. You are on
I top of everything with visibility beyond excellent, and all the cockpit looking
up at you for you to survey with a downwards glance. Ditto the taxiways, runways,
other parked planes, dude with the lit-up-wands guiding you to park, etc. Pulling
up to the ramp, you are DEFINITELY "comfortably in command," looking
down at everyone and everything around the plane, with no qualms concerning
visibility or situational awareness of stuff/people around the plane.The engine
hopped right to life as I hit the starter and away we went, Sam letting me taxi
to get the feel of the free-castoring nose-wheel with differential braking as
we taxied down to where I had been watching 30 minutes before. I had assumed
my "Mister Data" from Star Trek mentality the moment I met Sam before
boarding, saying things like: "I confirm that I have control of the aircraft."
and "I shall now engage the starter, please confirm the prop areas is clear."
and "I shall now go to 2000 rpm and look for RPM drop as I check the magnetos."
and "I confirm a 25 RPM drop on the left magnetos". Things like that.
That is the way I talk in those situations, and it works very well: Nobody gets
surprised, and nobody assumes anything. Everyone knows exactly what is going
on... it only takes a few extra sentences but avoids all confusion and screw-ups
that normal people will fall into, which often winds up with 2 pilots both telling
the FAA after the fact "But I though =>HE<= was was supposed to lower
the landing gear!"
After the run-up, I told Sam in my "Mister Data from Star Trek" tone:
"OK, YOU have control of the airplane for takeoff". But Sam demurred!
"You do the whole flight" he said. WOW! They only have ONE prototype
at this point, and they are letting a customer fly it from start to finish!
Pretty trusting! So on with the power, onto the runway, full power, and away
we went! On this HOT day, with 1/2 tanks of fuel, myself (skinny), and two rather
heavyset guys on board, the takeoff acceleration was still brisk indeed, and
the climb sprightly. We were at 7,000 before I was even clear on I where all
the engine instruments were. We blew past a Cessna like he was flying backwards.
Passing other planes in flight often involves a slow, creeping, gradual pull-ahead,
but not here.
In cruise flight (about 220 mph, 8000 feet) I tried to stall it hard, but could
not. The plane is so heavy and solid, and the sidestick so tiny with so little
leverage (you are, in fact, maneuvering a 3200 lb airplane with a joystick no
bigger than you little CH-Products flight-stick) that you simply run out of
physical strength to pull the airplane back harder than 3 or 4 G's. Seeing as
how the plane has gone to 11 G's in testing, the old fear of breaking the airplane
in flight pretty mush disappears... unless you are Arnold Schwarzeneger you
physically will not have the STRENGTH to break the plane! Yanking the little
sidestick back to the aft stop (low speed) or the limit of my strength (hi speed)
mercilessly in all flap/power/speed combinations, I could not make the plane
misbehave for the life of me. That solid machine bucked and bronc'd and shook
and vibrated like a mechanical bull with a crazed gorilla going medieval on
the horizontal stabilizer, but it would not drop a wing or fall through or anything
else. It just bucked and shook, with the ailerons still adequately effective,
until I finally eased off the stick and hopped on the power. It handled almost
just like the Berkut canard plane (a Long-EZ on steroids) in that respect: The
FOREplane on a canard plane WILL STALL, but the ailerons and the main wing still
work, so you still keep most of your lift and control authority. Ditto the Columbia:
The main wing is stalled, but only over the inner half of the wing!!! The outer
half with the ailerons (and huge leading-edge cuffs) is still flying! So you
keep all your control effectiveness while the stiff little plane firmly kicks
and thrashes, making you WELL aware that you are out of bounds.
The 190 kt (220 mph) cruise is reached quickly, and the plane comes down fast
enough without power if you are willing to build up a good bit of speed (mid-yellow
arc) in the descent (I AM!), or if you bring down flaps and want to come down
with low IAS but MEGA-VERTICAL SPEED, ... full flaps +nose down a LOT = 105
KIAS and over 2,000 fpm descent. Bottom line: Aim the nose down in that heavy
sleek machine without flaps and you come down like a bowling ball. Aim it down
with full flaps and you float down like you are hanging from a parachute. There
is only one way to get the plane down in a nice, regular descent though: PLANNING.
WELL in advance of your destination, ease that power back and let it slip on
down. If you wait until the last minute, there will be no way to get down with
any style or grace at all: all that weight and inertia packs a lot of energy
and there is very little drag to dissipate it, so you must PLAN THOSE DESCENTS
from a ways out if you want to make the whole flight smooth.(Note: a nice steep
hard turn can bleed off extra energy in a pinch).
The big guy in the back wanted to see how the plane "handles turbulence,"
so we dropped down to 2,000 AGL a ways out from the airport. We were ripping
along at near-full power (240 mph) at 2,000 feet on a HOT summer day through
those thermals and the plane hardly stuttered. It was a nice solid little HOP
as we hit each rising column, purely a comfortable vertical bump with no side
effects or control issues. No yawing or slopping around like a V-Tail, no loose
equipment banging around like an airliner. Just a solid BUMP as the plane tracked
perfectly. As always, I wanted to go lower just because I love hi-speed lo-level
in turbulence - it makes me feel like Luke Skywalker buzzing the Death Star
in Star Wars. But, alas, safety concerns always keep me from indulging myself
in this little flight of fancy, so we kept it to 2,000 AGL and settled for the
somewhat-smooth ride we got there despite the thermals.
Pattern entry is no problem. Blow into the pattern entry at 200 KIAS (WHEEE!!!!),
and a nice steep turn into downwind (NO, I'M NOT GONNA STALL IT AT 200 knots!)
bleeds you down to Vfe and with the flaps out the plane is just as draggy as
a Piper Archer and is handled just as easily, though the speeds are a LITTLE
bit higher all around. Landing is a snap. In ground effect the weight, lift,
drag, etc., all add up to a nice flare without power, a comfortable float (you
don't float all day, and don't drop in either) ... the hang time in the flare
is "just right" while the plane eases comfortably on along to touch
down in a comfortable attitude. It was my first landing in the plane and it
was almost a squeaker. The first of many to come, obviously.
We taxied in and I INSISTED that Sam take the controls as we approached the
handful or people and planes parked around on the ramp... the free-castoring
nose-wheel is fun to master with all the swinging tight turns and fluid taxiing
that it allows, but I do not want to try to fine-tune it when surrounded by
other airplanes and people, thank you. We shut down and got out, with the customary
whine of the gyro spinning down and sweat on your clothes wherever the seat
was. De-Riguer for summer flying to be sure!
Just SEEING that shiny sleek thing next to the dingy, faded, wrinkled old aluminum planes (singles or twins) is an eye-opener, to say the least. The composites allow the plane to be curved on all axis at once, unlike metal which cannot be bent that way. The Columbia sits higher than the Cessnas and Pipers to ground-clear its generous prop, and the smooth shiny egg-shape towering over the tired old aluminum cylinders of the other planes makes it look like a spaceship that just flew in from Planet-X ... and the performance bears that out! I put down my deposit, and am now selling X-Plane as fast as I can to pay the bill for the rest of the plane when it comes!