wby0nder
Cleared for Takeoff
Monerai P N1390V took to the air again today for the first time since 2003.
I've had it in storage for several years waiting for the free time to get her
airworthy again. It's been my intent all along to find a good home for this
fine bird but I wanted to fly it and check everything out first.
If you are wondering what a Monerai is, look here: www.monerai.com Basically, it's a little single seat motor glider.
The original builder had only flown about 3 of the required 10 hours of test
time before he quit flying. So after getting the test area changed in the
operating limitations, completing an annual inspection, and updating the weight and balance I took her up for a brief familiarization flight at sunset today.
I've been an airplane pilot for only a few years but have been flying gliders
since 1986. The Monerai is the 30th type of glider/motorglider that I've flown. So my comments come from that context.
The cockpit is a pretty tight fit and I'm only 5'8"/150lbs. I always wear a
parachute so that boosts me up to 170. I need to adjust the rudder pedals yet which might help but I'd doubt that anyone much larger could fit. Trading the parachute for an inch of temperfoam would make a huge difference and allow a larger person to fit. The side stick works fine but if you've got fat legs forget it. I'd wager that a slightly different stick design would help a lot.
With a gallon of fuel (half tank) my 170 lbs just about maxes-out the gross
weight at 500lbs. This machine has two 6 lb batteries in the front for engine starting and it might work just fine with only 1 thereby allowing a slightly heavier pilot. As a pure glider the useful load would increase whatever the engine weighs which I don't know at the moment. (oh, a weight and balance pun, get it?)
The steerable tail wheel and wingtip wheel "stalks" make it so you can taxi
around but it's a lot tougher than my tail dragging Fly Baby. In a strong cross wind it really wants to weather-vane and twice I had to get out and manually point it the way I needed to go. But I was able to taxi about 100 yards between 2 rows of hangers, across a big apron, and down a pretty long taxi way lined with lights. By keeping 1 wing down and staying just off center line I could clear the lights just fine and trundle to the runway.
At full power the Koenig was doing about 3500rpm and with 10 knots on the nose was in the air pretty quick. After the challenge of taxiing it was a delight to fly. As a glider it handles quite nicely. The control forces are light and decently balanced. Not sure what my climb rate was as the vario didn't seem to be working right. I think there must be a leak somewhere to track down and fix. Anyway, at between 55 and 60 it seemed to be going up about 3-400fpm judging by the time to cross wind/downwind turn. I stayed near the airport and played with the throttle, airspeed, and flaps a bit while doing some turns and waiting fortraffic to clear. One thing for sure, it's loud! I could only barely hear other traffic on the radio and I have a decent Lightspeed 30.3G ANR headset.
I landed power-on but brought it to idle once over the threshold. I was able to make the first turn-off but shortly weather-vaned toward the taxiway edge and had to get out and re-direct after clearing the runway. By this time the sun was setting and there were 3 airplanes back taxiing toward me so I was anxious to get out of their way. From there on it was a piece of cake and I was able to taxi the half mile back to the apron, around the corner between the rows of hangers, and right to my spot like I knew what I was doing.
I'm looking forward to taking it out on the next good soaring day and staying up for hours. As soon as I complete the required test hours it goes up for sale, assuming I don't fall in love with it by then.
I've had it in storage for several years waiting for the free time to get her
airworthy again. It's been my intent all along to find a good home for this
fine bird but I wanted to fly it and check everything out first.
If you are wondering what a Monerai is, look here: www.monerai.com Basically, it's a little single seat motor glider.
The original builder had only flown about 3 of the required 10 hours of test
time before he quit flying. So after getting the test area changed in the
operating limitations, completing an annual inspection, and updating the weight and balance I took her up for a brief familiarization flight at sunset today.
I've been an airplane pilot for only a few years but have been flying gliders
since 1986. The Monerai is the 30th type of glider/motorglider that I've flown. So my comments come from that context.
The cockpit is a pretty tight fit and I'm only 5'8"/150lbs. I always wear a
parachute so that boosts me up to 170. I need to adjust the rudder pedals yet which might help but I'd doubt that anyone much larger could fit. Trading the parachute for an inch of temperfoam would make a huge difference and allow a larger person to fit. The side stick works fine but if you've got fat legs forget it. I'd wager that a slightly different stick design would help a lot.
With a gallon of fuel (half tank) my 170 lbs just about maxes-out the gross
weight at 500lbs. This machine has two 6 lb batteries in the front for engine starting and it might work just fine with only 1 thereby allowing a slightly heavier pilot. As a pure glider the useful load would increase whatever the engine weighs which I don't know at the moment. (oh, a weight and balance pun, get it?)
The steerable tail wheel and wingtip wheel "stalks" make it so you can taxi
around but it's a lot tougher than my tail dragging Fly Baby. In a strong cross wind it really wants to weather-vane and twice I had to get out and manually point it the way I needed to go. But I was able to taxi about 100 yards between 2 rows of hangers, across a big apron, and down a pretty long taxi way lined with lights. By keeping 1 wing down and staying just off center line I could clear the lights just fine and trundle to the runway.
At full power the Koenig was doing about 3500rpm and with 10 knots on the nose was in the air pretty quick. After the challenge of taxiing it was a delight to fly. As a glider it handles quite nicely. The control forces are light and decently balanced. Not sure what my climb rate was as the vario didn't seem to be working right. I think there must be a leak somewhere to track down and fix. Anyway, at between 55 and 60 it seemed to be going up about 3-400fpm judging by the time to cross wind/downwind turn. I stayed near the airport and played with the throttle, airspeed, and flaps a bit while doing some turns and waiting fortraffic to clear. One thing for sure, it's loud! I could only barely hear other traffic on the radio and I have a decent Lightspeed 30.3G ANR headset.
I landed power-on but brought it to idle once over the threshold. I was able to make the first turn-off but shortly weather-vaned toward the taxiway edge and had to get out and re-direct after clearing the runway. By this time the sun was setting and there were 3 airplanes back taxiing toward me so I was anxious to get out of their way. From there on it was a piece of cake and I was able to taxi the half mile back to the apron, around the corner between the rows of hangers, and right to my spot like I knew what I was doing.
I'm looking forward to taking it out on the next good soaring day and staying up for hours. As soon as I complete the required test hours it goes up for sale, assuming I don't fall in love with it by then.
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