Challenger!!

[flybynite]

I have a new student in the school who owns a completely rebuilt Challenger Two 503 long wing Reg ZU-AYF. Did my instuctor conversion on this lekker little aircraft this weekend. I am impressed - being a pusher it is different but ever so gentle. Now I know why some guys dont sell these old beauties!!


Any tips from other owners?


Regards

Larry
Rainbow Airschool Ladysmith

[Dish]

Beautiful Aircraft - just pay ettention to the belts and tensions ......

[flybynite]

Brand new belt and wings from Quad City! Will keep an eye on the tension. This a/c has a beeg flat wing!

[Dish]

I know - I had a clip wing and flew the long wing version a few times.... have to FORCE it onto the ground in an engine out !!! will glide forever if you dont. - Yeah i had belt problems on mine but it turns out the genius previous owners tried to short cut and have the reduction drives machined here. Kept shearing belts, which isnt ideal, til i imported a whole new system from quad city... didnt have a problem after that.../

[Morph]

Due to the high pusher thrustline, make sure that your student anticipates the rose drop on powerup, especially during a go-around, otherwise, the front wheel hits. The nose wheel assembly is also the achilles heel of an otherwise perfect aircraft, It is built on bicycle parts and is designed to break rather than bend longerons. Don't be tempted to over engineer it if you do damage it.

My only negative I ever had was there is no luggage space, if you fly two up.

[flybynite]

Hi Morph,

The nose drop keeps you awake but becomes natural after a few ccts. It is also akward when you reduce power settings in the cruise - less power means a lot less back pressure on the stick. At full power in the climb a lot of back pressure is required! On take off a lot of right rudder has to be applied. But like I said it is ever so gentle in the cruise and a easy aerie to land. Compared to some of the other ultralights from that era this one is a beaut!

Still have to experiment with flap settings. Any tips guys please? Flap lever is a little crank handle above the seats.
This model has a ally feeder tank under the back seat and a plastic tank behind the seat. I estimate fuel consumption to be 17-18 lts/h. Does this sound right?

Regards

Larry

[Morph]

The flaps, are not traditional flaps, but rather flaperons, used to trim the aircraft for flight

There is a marked difference in the stick weight and this can be trimmed out using the flaperons especially on-up vs two up.

they can go into reflex, i.e. upwards above the wing and well as downwards as a flap would do.

I used to set the flaperons neutral for takeoff. Slightly reflex will reduce the back pressure if too heavy.

after takeoff, set up the cruise speed, (you will need to push on the stick to get to cruise because reduction of throttle lifts the nose) then trim the forward pressure off until flying straight and level.

for landing I would set myself up on downwind reduce rpm, the nose would climb and you would need to push forward to maintain straight and level. This would worry me, especially on final I found I had to push forward on the stick to maintain approach speed. I don't like that sensation, so I introduce a bit a back pressure using the flaperon, so that on final, I am controlling the approach speed by pulling back a little, and if she slows a simple release of pressure would drop the nose to bring the speed back up. Otherwise you get the feeling she is trying to land nose high, with the tendency to stall.

She cannot be flown from the rear seat solo, and the front pax needs to be a minimum of 50kg

[flybynite]

Thanks Greg

This helps a lot! The a/c manual is not very thick and says very little. There is a placard in the front stating min front pax 53 kgs and max 113 kgs? Sounds accurate?

I will experiment with the flaperons and speeds/back pressure. I find the take off speed to be 45 mph one up and 55 mph two up. Maybe a bit of flap can reduce this?

Approach speed I keep above 60 mph. Is this correct Greg or too fast? According to the manual it stalls at 25 mph solo and 28 mph two up. I really cant see this happening with even full flap.

Thanks so much for your help. This forum rocks!!!!


Larry

[Morph]

I had the short wing, It stalled dual at about 43mph, and solo at about 38. Those figures are impossible to attain except on a very light plane.

My approach speed was 60mph, dual and 55 solo Most of the long wing guys would probably look at 55mph approach dual, but stall it first and use that times 1.3 as the minimum.

Cruise wise I would easily cruise at 75mph, 5300rpm. The long wing is in the region of 65mph cruise. They are great soaring aircraft, the long wing has a glide ratio of 10:1. One of my mates here in CT used to often switch off and soar along the mountain ridges.

Fuel wise, standard tank is 10 US GAL, 38 liters, often the guys put additional fuel under the pax seat.

You can also put doors on them for cool weather flying, but then your feet must become very active, due to adverse yaw.

[flybynite]

Thanks Morph it sounds as if my aproach and landing speeds were spot on!

Will experiment this coming week with different pax and fuel weight configurations but I am getting the hang of it now.

The a/c has a very neat lightweight set of doors and I will try flying with them this weekend to see what the a/c does.

She glides and floats well due to this huge wing. The nosewheel is very frail and I keep the stick back once the main wheels touches down untill I switch the engine off. Taxing is also done with the stick in the stomach!

Will become a bit more familiar with this a/c for another 4 or 5 flights before I instruct on it. I will let you know of the progress.

Once again thank you very much for your help.

Larry