Pietenpol-List: Piet on floats flies off H20

[matronics]

Original Posted By: "Jack Phillips"
Further to my experiment of putting the Pietenpol on Full Lotus floats. Todayit actually Flew from Lake 'Lac Du Bonnet'.Added a set of Full Lotus 1260's, after install weight was 816#. The A65 had aSensenich Wood Prop about 72x43 or 44. (worked fine on wheels, but didn't cutit on floats)I set the step of the floats at 25 1/2 aft of the MAC. This is about 5 1/2 - 6"behind the normal loaded cg of 19 - 20.5" of MAC. And I set the incidence angleof the floats to 3 1/2 deg. down from level fuselage longeron. Tried it last weekend but it wouldn't get up on the step. Even with some 8 kt.wind. The wood prop wood only give me 2025 rpm. So yesterday I put a warpdrive 2 blade 72" prop and dialed it in to 2350 rpm static. Almost got it up buthad to use full forward stick to get it on the step and the heels were dragging,slowing me down as I tried to rotate. Best was one float out of the water.Then today I changed float incidence angle to 7deg. down by shortening therear lift struts and tried her again. This time no problem getting up on the step. Required only neutral stick toget on the step and keep it there. In an 8kt. wind with alt. setting of 30.12,850 asl, and 30C (real hot for us northerners) it flew itself off the water.Climb was similar to the wood prop on wheels with a passenger (slow) and top speedwas reduced from 76mph on wheels at 2200 rpm (wood prop) to 72 mph at 2300rpm. Top rpm with the warp drive in level was 2450 rpm. After all the unsuccessful runs over the last two weeks preceding the flight.(I think the locals were taking bets) The locals on the lake cheered after Ireturned to the dock. I bet if one of you Piet owners with more powerful Continentals, Corvair, andSubaru engines would have an easier time getting off the water.Pictures in flight soon. And if any of you find yourself in Manitoba Canada I'llgladly let you have a look.Shawn WolkC-FRAZ Pietenpol on Wheels, Skis, and Floats!!!C-GZOT Skyhopper 2Winnipeg, MB________________________________________________________________________________

[matronics]

Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
Cool, Shawn!Any problems with reduced yaw stability in the air with the floats? Anyneed for additional fin area?Jack-----Original Message-----

[matronics]

Original Posted By: "Oscar Zuniga"
Actually pitch stability improved. On wheels it is quite pitch sensitive. Probablybecause the CL of the wing and CG are close together. My Piet has a non-standardtail, ('29 Monocoupe) and rudder input in the air was about the same.Where I noticed a difference is a more pronounced pendulum action in roll. Seemedmore stable in a convection bump over the trees (wing didn't drop aas far)and the pendulum action made it real smooth rolling into a turn. I think theadditional weight all the way down there made it more stable. I'm hoping to get the pictures soon so I can compare how the attitude looksin level flight.Shawn WolkC-FRAZ Pietenpol on Wheels, Skis, and Floats!!!C-GZOT Skyhopper 2Winnipeg, MB________________________________________________________________________________