Interesting stuff, Dart. Fascinating read from the Dawn Patrol guys as well.
On the weight, was that 500 lbs empty, or with fuel already aboard? I'm guessing she probably carries ~75-100 pounds of fuel (~10-15 gal) with full tanks.
As for baby steps in the test phase, absolutely that's the way it should be, without a doubt. It's critical for you to find the little lady's quirks (and they *all* have some), in the gentlest and safest way possible.
Without longitudinal stability, you have a recipe for that bird to turn from a delicate debutante, into a cross-controlled monster (mother in-law?
) in relatively short order, so I can see where the B&S gauge is vital. Unless you're using an FFB stick in RoF, we can't get that effect there since most joysticks are spring-loaded, preventing it ... which raises another question -- I saw the DP article mentioned an adjustable bungee cord on the rudder (for cruise) -- any thought to loosely spring loading it from the get-go, to mitigate that tendency to de-coordinate itself, or would that cause other headaches?
As for gauges, I'd think the only other gauge(s) you'd care about are tach, & temps - mostly, to let you know that lovely wooden prop hasn't turned into a glorified spinning wheel
Sight picture should tell you anything else you'd need to know about the actual flight attitude.
Finally, of course, it's *always* on the PiC to decide what works (since it's your tail in the sling), particularly in an Experimental bird.
Regards,
4 <S!>
