Sport Pilot Talk

Hi folks. Just purchased a Skyarrow 600 for my Wife, 2007 factory built. I've been flying over 50 years, Cessnas mostly. Currently own a C175B with O-360/CS and a C170. This light sport is much fun, just need to add ADSB as I'm flying out of KELP. Will be picking brains for information.
Thanks, Dave

I have about 60 hours of instructing in a 2007 Sky Arrow. Quirky, and fun to fly solo. Like all tandem seaters, I consider it less than ideal for giving dual.

Where's Fast Eddie (SkyArrow driver)?

Wm.Ince wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 8:35 pm Where's Fast Eddie (SkyArrow driver)?

He's probably out flying.

Wont be long before FastEddie chimes in. I’ve got a good number of hours in serial number CN001, the first certified Sky Arrow in the US. It is a 1997 650 CTNS. I believe it was just sold for the second time, wish I had known. I should have bought one when they were new for $85k. If I found a really pristine one, I’d sell my Sling 2 in a heartbeat. Good Luck and Blue Skies…

Well... I've got 800+ hours over about 14 years in the Sky Arrow LSA 600... Very happy with the airplane.

A few quirks:

The voltage regulator/regulator is mounted in an almost impossible to get at place, and tends to overheat and fail. The connections to it are spade connectors which tend to get loose and heat up. Keep a close eye on them. If Experimental, change mounting and add a small blast tube to cool it.

The nose wheel (free turning) has a friction device to keep it from shimmying. The manual has a spring scale test for minimum "break out" force to turn the wheel. Easy to check with tail on the ground. My original "plastic" spring on the clamp failed at about 200 hours. Replaced with fairly hard neoprene. Only needed one tightening since. (Very easy to do).

If the stick is not held steady, at some speeds and loadings, the ailerons may "wiggle" back and forth. I'm told that re-rigging the ailerons can stop it. Also the factory at one time offered "drag plates" for the aileron trailing edges but I think they would increase aileron forces. In my case the ailerons are so light and it is so easy to just hold on to the stick, I've never bothered to do anything about it.

In very, very calm air you might notice a very slight roughness or trembling. It turns out that there is an interaction between prop and tail which causes this. I can do a forward slip in one direction and it goes away. A slip in the other direction and it gets worse. But it is so minor and hard to notice that it's no problem.

I do not do "full stall" landings! After doing the flare out and "waiting for it to settle in", mine "hangs up" at about 10 ft then suddenly drops in hard. I believe at least 2 in the US have collapsed their gear because of this... the gear legs are stiff, and the damage is usually in the gear/body carry through. So, being paranoid, after the flare, I concentrate on DELIBERATELY FLYING THE MAIN GEAR ONTO THE RUNWAY. I keep saying to myself, "Keep it going down... keep it going down...". This results in very smooth landings. Because of the gear geometry, it is virtually impossible to land nose wheel first.

Yes, this results in higher landing speeds and longer landing distances, but landing distance is so short and stall speed so low that it never matters. Also, because of the low stalling speed, the flow over the controls near the stall is so slow that control response starts to get sluggish.

HOWEVER... Fast Eddy is a flight instructor with vastly more experience than me, and I believe he ALWAYS makes full stall landings in his Sky Arrow. So I could be all wrong on this...

One more thing to watch out for... after getting used to the the visibility, light responsive controls, and very easy flying of the Sky Arrow, most other (and larger) planes are really disappointing to fly.

Pete

Sorry for being late to the party. I was having difficulty logging in and I ended up neglecting the browser tab for quite some time.

Briefly, I’ve had my Sky Arrow for about 15 years and have about 620 hours on it. Converted to ELSA about 2 years into ownership and it was a great decision. Took the 16 hour LSRM-I course and have done all the annual condition inspections since converting.

If the OP is still considering a Sky Arrow, by all means contact me and we can chat on the phone. I have lots of YouTube videos relating to it as well that I can link to. I’ll then address some of the observations upthread, some of which I agree with and some which I don’t.

As an aside, we were on a road trip that took us to Lock Haven, PA. Took the time to hook up with the Professor for lunch while there. Did not get to fly with him again, but at least got to sit in his lust-worthy Bristell taildragger.

Nice looking airplane, Eddie. I should buy one.
Oh, wait...