Update: The mast has been extended by an additional 7" putting the base tube at the perfect control height!
After a lot of work the Sabre/Northwing Pacer GT trike was finally ready for flight testing. After mounting the new Tennessee prop, breaking in the Rotax 503, making adjustments to brakes, throttle pedals, instruments, etc., it was time to take the airplane out on the runway.
After making four successful crow hops I was convinced that the wing would indeed fly. Although the Pacer GT definitely flies faster than my last bird, takeoff and landing characteristics seem to be quite straight forward and predictable.
So...it was time to take out it around the pattern. After several times around it came evident that the wing was flying too fast making me have to push out too much. In other words I needed to move the hang position back a bit. I made a 1/2" move back and it seemed to fly much better. However, another concern was the amount of rake of the mast. It did not seem to be enough making the trike land a little too flat.
I went back to the hangar and adjusted the Sabre chassis geometry to provide more rake. This however created another problem in that the control bar base tube was now too low. After a lot of head scratching I finally determined that the only way to resolve this was to make the mast even longer. I had already added 8" to the mast length, and now I am going to have to increase it by another 6-7".
