Slingsby Skylark done! Maiden Success!!

[FiremanBill]

Hey guys it's been a while since I've been on here so wanted to report in.

The Skylark has flown. Maiden flight was a huge success! After a little tweaking on the elevator trim it was stable as could be. Was soaring with a live hawk for what seemed like forever. Flew about ten minutes with no power on. Love this plane! After just a few minutes I realized I was no longer holding my breath while flying it!

I lost the wheel dolly on the maiden. It did not drop out on takeoff as planned which was weird, it dropped out on the downwind and fell into the tall grass on the far side. Looked for a while and ended up just building a new one with my buddies help. Part of the reason I wanted to go down to his place for the shake down flights. Upon further review we determined the hole for the dolly in the bottom of the fuse was off to one side just a mm or two causing friction when inserted one direction but not the other. just enough to keep it from falling out. So that issue was resolved. Everything else was uneventful.

All in all a huge success. Needless to say that after 2 years of building (on and off) I am super excited and very happy. My buddy got some vide and posted it to Facebook. Need to figure out how to get that uploaded here.

[Sinkhappens86]

Congrats! Glad to see another one flying! No video?

[FiremanBill]

Thanks!

My buddy made one but posted it to facebook. getting him to send it to me so I can upload it. We were more focused on flying than vidio though.

[horsefeetky]

nice color too.. will we be seeing it at any aerotow events this year.. cumberland is just a few weeks away

[FiremanBill]

Thanks! Won't be making Cumberland as much as I'd like to. Got a couple events this spring and summer then grandbaby coming in August that we will have to got to Virginia for.

[JimD]

Congratulations of the build and successful maiden...now tell us about that Ford Fairlane in the background

[FiremanBill]

Thanks! That is a 1963 Fairlane 500 2 door hardtop. My Grandfather bought it brand new. It is an all original numbers matching with 260 V8 and Fordomatic 2 speed. 73k original miles. When I was a kid I remember riding up to the lake and the mountains in the back seat of that car. So many memories in it. "Buck", as everyone called him was a WWII vet that was combat wounded.

When he passed away about 30 or so years ago my grandmother wanted me to have it but I didnt have the money or place to do anything with it as I was still in the Air Force. My uncle ended up with it and kept it for all those years. I had almost forgotten about it not having seen it in so long. Fast forward to about three years ago and out of the blue he calls me and tells me to come get it, he was done with it and it was my turn.

I have upgraded the braking system to power 4 wheel disc and put and electroninc ignition module in it for safety and reliability. short of that it is still all original. It still needs a lot of work but is drivable and I take it out often.

[JimD]

What a great history, I thought there may be a story like this!