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- Nov 14, 2007
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I have been asked to put some time on a Little Toot, it has a new cylinder and needs some break in. I have a lot of time in tail wheel, and about 200 in small biplanes. But none in a Toot. The owner is a former Navy A-6 pilot with a tail wheel endorsement and a tax guy that is very busy right now, and says he does not have the time. But after looking the airplane over and sitting in it I think it is not very user friendly and he is not comfortable in it at all. The cockpit is really tight and the layout the throttle mixture are all over the place, and the control stick is really short, and elevator at rest is very heavy. I think the person that built it did a really nice job, but was not a pilot or at least spent any time in a small biplane cockpit, and I thought the cockpits in a Toot was much bigger?
I am going out to the airport the next several days and take the engine cover off and look every thing under the hood over, also will check the paper work operating limitations and W&B. The airplane has an O-290-G converted for aircraft use, and like I said the workman ship it first class, but its not a glossy show winner, it also has the old early Goodyear floating disc brakes which I think are about right and not to aggressive wise, and the other interesting thing is the airplane has some nice fiberglass work. However the rear stab fairings have been removed and the horizontal stabilizer has been raised more than several degrees, this leads me to believe that the airplane is tail heavy.
So my question is if any of you have owned or flown a Toot, would appreciate your thoughts and comments. Dave
I am going out to the airport the next several days and take the engine cover off and look every thing under the hood over, also will check the paper work operating limitations and W&B. The airplane has an O-290-G converted for aircraft use, and like I said the workman ship it first class, but its not a glossy show winner, it also has the old early Goodyear floating disc brakes which I think are about right and not to aggressive wise, and the other interesting thing is the airplane has some nice fiberglass work. However the rear stab fairings have been removed and the horizontal stabilizer has been raised more than several degrees, this leads me to believe that the airplane is tail heavy.
So my question is if any of you have owned or flown a Toot, would appreciate your thoughts and comments. Dave
