Today was my first time ever flying in a Sonex and it was very interesting. While in flight, the controls work well and the little plane is really responsive, and seems pretty fast once I leveled off. However, my guess that I was at about near full load and the climb performance wasn’t that good. I was a little hesitant to really see what she could climb at, but the most I saw was around 450 fpm – not that impressive. Once I leveled off, I saw the speed quickly go up near 120 MPH, but I stayed real close to the airport so I never really saw was she would do at sustained level flight. The RPMs I was seeing were: 3000 static, 2850-2950 during climb out, and up to 3150 at level flight. I think some of these RPM numbers are dependent on the wind. I didn’t have much time, so all I accomplished was one take-off and landing.
Flight time 0.8 Total time 1.9 Number of landings: 2 Total landings: 4
