rans s7s on full lotus amphibs

[Lowell sabine]

that pretty much raps up my build only thing left is to fly, that should happen sometime in the next week or so just need some good weather. i would like to thank everyone who has been following along and also for all the help from both rans and jeff here at full- lottus it has been a blast to build and it makes it all worth while when your working with great products. i will try to post a few more pics of the first flite. thanks everyone.

[Lowell sabine]

it is friday evening the 28th and the weather is looking good for tomorrow morning, the plan now is to try to get the s7s in the air in the morning for it's first flight and i would be lying to say i wasn't nervous but i have never been so nervous and yet so excited at the same time. wow what a feeling and i can't wait till morning wish me luck and i hope all goes well.

[Lowell sabine]

well everything went well during the first few flight no major surprises, we had a couple of rattles in the aluminum fuel lines where they vibrated against the fuselage so just some sticky foam to take the rattle away was all that was needed there. also had a problem reaching the proper rpm during take off of 5300 we could only reach 4900 so it took a little time to figure that out. we discovered that my prop is a little larger diameter than is used here locally on some of the other s7's in the area and i had set my pitch to 13.5 degrees like all the rest and i would say i need to cut that back to more like 12-12.5 degrees to get the same rpm needed so what i will do is contact warp drive monday to confirm my suspicion. hopefully they won't tell me i have to return the prop and get a smaller one that would be a downer. all in all a very good day with very minor problems.

[Lowell sabine]

here are a few pics from today both take off and landing, sorry the pics are not that great.

[Lowell sabine]

just in case any one is wondering how the flying is going, not good the weather here has been terrible everyday there has been fog or wind or rain just started this shortly after my plane was ready to fly so for now i just sit and wait.

[Lowell sabine]

well things here have turned around and the weather has just been beautiful i have been flying and so far the s7 has been working perfectly. i have flown most days both in the morning and then again in the evening so far only on floats mostly in and out of my lake here at home. i am very impressed with the performance of the s7 and the full lotus floats they are very forgiving which is especially good for a younger pilot like my self. there is a little drop in performance with the amphib gear as would be expected but not to bad just the added weight and drag i guess. i am getting a solid 700 ft per min at 70 mph possibly a bit more which is not bad some of the local guys here with just floats get about 800, so not of to far all in all i am very happy with everything and am very happy to be flying.

[Lowell sabine]

this morning the weather here was beautiful no wind so a friend and i took up both s7's and tried to get some shots hope you enjoy.

[Full Lotus Mfg]

WOW!!! more excellent pictures... looks great!

[Lowell sabine]

well i haven't updated this site for a while so i thought i would just fill everyone in a bit. i have been flying a fair bit lately and the s7 has been working great, it first went in the air on june 7th and here we are about two and a half months later and i now have 75 hrs on my plane. other then the faulty pressure switch and my regular maintenance it has been pretty well trouble free. i also had a faulty actuator motor on my front right wheal on my amphibs but since that was replaced that to has been working great. for most of the time i have only been float flying in and out of lakes no wheal landings until last night i finally had the chance to land on a paved strip so because it was my first landing on wheals we went in for a full stop to check out the amphib gear and everything seemed to be 100% so we jumped back in and did two more circuits and two more stops and everything went very well i was very impressed with how well everything worked and how well it got around. i have been wondering since i purchased and installed this set up how well it would get around on the front caster wheals but they worked perfectly, so the next step for me will be to try it on a grass strip with a bit rougher conditions. this will probly happen on sept.5 there is a fly in here locally which i want to try to make it to so wish me luck and i will try to post a few pics of my s7 on grass.