Vaughan, Bearcat, Jason and everyone else who supported us at the first flights – thanks for that. Bearcat and Vaughan, what awesome shots! Vaughan, I’ve stolen the flying shot with the sun behind to put on or website. I hope that’s OK.
We did some more flying yesterday afternoon and it looks very much like the lowered aircraft angle of attack resulting from the greater wing area more than offsets any frictional increase from increased wing “wetted area”. The Sling 4 will therefore probably fly slightly faster than the standard Sling, especially at higher loads. On an initial impression the handling is very similar, though it’ll take some time before we can be certain at all weights and in all configurations. More about how she handles as we go. We haven’t yet tested her at her MAUW, but it sure feels as if she’ll perform fine right up the mass at which we intend to fly on the long, over sea legs during the circumnavigation.
This morning the Airplane Factory team sat down for a full factory and flight around the world planning session. The take-off date for Sling 4 around the world is now Saturday 6 August 2011. We’re once again going east, not west, by the original easterly route we planned, and James and Jean are flying the first half, Mike and Jean the second. Half-way point is Los Angeles, which will be the Sling distribution centre in the US.
We’ve all had a good sleep and things are getting back to normal here. Sling customers, you’ll be glad to hear that our eyes are firmly on the production ball and we’ll be testing the Sling 4 in the ordinary course in parallel to all our ordinary activities!
Cheers, The Airplane Factory team
