Flying an air racer...

A friend on our field owns one of the 25 or so Swearingen SX-300
airplanes flying in the world. This 2-place kit plane was built to
certified standards, has a humongous engine, tiny wings, and regularly
races at Reno. He recently won 4th place overall in the cross-country
race at Airventure with this plane.

Today, I got to fly with him, and scored about 25 minutes of stick time
in the closest thing to an all-out race plane I've ever flown.

What an experience! First off, the sight picture is all weird, since
it's got a canopy, and you're sitting in a semi-reclined position.
Despite this, you're actually a bit elevated in the cockpit, so overall
visibility is quite good -- but the picture is all wrong, compared to
any plane I'm used to. Level flight feels like descending, so you
it's necessary to fight the urge to pull back all the time.

Secondly, the wings are impossibly small. Looking out the window, it's
hard to believe you're flying. And, in fact, it takes a long take-off
roll to get airborne, thanks to those tiny, highly loaded wings.

When you DO get airborne, things start to happen very quickly. Without
effort, you are suddenly flying 170 knots, and climbing out at 3000
feet per minute. So, even though it takes a bit of runway to get off,
once up performance is breath-taking.

The plane has interesting control harmony. The control is a center
stick, and it is VERY sensitive in pitch, which means that you easily
find yourself climbing or descending at 1000 feet per minute, with nary
a smidge of elevator input. The strange thing is, there is NO
sensation of climbing or descending. In our Pathfinder, climbing at a
1000 fpm results in some G-forces, the engine slows down, and you KNOW
you're going up. In the SX-300, you *think* about going up (or, worse
yet, you DON'T think about it), and you are suddenly climbing at 1000
fpm with NO sense of climb. The engine doesn't slow down, there are no
discernible G forces -- you are just suddenly going up (or down) like
an elevator.

Roll sensitivity is more normal, with banks easily and gently
controllable. Again, a few moments of inattention will put you into a
standard-rate turn, but it's NOTHING like the pitch control,
thankfully. My friend says that the ailerons are actually a bit
sticky, thanks to gap seals, but I found them wonderfully smooth and
easy to control. In fact, the entire plane was a joy to fly -- think
it, and it can do it.

We were toodling along at 3500 feet, and it was fairly bumpy under a
haze layer. I mentioned that it would certainly be smoother on top of
the haze, but that I couldn't tell how high it was. Just like *that*,
my friend pulled back on the stick, with the airspeed showing 220
knots, and we were rocketing skyward at 4000 feet per minute! Within
just a few seconds we were leveling on top of the haze at 5500 feet --
wow! I've NEVER flown a plane with so much reserve power.

At that altitude, and 24 squared, we trued out at 240 knots. It was
simply amazing to fly at that speed in such a tiny plane -- the
sensation of speed and power was palpable. Twitch a muscle in your
hand, and you were in standard rate turn. Twitch again, and you gained
1000 feet. It was remarkable.

Throttling back to just 12 gallons per hour, we were still indicating
almost 200 knots. This plane is very slick and efficient, and it's
really QUIET at that throttle setting, too. With an inflatable canopy
seal, we could almost talk without headsets at that power setting.
According to my friend, it's a great cross-country plane, and I believe
him .

Landing was scary, however. As my friend set us up on final approach 5
miles out, I mentioned that we were impossibly high -- around 3000
feet. (Pattern altitude is 1600.) He told me to look out the window
half way down the cowl, and find the spot on the ground under that
point . He said if we lost our engine right now, we would barely be
able to glide to that point -- which was well short of the airport.
That graphically illustrated how dangerous these little crotch rockets
are -- you lose your one and only engine, and you are coming down NOW.
There is little time to find a suitable field.

Arriving over the field at 110 knots, we crossed the fence at 105, and
touched down at 80 knots. Even with 4500 feet of runway, it took heavy
braking to get us stopped. This is NOT a short field aircraft.

After 25 minutes of maneuvering this little beasty, I was tired -- but,
wow, could I ever get used to flying something like this! Cutting our
travel time to Wisconsin from 1:45 to 50 minutes would be amazing, and
the ability to carve through the skies with such precision and speed
would be fantastic.

Maybe someday, after I no longer need the 1400 pound useful load, we
can get a toy like this!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"