After towing yesterday in Bobby Bailey's 582 Dragonfly, I climbed into one of Russell Brown's 914's. I need to learn to tow with this so that I can more safely and quickly tow tandems. Jim Prahl gave me a quick checkout on the instrumentation and what to expect and I taxied out, lined up to the north and pushed the throttle forward. OMG....the plane leaped from the ground in what seemed like 10 feet and started to climb.I quickly throttled back to a fairly low manifold pressure but this seemed to have no effect. I wanted to simulate a tow situation so I pulled the stick back hard to try and keep my speed down but all this did was put my feet way up above my head and the beast continued to climb like the Space Shuttle. I finally pulled the throttle back to nearly idle and the climb rate dropped to a mere 500fpm or so. Wow!!! I knew these things were overpowered but that was nuts.
Later, Jim assured me that when towing it wouldn't be quite so crazy and that I really shouldn't climb out of the field with my nose pointed straight up because if the engine chose that moment to quit, things might get real interesting real quick. Anyway, I'll spend a bit more time with it before attempting a tow.
Come on down and you might be lucky enough to be my first victim.
Paul
Flying the 914 Dragonfly
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Re: Flying the 914 Dragonfly
Welcome to the beast 
Sunny describes it best... it's the jet that does 30.
Yeah, don't "simulate" towing... that doesn't go well. Same as the 582, just work on picking speeds. If you can hold 40, you'll hold 30 on tow just fine.
You will only ever need full throttle for the first 50ft of a tandem tow. Don't ever pull a solo at full throttle... they will not be able to climb with you. You can tow them at 28mph and you'll still leave them in the dust... they just won't be able to climb with you... weaklinks will go left and right.
Beware the awesome power of the 914... if you bounce a landing... get that nose at least level (NOT DOWN!) before hitting that throttle. It's very easy to accelerate that puppy straight into the ground
Ah, the full-on firebreathing monstrous glory that is the 914
Enjoy
Jim
Sunny describes it best... it's the jet that does 30.
Yeah, don't "simulate" towing... that doesn't go well. Same as the 582, just work on picking speeds. If you can hold 40, you'll hold 30 on tow just fine.
You will only ever need full throttle for the first 50ft of a tandem tow. Don't ever pull a solo at full throttle... they will not be able to climb with you. You can tow them at 28mph and you'll still leave them in the dust... they just won't be able to climb with you... weaklinks will go left and right.
Beware the awesome power of the 914... if you bounce a landing... get that nose at least level (NOT DOWN!) before hitting that throttle. It's very easy to accelerate that puppy straight into the ground
Ah, the full-on firebreathing monstrous glory that is the 914
Enjoy
Jim