For Firestar II Tweaks & Hints,
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N420P (4 2 Old Poops)
is a Kolb MKIII Classic, a joy-to-fly 2 seat light aircraft. Construction
began in March 1995, and the aircraft first flew in October of
1996. Other than the shape of the rudder, squared off to cosmetically
match the rest of the tail, the aircraft was built to plans, but
has since undergone a number of minor modifications to enhance
comfort and performance. It is based at an 800' grass strip, and
operates very comfortably, solo or dual, from that size runway.
The aircraft stalls solo at 27-28, dual at 32-33. (Love those
vortex generators!) Normal cruise speed is anywhere between 50
and 80 at 4500-6000 rpm, full throttle level flight is around
85 mph at 6400 rpm. The Rotax 65 hp 582 ( B gearbox, 2.58:1 reduction)
with 2-blade 68" Ivoprop uses 4 gph at 60 mph & 5000
rpm, and around 5 gph at 75 mph & 5800 rpm. Empty weight is
525 pounds with a full electrical system, 720 channel radio, transponder,
mode C, intercom, and a ballistic parachute, and is day/night
VFR legal.
N582EF (Ed's Firestar) was a combined
project between Ed Martin, Vince Nicely and myself. It has a Rotax
582, numerous convenience items that Vince has figured out from
his years as the builder/pilot of a FSII, and several things that
have been thought of over the years after simply having hung around
a lot of Kolbs, and wanting to try out some new ideas and see
how they work. Maybe some of them will be food for thought.
