The MX II The first MXII was quite a plane. I received my kit prior to the factory printing
the instructions. Since it was so similar to the MX, it went together rather
well.The first two-place was ordered for a customer. It had a custom sail, actually
a Duster pattern, because the order taker didn't know that the two-place, since
so few would be sold, LOL, would only be offerred in the Q2 sail pattern. Was
she ever wrong on that one. So was the factory.
Power, or
the lack of power, was a Cuyuna drive system just like the MX model. The
only change the MXII kit had drive wise was the first two-place kit had my
first set of v-belt pullies. These quickly became standard, replacing the
cog belt very quickly. While the cog design had given many hours of flying
with a reduction and an increase in thrust, quieter, etc, over the direct
drive, they did fail all at once, when the teeth sheared, the prop stopped.
The vee belt system may slip but would likely get you back home if you had
the will power to ease the throttle back a bit.
The customer was going
to register the plane as experimental as this was the only pre BFI option. He
and I took the entire kit to the GADO office in Indianapolis. The inspector looked
at the parts, the sewed sail, the bent and drilled tubes, the welded parts, the
drive components, etc. He was impressed with the overall quality but stated unequivicably
that under no circumstances could this kit be experimental as it was almost totally
built except for minor assembly work, by the factory. We were stunned ! There
was no way to build and fly this expensive airplane kit. Well, not legally,,,,,,,
Arriving back in Mount Vernon late and tired we were disappointed, mad at the
FAA for shattering the dream of a two-place,,,,, but by friday evening, the
plane was assembled, engine tested, assembled, taxied, and would you believe
it, flown without any assistance from the governement. It flew fine !! However
we were quite sure that the FAA folks had followed us home, knew our names,
where we lived, our friends, all cars approaching the local small airfield
were suspect. Wow, what a day. The customer flew the plane around the field
once and landed. He ran up and said I had to fly it since it climbed much better
than the single seaters we were used to. I took it around and while it wasn't
a night and day difference, it did climb better than an MX. We checked a few
parts and quickly found the ribs were slightly longer, not just to account
for the larger diameter spars, but the sail had a higher arch to it. This gave
a better climb.
By late saturday morning, I was busy giving lessons in the three weight shift
Yamaha Quicks I used for the purpose. I barely noticed the owner of the plane
search out the skinniest guy at the field that morning and take him for a ride.
By late afternoon, everyone at the field had taken a ride. By dark, people
were coming from town having heard about the latest contraption at the airport.
This went on until about 11 pm landing by headlights but everyone got a ride
in the two-place. Little did I know that this would change the UL business
for ever.
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