Don Hall

Don Hall's XP Project

With Don's kind permission, this information was retrieved off Don's Web site: http://www.donhallwr.com/falcon_xp.htm

It's February 27, 2003, and I'm getting back into the flying business. Next week my son Dale and I are heading north (in his new truck, of course) to pick up a Falcon XP Experimental. The aircraft is disassembled and we'll pick it up on a flatbed trailer (thanks to Terry at Golf Cars of Middle Georgia), and bring it home. Below are some pictures the former owner sent me via email. Keep watch for updates!

The body is composite, and doesn't look too bad. The engine has been crated for storage, so it'll be a little easier to haul it home.	The front wheel is retractable
Definitely some work to do here!	The canard.
The wings and one of the rudders. Wonder where the other one is?	It'll take a little work, but watch this space for the improvements.

March 4... Dale, Kent and I went to North Georgia and picked up the XP. Met the nice lady who was selling the aircraft and loaded the truck and trailer with the fuselage, wings, canard and some other parts. The trailer was a bit too narrow, so we had to improvise to bring everything home. Left about 8:30 in the morning and had it unloaded in the garage by 9:00 PM. Long day. Of course, after unloading, I found that we had left a few parts and would have to make the trip again.



		The XP is in its new home, but our garage is definitely not going to be the permanent home.

March 14....
No pictures. Packed up the Rotax 503 engine and shipped it to South Mississippi Light Aircraft. They are going to tear it down, inspect and do any repair work needed and ship it back. Hopefully in about a week. When it gets back, I'll install it in the Falcon and at least I'll be able to taxi around the house. Also, I contacted the management at Air Park and contracted for a hanger there beginning April. So the XP will have a permanent home soon.Heading back to north Georgia this weekend to pick up the wing braces we managed to leave when we picked up the aircraft.

March 20....
Good and Bad.
Picked up the wing braces last week and they are in good shape. The engine, however, is not in such good shape. Ronnie (at South Mississippi) disassembled the Rotax and found it had a 'marginal' crankshaft. That, coupled with after-market pistons and a few other 'marginal' things, led to a decision to search for either a new or 'newer' engine. 'Marginal' doesn't interest me when I'm at 10,000 feet. The Rotax was an older model with single ignition and points, so it really wasn't that hard a decision to make.

March 24....
Ordered a new engine from South Mississippi Light Aircraft today. Checked out a used one locally (another marginal), and talked to Ronnie about good used engines. Seems there's not a whole lot of difference in the cost of a good used engine and a new one. Moving the bird to Airpark (T-hangar) the first or second week in April, so I should have a few pics to show soon.

March 30....
The new 503 Rotax from South Mississippi Light Aircraft arrived last Friday. The Cherry Blossom Fly-In was this weekend, so I didn't have time to work on the bird. Ordered a new airspeed indicator and altimeter from Aircraft Spruce. The ones in the panel were inop and Lowe Aviation seemed to think that 'new' would probably be cheaper than 'repair'. Good people there. Packing up the XP and taking it to a local shop to have tarps made for the wings next week. I understand that sunlight is not beneficial to fabric life. Thanks to Dale (www. wolfpack-racing.com) for loaning me his trailer to move the bird. Those wings are 16' long (each one) and just don't seem to fit in a small pick-up. Also ordered a set of wheel pants from Falcon East. All the parts are beginning to come together!