It seems to me that there is a lot of 'hearsay' being used about the various
pro's
and con's of the available propellers for the Europa. Whether this twist
or that twist is right for cruise seems somewhat esoteric to me. The choice of
a prop is, I believe, a little like the choice of engine - very subjective and
is influenced by how much cash one has and what the individual 'likes the look
of'. Most of us are very proud of our aircraft and tend to defend our choice
of this item and that item. The bottom line is that no one could live on
the difference between the propeller installations. I have only seen a few of
the different installations and as such am not an expert. David Joyce's
woodcomp
looks particularly nice and David is obviously very pleased with it. My
own Airmaster is an early model and is not without warts. However, there is not
a lot wrong with an installation that gives:
a: 130kt (IAS) cruise at 18lts/hr.
b: Take Off distance of less that 300m on grass with nil wind.
c: An aircraft that can reach Vne (165 kIAS) in straight and level flight at
5000ft.
d: A climb rate in excess of 1200 fpm.
All these figures are typical with a weight on the heavy side of average (it
must
be my streamlined figure). GJULZ is a monowheel XS fuselage with classic wings,
Rotax 914 and Airmaster 308 constant speed prog.
On the point of prop strikes during take-of or landing. I am not very
experienced
on my monowheel < 250 hours. Having had the ground loop experience, my
recollection
of the incident was that the tail high/wheelbarrow attitude was particularly
excessive before the prop blade struck the tarmac - not an attitude
one would get in under normal circumstances. The advice I have read about
holding
the tail down until lift-off followed by a check forward of the stick, does
not fit with my experience.
For what it is worth, I find that on take-off the following works best for me.
Hold the stick hard back to enhance the tailwheel steering, I find that on take
off that the rudder is quickly effective because of the propwash. As the IAS
rises through 40 KIAS the ailerons are effective and relaxing the back pressure
on the stick allows the tail to rise. As the aircraft accellerates I find
it is necessary to apply a gentle but increasing forward pressure to prevent the
aircraft trying to fly before it really has the speed (this is particularly
important on rough ground as a good bump can launch you airborne before the
aircraft
is really ready to fly). At about 50 knots or so, just releasing the
forward pressure with perhaps a slight pull will fly the aircraft gracefully
into
the air. When you get this right (it is a red letter day - put it in the
diary), the Europa seems to transfer from ground to air without any fuss at all
- almost like levitation - that is very satisfying. Once airborne, accellerate
to an initial climb speed of 65-70 knots - wheel and flaps gently up/in and
the pocket rocket is away.
On landing, it really is time to wake up and take notice!! I aim to flair just
off the ground and keep the stick coming back, as the speed decays, the stall
warner sounds shortly followed by the tailwheel touching just before the
mainwheel.
All that is left is to keep the aircraft perfectly straight ( as well
as you are able) and bring the speed under control. Avoid hard breaking,
particularly
if the aircraft is not perfectly straight and, once on the ground always
keep the stick fully back until at walking pace. I have also found that an
approach speed of 60-65 KIAS works in normal conditions with perhaps a 'trickle
more' power at heavy gross weights.
regards,
Mike
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