Eric,
Have tried the same swivel on both the conventional and mono. Please
keep the lock up mechanism in tune. If the tail wheel breaks loose
unwanted, you're off to the races. In the mono, it is your only control
below 30 of course.
Quick story about my now deceased buddy Bob Knapp, one of the finest
stick and rudder guys I have ever known, but just a bit on the crazy
side. We had the conventional gear of Rich Semintilli's loaded near the
aft CG, which puts more load on the tail wheel of course, and Bob and I
took it out for a test run, and just for grins, I did a tail wheel
breakout test and applied half power with Bob Knapp and myself (about
500lbs with gas) and 25 pound bag in the back. I pulsed the rudder to
check the tail wheel and it was locked initially until I pushed hard
back to correct to the center line... I used the hand brakes to regain
control and lock it back in and Bob said that was a pretty aggressive
rudder pulse and it was normal for that to happen, even on his RV4s. I
handed the plane off to Bob for the takeoff so I could monitor the EIS
and all went well, we flew about 20 minutes checking the oil temps and
verify the oil leak was cured and came back in to land, I came around
and did three touch and goes and Bob did the full stop. Just as Bob was
about to touch the tail wheel first, we picked up a bit of drift from
the crosswind and the tail wheel broke free on the three point touchdown
and we darted off to the boonies. The brakes, rudder and
Rotax/Airmaster drug us off before we hit anything. The post mortem on
the tail wheel indicated the pin chipped off a bit. Figuring a
defective part, we replaced the pin and we tightened the tail wheel
breakout spring by replacing it with a firmer one as suggested by the
folks at Vans, but the extra force soon began to wear after the 20th
flight full of touch and goes (Bob liked lots of touch and goes). One
Sunday morning Bob was flying with a rather busty plussed sized lady to
show her what it was like in a small airplane, the tail wheel broke free
unannounced as he applied full power while still turning on the runway a
bit. She really liked the quick turns the plane would do, and said it
was an E ticket ride. Bob called me up and asked me to change out the
tail wheel back to the original.
If our main wheel was closer to the leading edge of the mean chord, it
wouldn't be as hard on the locking pin of the tail wheel in my opinion.
I like the Graham Singleton limiter better than the roll pin of the
original as it keeps you out of trouble when you get the plane a bit out
of sorts, provided you keep the stick back and pressure on the tail
wheel. However, you can't pull the plane backwards unless you have a
tail wheel caddy. I like the flat square shaped tire you have chosen as
it has more surface area and doesn't skip on those wet tar lines or
painted stripes as bad as our rounded original tire. If we could only
find someone who made a lockable full swivel tail wheel as was used in
the world war two fighters and trainers. Lock the wheel for takeoff and
in some cases landing, and leave it unlocked for ground maneuvering. If
I only had the time.
Bud
----- Original Message -----
From: Erich Trombley<mailto:erichdtrombley@juno.com>
To: europa-list@matronics.com<mailto:europa-list@matronics.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 11:25 PM
Subject: Europa-List: Full swivel tail wheel
Hi All,
Just a quick note to let you all know that I converted the stock
Europa tail wheel to a full swivel unit. The ground handling has
improved significantly. For those not familiar with a full swivel tail
wheel it works just like the stock tail wheel with the exception that as
the tail wheel moves past +/- 30 degrees a detent is released and the
tail wheel is free to swivel through 300 degrees. Wonderful! I
purchased a Van's tail wheel unit sans tail whee and tail spring. Link
below.
http://www.vansaircraft.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi?ident=1290390847-482-22
5&browse=airframe&product=tailwheel-assy
The conversion was pretty straight forward; consisted of cutting off
the end of the tail spring, having the last 2" turned down to remove the
taper, and drilled/reamed to secure the tail wheel assembly. Pictures
attached and posted to the forum website.
Erich Trombley
N28ET Classic Mono 914
____________________________________________________________
Get Free Email with Video Mail & Video
Chat!<http://www.juno.com/freeemail?refcd=JUTAGOUT1FREM0210>
|