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Thread: Building a Nieuport 11...

  1. #761
    DaleB's Avatar
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    "You must log in to continue."

    Sorry, nope.
    Measure twice, cut once...
    scratch head, shrug, shim to fit.

    Flying an RV-12. I am building a Fisher Celebrity, slowly.

  2. #762

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    It's a picture of someone wearing a knitted outfit that goes head to toe.

    Frost on the ground today! My Mom knit me a tricolored scarf, so I have a French flag to wrap around my face below the goggles.

    Voltage regulator came in yesterday, so off to the airport today or tomorrow.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  3. #763
    DaleB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Giger View Post
    It's a picture of someone wearing a knitted outfit that goes head to toe.
    Hmm. I suspect I'm glad to not be able to see it.

    Measure twice, cut once...
    scratch head, shrug, shim to fit.

    Flying an RV-12. I am building a Fisher Celebrity, slowly.

  4. #764

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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Giger View Post
    In the Nieuport, though, wheel landings seem natural and almost intuitive.
    Hi Frank,

    On the wheelies...once you've got the mains pinned, what is your procedure with regard to the tailwheel? Do you keep it up as long as possible? Do you fly it down? Let it drop on it's own as you slow?

  5. #765

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    Double post!
    Last edited by Frank Giger; 11-14-2017 at 11:02 AM.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  6. #766

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    Landings are very short, and it doesn't take much to stick the wheels - the whole airplane is an exercise in drag - the tail drops pretty quickly and the second it touches I go full stick back. Indeed, I tend to wheel land with the tail a bit low, and the stick near neutral. The habit in a Champ of pinning the wheels by moving the stick forward is a no-go in the Nieuport.

    One does NOT want the tail high at below stall speeds. The rudder will lose authority, and that's far too interesting for the pilot.

    So the phrase "fly it down" is very appropriate. Looking at all my video, there's not so much a flare as a rounding out in my decent landings.

    I have to also say it's a work in progress. There's a language to this aircraft that we're both learning, a conversation that's ongoing in the test flight phase. Originally I was taking the safest route with these really long, shallow approaches with a lot of power, taking advantage of the huge airstrip I have to work with. That was fine for figuring out stall speeds, handling transitions, and stuff like that. It's also pretty lazy and promotes a poor set of habits for me as a pilot.

    So I've really shortened the pattern, gone to a half circle instead of two corners, steepened the approach, and started actually aiming for a landing point. In other words, acting like a pilot. Results: two greaser wheel landings with a short (less than 500 foot) landing, one bouncy bouncy throttle up try again bounce now you got it landing. Naturally (and thankfully) the only one with video is the "bad" one. Oh well, that's why the gear have bungees on them.

    The "anti-shake" filter makes the gun look rubbery in the video:



    Here's a look over the tail, when I was still using the "long approach."



    The mail should deliver my wire, switch, and other minor goodies from AircraftSpruce in the next day or so, so I can go out and do some surgery on the charging system. As much as I hate adding complexity to the aircraft (that will raise the total number of switches, including the start button, to three on the panel), I think it's worth it. I still have to suss out why it's overcharging, of course, and solve the issue, but it will be nice to be able to deal with it in the air if it happens in flight.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  7. #767

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    Hi Frank,

    Reason I ask about how you handle lowering the tail after the mains are pinned is that I found on my plane (RV-8) how you handle that makes the difference between a straight rollout vs some mad rudder pedal work the moment the tailwheel hits. On my plane (which I admit is radically different from yours) if I let the tailwheel touch too soon, I'm going quite fast and any deviation of the tailwheel from centered-up makes for a dash to the sidelines. If I keep the stick going forward until we've slowed down the tail drops gently of it's own accord and there's no swerving.

    From wha tyou say, though, it seems you lose rudder authority before the point where the tail will lower itself. So some balance in between might be found.

  8. #768

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    I've come to say my plane will kill me in slow motion.

    My cruise speed is around 65 mph, pattern speed 50, and stall is around 35.

    In the rear view video, there's more rudder than wheel as the springs kick in, so it looks exaggerated. But the rudder isn't doing anything back there at those speeds but swishing left and right.

    The brain trust at my EAA chapter thinks my over charging problem is a bad regulator/rectifier, and that the Harley-Davidson part used is notoriously flaky. It was actually pretty funny - normally I get eye rolls and goofy looks when talking about the VW engine, but when I said I had finally ID'd the charging system parts as HD eyes lit up.

    "Oh, this is a motorcycle issue, not a VW one. Yeah, it makes sense."

    So in the next couple weeks one or more motorcycle gurus will come out to the airport and help suss this out.
    Last edited by Frank Giger; 11-18-2017 at 08:06 AM.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  9. #769

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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Giger View Post
    I've come to say my plane will kill me in slow motion.

    My cruise speed is around 65 mph, pattern speed 50, and stall is around 35.

    In the rear view video, there's more rudder than wheel as the springs kick in, so it looks exaggerated. But the rudder isn't doing anything back there at those speeds but swishing left and right.
    Actually I was looking at the forward view of the landing over the gun.

  10. #770

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    Oh, that's me bouncing the landing and making a general mess of things.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

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