Actually I was looking at the forward view of the landing over the gun.Originally Posted by Frank Giger
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.
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.
Landing was fine. I was thinking of the swerving I saw immediately after the tailwheel settled. I've experienced thatOh, that's me bouncing the landing and making a general mess of things.
Two things usually at play, here. First, the tail settling down takes the rudder out of the direct airflow...the slipstream/prop blast is somewhat blanked by the fuselage itself.Landing was fine. I was thinking of the swerving I saw immediately after the tailwheel settled. I've experienced that
Second, the comparative "gearing" of the rudder control and the tailwheel control is likely different. That is to say, a ~1" displacement of the rudder pedal with the tailwheel off the ground and the rudder providing yaw control is different from what is produced when the tailwheel itself is firmly on the ground.
A good example of this is the original Fly Baby prototype, N500F. When I started flying it, I noticed the plane would tend to yaw as the tail came up on takeoff or as it settled down to the runway on landing.
Turns out this was due to a quirk in N500F's tailwheel control system. On a Fly Baby, the rudder pedals are connected directly to a flat rudder horn. At the bottom of the rudder is a second horn, which connects to the tailwheel horns via springs. Here's a rough sketch:
N500F had that system....but, at the time the plane had been converted to floats, the lower horn on the rudder had been extended ~2-3" per side to provide better control for the water rudder. When the plane had last been restored (about three years prior to my joining the club), the TAILWHEEL springs were connected to these extended attach points. Which gave the tailwheel more effectiveness.
I swapped the tailwheel control springs to the upper pair of holes, and it was a lot better.....
Ron Wanttaja
Another factor is the location of the aircraft CG when the tailwheel is on the ground. If the CG shifts aft a considerable amount, the "heavy" tail will certainly try to wag the dog more than a more forward CG. Aircraft with relatively tall gear such as our WWI wannabes are subject to considerable CG shift when the tail hits the ground. One remedy is aggressive rudder immediately after the tail touches down before the rudder loses aerodynamic authority. I will sometimes use full rudder for a second or two to catch a swerve before it can develop.
This is a matter of pilot proficiency and acclimation to the particular aircraft and improves with practice. Fly often.
Yep, it's affectionately called "The Nieuport Stomp" in our circle.
In the case of the video, that's all me. I was off line to the left, corrected right, and was slow adjusting back left...so gave it a bit too much. Then it was a matter of working the pedal to the wheel to stay on the runway and simultaneously keeping the wing tip off the pavement.
The grooved pavement of my runway can be challenging, as it's very sticky and rough at the same time. Landing on smooth pavement is easier for some reason. I haven't landed on grass with her yet.
On charging, I may not have a problem at all. Digging into Harley-Davidson forums, it should be putting out 14.5 to 15 volts at RPM, which is what I'm indicating. So it's likely that my last voltage regulator wasn't working properly at all and I was running off battery most of the time! Most of my flights have been pretty short, and charging the battery was pretty common for me. I wrote it off to the plane sitting for a month, but that might not have been the case.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Frank, do you have a backup power source for your ignition? I see a lot of accidents (~2 per year) caused by power issues to engine ignition/control boxes.
Ron Wanttaja
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