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pcondon(at)mitre.org
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 Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 6:31 am Post subject: First Flight - An opposing point of view |
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Many tail wheel instructors say this crow hopping self training method
is "for the birds" and not the best way to train yourself. Consider the
point or phase where you are most likely to get into trouble in the
flight phase (landing) -- and now place yourself there with hi speed
taxi tests, with "p" factor and right rudder (Take of power), and
possible winds now try to teach yourself correct, and fast enough
rudder responses to keep yourself straight on the runway. It can be
done, but you are placing yourself in a known hazard zone of flight,
with little initial training - only to train yourself....? . Only a
word of caution. There are two schools of thought on this issue,
hearing everyone say to crow-hop is a good teaching method needs a
thorough introspection with ALL the facts....
RV-4, Cessna-140, Cessna 150 tail conversion, CUB & RV-8 builder....
(All tail wheel airplanes.....)
Phil N41RV & N800RV
.......................................................................
...............
If you have a real desire to test fly your plane, you can do it...but
you must
prepare yourself. some good advice has been given about doing that.
Regarding taxi testing, I recommend lots of it with gradually
increasing speeds
to the point of taxiing at steady speedwith the nose wheel up or the
tail up.
I personally think High speed taxiing is good to build up to in a tail
dragger.
But work up to this in steps. These designs are solid in their controls
and
manageable as you get a feel for them with increasing taxi runs with
increased
speed...20, 30, 40, 50..up to 60+ in a tail dragger. Do numerous runs
at
each speed until you are confident of the feel of controls.
Faa Advice is to test ground handling throughout the range. I wanted
to know
what mine was going to feel like as it hit the ground, so I taxi tested
to 70
mph numerous times with nothing but solid control feel in the HDS... by
then
I had no fears of flying the plane. don Walker HDS taildragger 365
hrs
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japhillipsga(at)aol.com
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:48 am Post subject: First Flight - An opposing point of view |
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I agree with Phil. Crow hopping in a plane you have plenty of time and experience with would be no problem. Fact is some of my early landings would have qualified as I "dribbled" down the strip, but to do it in a test plane that your totally unfamiliar with and maybe not even sure if it will fly or flair seems unnecessarily risky for the possible benefit, FWIW, Bill
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d3dw(at)msn.com
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:37 pm Post subject: First Flight - An opposing point of view |
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I agree with Phil, too. Crow hopping is for the birds, especially with a fairly inexperienced pilot. I have seen three accidents while crow hopping. However, thoroughly testing the ground behavior of your airplane is something I recommend whether you are going to do the first flight or not. Since you do not begin taxi testing by applying full throttle for maximum acceleration, P factor and torque will be no factor. You will be going slowly. I personally enjoyed getting the feel of my bird...turning in both directions, adding a little speed up to 20 or so.
Comfortable with that, I then slowly put in enough power to lift the tail. You can do this and lift the nose, also, for a tricycle. Holding this speed and taxiing will give you valuable input on the feel of rudder and elevator. Work the elevator up and down gently and observe the effect. Make some slight rudder input and see how she feels. Now you have some experience without being in the high risk zone. After doing this a time or two, or when one feels comfortable, then do a run and increase speed by five or so miles an hour. You will soon know how controllable you think the plane is. Treat your plane like a lover. Do this dance with her and be sensitive to how she feels. Plenty of foreplay is good before getting off... And I mean play...experiment with the controls...according to your comfortable capacity. Feel them out at each speed. Trying to be TOO perfect down the line can leave you stressed, rigid, and never let you know how your plane feels. She will let you know when she feels light or may go too far sideways. If you can't pay attention during testing, you probably don't need to fly. The faster you go, the straighter she will track and the more solid the feel on these birds.
If you can't develop a feel for these controls before you hit forty mph, you need some more practice. Most will get it pretty quickly. Then you should do okay with higher speed as long as you don't jerk her around with really abrupt inputs.
The HDS is easier than flying any tail dragger I have flown, except for the champ. That includes Chief, Luscombe, Stearman, Mustang II, ultralights, Rans S-10, cub, Taylorcraft... off the top of my head.
You need to know how you plane responds to control inputs at varying speeds. Doing as much of that as possible without leaving the ground seems smart to me. don walker
From: japhillipsga(at)aol.com<mailto:japhillipsga(at)aol.com>
To: zenith-list(at)matronics.com<mailto:zenith-list(at)matronics.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 12:48 PM
Subject: Re: Zenith-List: First Flight - An opposing point of view
I agree with Phil. Crow hopping in a plane you have plenty of time and experience with would be no problem. Fact is some of my early landings would have qualified as I "dribbled" down the strip, but to do it in a test plane that your totally unfamiliar with and maybe not even sure if it will fly or flair seems unnecessarily risky for the possible benefit, FWIW, Bill
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frank.hinde(at)hp.com
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