I'm sorry to have to report that Jim Naylor had a bit of a mishap at Leicester
on Saturday, which resulted in the outrigger being torn out of one wing, the
tailwheel fork breaking and some damage to the rear fuselage forward of the rear
bulkhead.
Saturday was a gusty day, forcast to be + or - 10 deg of the runway, 10 to 20
knots. Just after Jim raised the tail, he says about 40 kts, a strong gust
caused an uncontrolable swing to the left, about 30 to 40 degrees. The aircraft
left the runway, bounced into the air and flew under control, but not
accelerating, for about 100 yds. Jim elected to stay airborn rather than try and
land because of parked aircraft, clubhouse etc. in his path. The aircraft
stalled and dropped a wing from around 5 feet, Jim thinks, resulting in a very
heavy arrival.
No injuries, thank goodness, and the aircraft should be relatively easily
repairable.
I think this is particularly unfortunate for Jim, in that most of the flying
Europas have all had similar bounces into the air, but fortunately for us
without the violent crosswind gust, which the sailors among us will know is
invariably followed by an equally abrupt return to the original wind direction.
My early attempts to produce tidy landings, (and take offs), I suspect were the
final straws that brought Ivan's cost benefit analysis down on the side of
developing the damper for the undercarriage, which he (and I) are sure will make
this kind of problem much less likely. One thing I plan to do as soon as poss.
is to check the stall in flaps down configuration. Pete's remarks were " Wing
drop, easily controlled" Hmm. Sure, but by me too? 5 feet off the ground? I am
thinking I might adjust the stall strips to give a straight flaps down stall. I
don't think I care about a wing drop flaps up.
Anyway one moral is this,' keep the tail down until full rudder authority is
available. 40 kts? In fact I tend to hold it down until nearer 50, at which
point easing the back pressure results in instant take off. Then hold her down
until climb speed of 60 kts (flaps down ) is there. She will climb, but slowly
and not accelerating, at much less than this.
Best climb, remember is nearer 80 kts, flaps up.(check it yourself, my manual is
in the back of GK Whip.) Yes, I know I should know it by now.
Graham
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