I flew Ivan's plane yesterday with the prototype castoring tail wheel. The
wheel has been set back on a spring to a position about level with the
rudder trailing edge, giving about 23% increase on the wheel base.
First impressions are very encouraging. During taxi the aircraft felt a lot
softer on the suspension and wanted to straighten itself out after rudder
deflection rather than tighten the turn as is the present situation. The
take off was made into a very light wind, with the tail deliberately held
down until lift off, which was clean and un-dramatic - due mainly to the
Rotax 914 turbo. I made several touch and goes on a hard surface with
about 5Kts cross from the right, and found the roll out very easy to
control, without the frantic peddling it requires at the moment. In fact
the last full stop landing was achieved with virtually no peddle input at
all.
Ivan still has some work to do on it - the break out forces are to high at
the moment, making tight taxi turns difficult, the spring is a little to
soft, operation in stronger cross winds needs to be investigated, but I am
sure Ivan's intention to "De Skill" the aircraft has taken a step forward.
Jim Naylor No 39
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