Amen brother Tony! My experiences are the same.
One thing you forgot to mention is that the outriggers also prevent heavy
crosswinds from lifting a wing during roll-out.
Bob Jacobsen
A131
p.s. (Tony - remember just over a year ago you were thinking about changing
to a trike because you were worried about crosswinds??!!) Quite a convert
I'd say.
From: "Tony S. Krzyzewski" <tonyk@kaon.co.nz>
>CC: <jas56d@msn.com>
>Subject: RE: Firewall
>Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 12:52:28 +1200
>
>Does anyone have experience with the motorglider in a crosswind? I am
>still
>trying to imagine how to land the conventional gear airplane with the
>outriggers. What happens if the outrigger hits first as in a wing down
>situation? Is the airplane landed in a crab?
>
>I don't have experience with the motor glider but have close to 250
>landings under my belt in the the short wing version. Give me the mono
>wheel in a strong crosswind anytime. With experience, the monowheel can
>be put onto the ground quite comfortably in the quite blustery
>crosswind situations that we frequently encounter in New Zealand. I fly
>the mono in any wind conditions that I would comfortably fly a C172 into
>- in fact I have ended up in conditions that would have been
>'interesting' for the 172 yet the monowheel handled it as if there was
>nothing to worry about.
>
>I believe there are a few contributing factors that help the monowheel's
>ability to handle crosswinds...
>
>a) There is only one wheel and this helps a lot! Only having one wheel
>removes the drag offset that occurs when touching down with conventional
>geared taildraggers when you haven't eliminated all of the drift. Try
>landing a Piper Colt in a good crosswind without removing all of the
>drift... as soon as one wheel touches the ground you had better be quick
>on the pedals.
>
>b) The outriggers can be very effectively used to counter weather
>cocking - an outrigger held on the ground is a much stronger force than
>an aileron. I use this to advantage when taking off in strong
>crosswinds, holding the into wind wing down so that the outrigger stays
>on the ground right until rotation. On landing you can be selective as
>to which outrigger touches first and again, use this to advantage.
>
>c) The landing speed of the Europa is very low which, in a good
>crosswind, results in a very short ground roll. On a good wide runway
>this can be used to advantage by landing at an angle across the runway
>thus reducing the effective crosswind component.
>
>d) The Europa has incredibly powerful and responsive controls. This is
>an aircraft that goes where it is told to go and does it with impeccable
>manners.
>
>e) The large flap helps. Slow the plane down quickly on landing and it
>isn't going to leave the ground again. Conversely, it gives the plane
>excellent characteristics for takeoff reducing the ground roll
>considerably.
>
>f) Put an Airmaster prop (free ad) and 912S into and on takoff you
>aren't going to be on the ground long enough to think about crosswinds
>;-)
>
>I also suspect that the motorglider will benefit from increased momentum
>due to the longer wing span. If anyone is willing to donate a set of
>glider wings I'll be happy to prove if I am right :-)
>
>The crosswind technique for the mono (and glider) is to crab approach
>then kick straight in the flare. Glider pilot's do it all the time and
>it ends up feeling a lot more natural than the wing low technique taught
>for high wing aircraft.
>
>At our local field it's policy for Unicom to call the crosswind
>component out for taildraggers as they call final and just before the
>landing. Unicom has given up calling it for the monowheel Europa as
>strong crosswinds just don't faze us ... I suppose it's become an
>honorary trike :-)
>
>Now if that doesn't start a flurry of emails I'll be most disappointed
>
>Tony
>
>
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