Cheers,
I have been blessed to acquire an idea from Graham Clarke of
Edinburgh, whose inquisitive mind came up with (among many other things) a
'landing Radar'.
In my own case, I have been flying all my adult life like many
others on the net. Each new aircraft called for a new skill of one kind or
another. The advertising blather aside, NO 'plane is foolproof nor the same
as any other, and the L1011 TriStar was no exception. Landing 300 folk at
140mph or more with the wheels 28 feet below and 100 feet behind called for
perception no new pilot could acquire quickly. However Lockheed installed a
proper Landing Radar (mainly for the autoland system) which produced a
sliding series if 'pips' in the earphones - warning the pilot of height and
rate of descent - from 150 to 50 feet above the gray wiggly thing. From
that, it was easy to know when to accomplish full round-out for touchdown
(that, and the nervous jerking of the First Officer). This brought the first
applause I'd ever experienced from sophisticated passengers - and it was
repeatable most of the time........
Back to Graham. He acquired one of those kits to tell you when
you were getting close to breaking glass while backing up - what some call
"Park Radar" which actually measures sub-audible returns at the back of the
car. the kit he found was from the Netherlands and cost about 50 dollars
Canadian (12cents US). It pits out a subaudible signal and listens for the
return - so it's more 'sonar' than radar but the effect is the same.It was
designed to permit a range of 5 inches to 5 feet which set off an aural
squawk to prompt braking. He added a further stage which changed the
'beep' into a sliding note, descending with the decreasing distance to the
ground. This produced a cheap efficient copy ofthe L-1011 device.
For those who must acquire the skill to land a tailwheeler
properly, this item is a true find. No, I haven't used it yet, but I KNOW
it'll save many a bacon and several prop tips. I consider it a vital adjunct
to any new Driver, Airframe who wants to put rubber to the floor safely
every time. With practice, anyone can plop a Stearman onto the lawn and
almost relax. The Europa takes a smidgen more dancing feet, and the nouse
to go around when the airspeed (Angle of Attack) is wrong. Part of that
intelligence can be gleaned from Graham's foresight.
It's worth considering if you feel you (or yours) might make use
of a
touch more awareness at round-out.
Just a thought...........
Ferg
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