When the ground is soft or rough the rolling resistance can be far more
significant than prop or engine. This is easily observed by the
increased rpm needed just to get the aircraft moving from a standstill.
Nosewheels in particular can suffer over soft or rough terrain.
Taildraggers or monowheels also have a small advantage in that the
positive wing incidence provides lift even from fast taxi speeds
reducing wheel loading and therefore rolling drag.
In the particular case in question the monowheel was using a ground
adjustable prop and the 80hp engine. I do not know the trigear
configuration but it was unlikely to be disadvantaged in this respect.
Nigel
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-
> server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of BEBERRY@aol.com
> Sent: 28 November 2005 14:42
> To: europa-list@matronics.com
> Subject: Re: Europa-List: wheel landings [was: Flying a heavy Europa
XS?]
>
>
>
>
> Another benefit of the monowheel over the trigear is when it comes to
> strip operation. When the grass is soft conditions can prevent the
> trigear getting airborne due to increased rolling drag. This was
proved
> when the trigear demonstrator was flown into a grass strip in
northern
> England. With two on board it proved impossible to reach rotate speed
on
> take-off. The only solution was to leave the passenger behind. On the
> same day the monowheel operated two up with no
> problems....................
>
> Nigel Charles
>
>
> Interesting Nigel - but what about the respective propellers? I
would
> have
> thought that props would make a lot more difference to acceleration
than
> the
> type of undercarriage.
>
> Patrick
>
>
>
>
>
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