Hi all,
I have had a number of "off forum" emails wondering why after nearly
800 hours of monowheel time am I changing to a conventional tail
dragger. Well the reason isn't anything sinister, where I have simply
given up on trying to land the darn thing !!
There are a few things that have prompted my down this route. I had
been doing a bit of research on the topic and it was becoming apparent
that there might not be a drag penalty with conventional gear,
actually after exchanging a few emails with Duncan I am beginning to
think that conventional gear might even have less drag.
Another advantage is that on the ground cooling is much improved. I
find I have a bit of a problem with oil temps bumping up near 250 f
in the summer time.
A few other factors are playing into it, my daughter is wanting to fly
the aircraft and I just can't get comfortable with the idea of her
having to come up to speed with landing it on the pavement. I think I
was probably 100 hours in before I started to feel comfortable.
Getting hull insurance on it with her as PIC would be near impossible.
Why not a Tri gear ? I am not prepared to pay the 40 pound weight penalty
What finally ticked me off was last September the port out rigger
jammed up, I realized it as the aircraft was rolling out so I flicked
the wing up, got it to lock but the violent action caused me to swing
the aircraft around to 90 degrees on the runway and I got a propeller
strike. It was minor, just grazing two blades by a few mm, but it
still put me out of action for 6 weeks and $1500.00 in the hole
I was so irritated by this that I promptly ordered a tail dragger
conversion. The other thing that interests me is that I suspect that
I can make it go faster. Without the wheel in place I can close up
the air outlet, and while I am about it re work the inlet, and re
route the exhaust. I am also speculating that the drag from the "half
wheel" exposed plus the opening is quite significant, perhaps more
than some nicely faired gear legs and wheel pants. Performance
numbers from Duncan suggest that this might be the case.
Lastly the electric flap drive will let get a little more flap travel
so I might be able to add a few degrees of negative reflex in the
flaps.
So, I guess I am going to be busy over the winter.
Cheers, Paul
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