Hi David
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I am close to a zero time Mono pilot (perhaps 5 minutes of taxi time on a demo)
so I am far from one with first hand experience. , but did own a Cessna 170
taildragger
for 19 years and have flown various taildraggers along the way.
My perception of the Europa was that it has an extremely powerful tailwheel
steering,
just need to make sure you keep pressure on the tailwheel and "KEEP IT
STRAIGHT" because it does not have differential braking to save you if you let
things get out of shape (pointer target on windscreen not only helps learn how
to keep it straight, but can aid in landing additude). Whenever I fly a
unconventional
aeroplane (nosedragger), I always get strange looks and am questioned
why am I working so hard to taxi a fool aeroplane on the ground. When and if
the skygods decide to deal me conditions I would rather not be out in, this
technique can pay a handsome reward even in an unconventional aeroplane.
Other than that the only negative I had about ground handling of the XS mono is
the poor turning radius (XS stock bell-crank), but that is only a minor
inconvenience
that I have no problem dealing with.
Reading with great interest about your entry into the club of (those who have),
if you don't mind I would like to do a little armchair flying about 5 concepts
I have about ground handling of the mono. Please comment (comments from and
put me in my place if I am off base and set me straight.
1) Prior to purchasing my XS Monowheel, I read and spoke with folks about nosing
over on a mono and touching a wingtip and hurting the prop when you attempt
to use the brake if you are in any sort of turn at all (including losing an
outrigger).
I made a representative model with scale placement of the main wheel,
tailwheel and outriggers. It is quite obvious that if you are going other than
straight, any turning force moves the canter of gravity balance on the ground
to a more nose heavy configuration, the reason being is the outriggers are
aft of the main wheel and when side loads begin to load an outrigger, the net
result is moving your pivot point back. Being a long time mono pilot, this
should
be second nature to know not to hit the brake if in a turn? If you enter
a serious swerve, opposite rudder, kill power if you have mindset and take the
consequences without hitting the brake, unless you manage to get it going
straight.
This would be my plan, and I would practice in my mind that if I lost control,
this is what I would do. In other words practice making my reflex to not
hit the brake in the event of a swerve because of the well known consequences.
Is this the wrong thing to practice?
2) I think everyone is in agreement that you want to keep weight on the
tailwheel
so you have effective steering. When you taxi downwind, you don't need very
much power. When you taxi downwind the airflow will be going over the stabilator
in the reverse direction to normal flight if your taxi speed is less than
the wind speed. If that is the case then you do not want your stabilator full
aft because that reverse airflow will in fact reduce the pressure on the
tailwheel.
On many tailwheel aeroplanes you would want full forward stick to get maximum
downpressure on the tailwheel with reverse airflow over the stabilator.
Several high time mono pilots say although this is true, if you add significant
power you could reverse the flow, so they settle for perhaps neutral stabilator
just in case you add a lot of power and forget to pull stick full aft. What's
your thoughts on this practice?
3) I was planning on putting my bird in various amounts of wind with a direct
tailwind
and also a quartering tailwind and measure tailwheel force with no power,
taxi power, and a larger amount of power to try and figure out optimal technique
of keeping the tailwheel planted. Did you, or anyone test this? What were
findings?
I was going to do the same test with a quartering wind and measure the effect of
full into the wind and full downwind ailerons. Motor off, stiff quartering
tailwind,
main on a greaseplate and tailwheel on a skateboard to allow EZ weathervaning.
4) Again we all know we are at a disadvantage with a mono because we don't have
differential braking. When getting nailed with a right quartering tailwind, the
nose will want to swing right. Adding a little left brake is a desirable thing.
Thus keep the stick full left aileron so reverse air will push the right
wing harder downwind than the left wing which should be the equivalent to a
token
amount of left brake. This is standard for many taildraggers. Is there a reason
it should not be standard practice on a mono? It also puts a token amount
of downforce on the upwind wing.
5) I am at a loss when I look at the cable tension for monowheel steering. I may
be missing something, but with the standard XS set up, why would anyone ever
consider having anything else than precompressed springs that should allow for
the most precise control? It seems anything other than precompressed springs
would be like driving a car with a worn rack and pinon steering mechanism with
a lot of slop between engagement of left and right movement of wheels.
Is there something I am missing?
Again I have no practical experience and wish to learn from others on best
practices
and techniques.
Sincerely
Ron Parigoris
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