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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