Imissed sun and fun was the glider wing there ? did they fly any demos?
thanks chris "building motorglider "Davis A160
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony S. Krzyzewski" <tonyk@kaon.co.nz>
Subject: RE: Firewall
> 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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