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Hi Mark,
Yes, when I had my hard landing back in February on hard
surface and it became apparent it was going to be VERY hard, all I had time to
do was suck the stick back into my belly as far as it would go. It flashed
through my mind in that brief second to keep the nose gear from tucking under -
so I Kept the nose gear (and my expensive new prop) high in the air when I
hit. In fact, on the second (high) bounce the rudder fairing contacted the
tarmac.
End result was the main gear took the damaging loads and
no damage to nose gear nor Prop. So while the training wheel up
front has some considerable benefits (I was able to get on the binders hard
enough to leave rubber for 300 ft during my aborted take off), there is the draw
back- in that you don't want to hit on it hard enough to cause it to
tuck. A depression in a grass runway ditto. And anytime
operating on anything other than a hard surface you have to be aware
of the potential hazards of holes as mentioned by several. Applies to tail
draggers and nose wheel types as far as that goes.
Another thing I did was back in 1998 when Van offered a
beefier nose gear due to a few RV-6A nose gear failures, was to replace the old
gear and add stiffeners to the nose gear as well as the main gear. When
first landing with the beefier nose gear, I had the sensation that the nose
wheel was "tucking" and adding the stiffener eliminated that.
When I examined the damage to the main gear, the
fiberglass reinforced wood strips used as stiffeners were broke - but, they may
have been the margin that kept worst from happening. I had expected to see the
impressions of the top of my wheel pants in the underside of the wings
{:>)
However, I acknowledge that Van now says the stiffeners
are no longer necessary - but I like them. Your mileage may
vary
Ed A
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 9:00
AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Ed's
Brakes...
There was a similar
6A landing accident here in central Texas just a few weeks ago with a worse
outcome. When the nose wheel sank into some soft soil, the nut on the
front caught, bending the nose gear back, flipping the airplane onto its
back. Needless to say, there wasn’t much left that was airworthy.
Mark
S.
Lancair ES (large
nosewheel)
From: Rotary
motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of DLOMHEIM@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 5:30
PM
To: Rotary motors in
aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary]
Ed's Brakes...
> "But, with a
training wheel up front, you can reallllllyyyyy get on the binders hard
without worry".
Not wishing in
anyway to "nit pick" the above statement
but simply wanting RVers with "A" models to remember that
getting onto the binders too hard on grass could end up ruining your
day. About two years ago a local pilot landed his 8A on a
grass strip with some dips in it. He possibly was a bit too
hot and also long with the result that he really got onto the
"binders" which then caused the nose to squat down.
Simultaneously to this the nose
wheel encountered a shallow depression resulting in
the nose gear bending back and prop striking the soft
ground. Needles to say his flying ended for a next few days
until he ordered in a new front gear leg, repaired his front wheel
fairing, and installed a new prop.
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