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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0288.PDF
FLIGHT FEBRUARY 8TH, 1945 Simpler Firing A' Part II of Mr. Weick's Account of Four Years' Experience With the Ercoupe (Concluded, from page 125.) Tahing-off.—The technique for taking-off has appar- ently been acquired quickly and without special effort. The start of the take-off run usually is made with the wheel in the neutral or medium position. To take ofi the ground it is necessary to increase the angle of attack of the wing by lowering the tail, and this is usually done by moving the control wheel back gently.after the minimum take-off speed has been exceeded by a comfortable margin. It is possible to have the aircraft take-off by itself, with no force applied to the control wheel, by setting the longi- tudinal trim adjustment to a nose-up (or low-speed trim) condition. The shortest take-off run is ordinarily obtained by hold- ing the control wheel full back throughout the entire ground run. The tail will not come down until flying speed has been attained. The wheel should be eased forward as soon as the aircraft leaves the ground, however, or the nose will point up too steeply for good climb and it may drop back again momentarily with some loss of alti- tude. In taking off cross-wind or in gusty air, it is advisable to keep the control wheel well forward, which holds the nose wheel firmly on the ground, until the desired take-off speed has been reached, and then to take off decisively and without hesitation. The aircraft may weathercock into the wind just as it leaves the ground, but this need cause no concern. It is merely adjusting itself to true flight with respect to the air, and a straight course of travel is main- tained without difficulty with the aircraft then in the crabbed position made necessary by the cross wind. Turns on Take-off In a few cases Ercoupes have been known to turn or change heading slightly when they leave the ground, even though there is no cross-wind. This is an indication that the linkage connecting the ailerons, rudders, and nose-wheel is out of adjustment. All these are moved simultaneously by the control wheel and they must all be at their respec- tive neutral positions at the same time. The nose-wheel will control the direction of the take-off run, and if the ailerons or rudders are deflected from neutral when the -aircraft is running straight along the ground, they will naturally tend to bank or yaw the air- craft when it leaves the ground. It is therefore necessary that proper adjust- ment of the linkage be maintained, a simple matter when the requirements are known. Some difficulties have been experi- enced in connection with take-off runs in muddy fields. In the original design all three wheels were supported in closely-fitting forks designed to have low drag and to scrape off the mud in the manner of a lathe tool. Although these appeared to work fairly well in the early tests, when the aircraft went into general service some forms of mud were encountered which acted effec- tively as brakes and" stopped the rota- tion of the wheels entirely. A modified form of rear landing gear in which the forks have been eliminated was incorporated in the last few air- craft produced, and these appear to eliminate the mud clearance difficulties or the rear wheels. We also have a new single-prong fork with large tyre clearance designed for the nose-wheel, but we have not yet had an opportunity to try it out. t Accidents during take-off have been of two types, thosedue to bad terrain and those involving collision with an object after the aircraft has left the ground. There have been four of each kind reported to the C.A.A., or an aver- age of one each annually per 100 aircraft operated. In two of the four due to bad terrain, the pilots started take- offs from strange unprepared fields without.troubling to check the surface condition, and in both cases they ran- into ditches. All four cases involved some landing gear damage, two to the main gear and two to the nose gear, but none involved injury to the occupant. In three of the four cases of collision after take-off, the aircraft hit a fence, resulting in some damage to the aircraft but no injury to the occupants. Sighting Lines Straight Flight.—Without the possibility of crossing the aileron and rudder controls, flying a straight course pro- perly has given no particular difficulty, once the new pilot has started steering for definite points. In a side-by-side aircraft with its off-centre seating it is often difficult to determine the exact direction-in which the aircraft is head- ing. As a minor aid to the pilot in this matter, particularly when flying a range of points, a longitudinal sighting line is now being provided directly in front of each occupant on the top of the motor cowling or hood. (This line will also help him to keep track of the true attitude of the nose in turns.) There have been some pilots, experienced on conven- tional aircraft, who have expressed a dislike for a slight yawing or " Sing " action that an Ercoupe may have while flying a course in gusty air. Of course, all aircraft follow somewhat irregular paths in gusty air, but in the case of the Ercoupe two conditions appear to aggravate it. First, when an Ercoupe has had considerable flying time the piano-type hinges of the rudders wear somewhat, especially if they have not been oiled and kept clean, and the rudders may be free to float within a deflection of a couple of degrees. Then small aileron deflections which may be used in an attempt to keep the wings level in gusty air or in making slight course corrections will cause adverse The Stearman-Hammond Y, used before the war by K.L.M. to train pilots for the tricycle Douglas D.C.5.
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