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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0196.PDF
168 FLIGHT KEBRUAR 1948 Fairey Trainer in the Air The trainer was fitted with a four- blade airscrew when I flew it, and a strong gusty wind was blowing at the time. 1 tried solo flying from tne back seat and dual from the front, which is probably the way the trainer would be used by a flying school. Solo flying from the front cockpit is possible, but in view of the experimental airscrew I decided against this, although the lour-blader is said to be very little heavier than the metal two-blader. I have no doubt that several" reasons tor not fitting Plessey's small Coffman cartridge starter will be suggested— •nost, weight and complication—and, certainly, unless the cost of cartridges is low, schools with their dozen or more starts a day might find the wages of a tarmac hand cheaper. However, speaking as one who would turn down an aircraft which needed to be hand-swung as quickly as he would a car with no self- starter, I thought the Coffman starter on the Gipsy was most efficient and desirable—one long pull on the toggle, bang, and the engine was ticking over. Incidentally, tick- ing over is a true description because one important charac- teristic of the four-blade airscrew is its flywheel effect which results in unusually smooth running at all speeds. The trainer taxied and handled quite well on the ground in the high wind, although a third hand would have been useful. The simple mechanical brakes with a two-position fly-off lever are good for their type and provide effective, even differential, action through the rudder bar. They can be set at taxi or parking position, but there is no "off." Taxi position leaves the wheels free unless rudder is applied. The third hand was needed for extra brake, taxi position giving insufficient effect to turn down-wind under prevail- ing conditions. Directional control was good on take-off, and the Trainer unstuck quite sweetly. The field of vision was also very good from the rear cockpit, although it is still, of course, necessary to swing the nose to see straight ahead on the ground. The engine was a newly fitted Gipsy Major, but not a 10; however, the power output was much the same. The initial climb was good, but not, I think, up to the i;o2o ft/min claimed. This was probably due to being over-bladed and with standard pitch the four-blade air- screw is.probably more suitable for a 180/200 h.p. engine. Less twist on the blades would also allow the engine to develop its maximum r.p.m.—some 150 r.p.m. more than I could get. Best climbing speed seems to be about 70 m.p.h. • :, Useful Trainer Characteristics After levelling off at 3,000ft I tried some general flying and found the controls well harmonized. I would class them as good average. Cruising speed was a little over 100 m.p.h. and 1 obtained 128 m.p.h (indicated) all out. The stalling characteristics were very well suited to training work, being positive but very -gentle, and the drop-away "followed pronounced shuddering. If held in the stall, one or other wing drops gently into an incipient spin. Recovery from this or from a deliberate spin is immediate, and the rudder seems powerful under stalled or near-stalled con- ditions. This is also borne out by the ability to side-slip the Fairey trainer at an indicated speed of 65 m.p.h. almost as well as a biplane trainer—an unusual feature in such a machine. After getting used to the aircraft I tried a loop and roll off the top and found no difficulty in their execution. Sldw rolling was more of a problem because the position of the brake lever (left) and flap lever (right) is such that the knees cannot be moved out of the way to permit full aileron movement unless the feet are taken off the rudder pedals. I got very slowly round some ropey rolls in both A four-blade metal airscrew is an unusual feature on a Gipsy Major-engined light aircraft. The fairey Trainer is also equipped with a cartridge starter. directions, but without a lot of practice I should probably skid out of about half of them. The fault did not seem ] to be with the control surfaces, but with the restriction of aileron movement and, perhaps to some extent, the pilot's lack of practice with this type of prolonged roll (engine cut on back) on a light aircraft. I feel bound to add, in self defence, that other light monoplanes have not presented so much trouble. Control on the Approach A strong point ot the trainer is its control at slow speeds. The stalling speed is stated to be 50 m.p.h. with flaps down, but solo I was able to waffle around safely and under control at 45-50 m.p.h. indicated. I found myself tending to fly and approach too slowly according to the figures recommended, but seemed to have adequate control and speed margin. On closing the throttle to glide at about 65 m.p.h. there is a nose-up tendency to be trimmed out, and on lowering the flaps it becomes more pronounced, so that the com- ' bined effect is to cause the pilot to let speed become very low at one stage on the approach. The flaps are set either up ©r down, and when down they have a powerful effect. Even after allowing for the strong wind, the landing seemed rather surprising, touch-down speed being very low indeed, 40-45 m.p.h. indicated, and good control remained until the last moment. This was a pleasant feature and the addition of a passenger for a circuit or two had little effect on the feel or performance of the machine. Vision from the front cockpit was excellent. Certain details are worthy of comment, such as the elevator trim lever which moves horizontally in a small ^ quadrant on the port side. This, however, is to be replaced by a trimmer wheel. The panel layout is simple and good, and the future substitution of the full standard blind-flying panel should be a simple matter. Sliding canopies over both cockpits are now to be standardized (the front one is at present hinged) and a starboard-side wing-walkway is to be provided. I thought the movable hood sections might well be stiffened up and better latches and slides provided. Ventilators are in future to be fitted in the starboard side only. Personally, I have little use for air scoops in the Perspex screens, and feel that latches holding the sliding canopies at one- and two-inch open positions are preferable on a primary trainer. A small extra ventilator is provided in front of the rudder bar in the front cockpit. Fuel tanks each holding 12 gallons are positioned in the wing roots The gauges'on top of them can be read without much difficulty. Either one separately or both can be selected on the fuel cock. Endurance is 3 hr 40 min; range 395 miles. Other fitments in mind for the trainer are map-holders in each cockpit, improved seat-raising handles, detachable Sutton harness and a control column re-rigged farther aft. (The Fairey four-blade airscrew is also referred to on page 189.)
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