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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0539.PDF
22ND, FLIGHT 44" hvilraulic brakes would come as a" surprise. Howev*, there isno reason why he should not come to a safe standstill onthe ground. Before I tried to fiV the Acemvself, I had the advantage of softie dual instruction from Mr.R. F. Stedman, Chrislea's test pilot, who carefully demon-strated the take-off technique, the climb, steep turns and how-to come out of them smoothly, and finally the approach andlanding. Then, after a few minutes in the air using thedual wheel, we changed seats so that I could use the brakes A (Below) Mr. Stedman brings the 0 Ace into formation for this air portrait. and the accelerator pedal and fly from the left-hand side.The view from the Ace (which is, of course, a nose-wheel design) is exceptionally good and it is possible to taxy withgreat precision using the hand throttle and the hydraulic brakes. It is necessary to steady the control wheel with theleft hand to prevent it bouncing up and down against its stops, but no help in taxying is obtained as the elevators arenot required and the twin rudders and fins are outside the effect of the airscrew slipstream. ; Take-off Technique " For take-off the Ace must be carefully lined-up on the run-way and made to roll straight with the aid of the brakes. Before moving off, full left rudder trim (right-hand trim leverforward) and neutral elevator trim are set. About half flap is Ajered, a smart chromium-plated pointer neatly situated inMe starboard wing root indicating the number of degrees. The direct cold-air intake for the Gipsy Major X is opened, and theparking brake catch is pushed in. The brakes are then re- leased by a slight depression of the pedals and the Ace startsto move forward. As soon as any initial tendency to swing is checked withbrake, the throttle is opened smoothly and quickly and the control wheel held fully to the left until the speed has built-upsufficiently to give directional control on the rudders. When the throttle is fully openedthe feet are kept off the brakes. As soon as flyingspeed is reached the wheel can be brought back into thecentre and depressed slightly in preparation for leaving theground. At approximately 55 in.p.h. additional slight pres-sure downwards on the stick causes the Ace to leap off thegd i lip ground at quite an alarmingangle of climb, which, how- ever, is found to be quite .sale RUDDER AILERON An attractive impression of the Ace over the coast near Exmouth. and can be maintained with an ascentrate of at least a thousand feet per minute. For the inexperienced pilot, who hasprobably unstuck with slight rudder or aileron applied, the first 50 feet of climbis occupied with the checking of skid and yaw, but as Mr. Stedman showed,this is not the case with a pilot experi- enced on the Ace. The controls them-selves are extremely light, and, as one quickly finds out, the less one does withthe ailerons the better the Ace flies under all normal circumstances. Light spring-loading of ailerons and rudder to give more positive centring might be anadvantage. For the first few minutes of climb andlevel flying, both straight and on the turn, the needle and ball were chasing around in a most energetic manner, and for a pilot used onlyto conventional controls keen mental effort has to replace most instinctive actions for co-ordination of control movements.Two things occurred to me at this stage of the flight; first that there was a similarity between learning to fly the Ace straightand level and flying the Sikorsky 51 helicopter. In each case, the pilot feels that he has one extra control to cope with, andalthough he knows how to apply rudder, elevator or aileron, he has to think about each movement inoividually, and theresponse is usually nearly but not quite what he expected. The other thought that crossed my mind was that for the veryexperienced instructor who wishes to remind himself of a pupil's difficulties of co-ordinating the movement of controlsat the ab initio stage, the first few minutes of straight and level flying in the Ace, particularly if the air is a little bumpy,will take him right back to his second or third hour as a pupil. By the end of an hour's flying*on the Ace, a pilot should beginto feel reasonably at home, and there seems little doubt that with five or ten hours' experience, flying with a three-movementwheel could seem quite normal and natural. To describe manoeuvres on the Ace in more detail it isnecessary to stress that the controls are very sensitive indeed, and so long as it is correctly trimmed the aircraft, to use auto-mobile terminology, will "self-centre itself" quite well. If one appears to Hfe getting a little involved with yaw and skida good way of getting things straight is to let go of thewheel momentarily, where- upon it will gently centreitself and the pilot would probably notice that he hadbeen applying some aileron pressure and at the sametime unintentionally trying to keep straight with rudder. Tomake a turn on the Ace is very simple indeed; all thatELEVATOR The three whsel-control movements of the Ace. is required is very slight sidepressure on the wheel in the
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