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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 1203.PDF
AUGUST 5XH, 1948 FLIGHT 145 heater control, and nosewheel release on enclosed quad-rants. The elevator trimmer is a \viieel. in the vettjeal plane on the side of the pedestal, its' indicator beinga small pointer beside it. ,. •*• The occasion of my flight was one of" those rare,extremely hot summer days, and although allowances must be made, it would seem that if the Promotor isto operate in hot or tropical climates additional cabin ventilation would be needed. Mr. Gerben Sonderman, Fokker's chief test pilotand personal pilot to Prince Bernhard, relaxed in the back seat with another passenger while I prepared totake off. He suggested that, if need be, I should think of him as a talking instruction manual. After a systematic take-off check I turned into wind,released the nosewheel steering and opened up. I did not detect any tendency to swing on the rather pro-longed take-ofi run, and at a little over 50 m.p.h. I HHMP61® ili^BI^—t eased the nosewheel off the rround and almost imme- ""^^™diately became airborne. A light wind was blowing at the time, and I had used take-off flap, a positionindicated by a small yellow tell-tale lamp. y For the first hundred feet until the wheels and flapwere retracted climb was rather slow, but the aircraft soon settled down to a very stable initial ascent atabout 700 ft/min, with a forward speed of about 80 m.p.h. Although they are neat and compact, I did not thinkmuch of the flap and undercarriage knobs. Their posi- tion on the panel below the control column is notparticularly convenient, and the need to centre one before the other could be operated would be betteravoided by self-neutralizing controls. For hydraulic services of this .sort I prefer a small, strong lever witha positive action. The automatic emergency nosewheel steering release, which comes into action when thewheels are retracted, is a sensible fitment. For the first twenty minutes of our flight I was con- The unusual wing form and wheel retraction is apparent in this peel-off tent to feel the general behaviour of the Promotor picture. The airscrew spinner had been removed. while the accompanying photographs were taken, but later I made steep and medium turns to confirm my impressions. First it must be said that the machine is parti- A.S.I, dial for indicating the correct speeds of operation. cularly stable in all axes. As far as harmonization of controls Before returning to Langley I put the Promotor into a is concerned the rudder is rather woolly, while ailerons and medium dive to feel the controls at speeds between 150 and elevators are rather heavier than I would have thought neces- 170 m.p.h., which is nearing the speed limit set for the sary on this type of aircraft. However, they are pleasant machine. All the controls remain quite pleasant to use, and enough and the aircraft is quite large, being, in fact, in the the coarse-pitch stop of the automatic v.p. airscrew' was Proctor class. The rudder hardly needs to be used in normal reached at about 150 m.p.h. downhill. flight as the machine turns quite accurately on wheel alone At about go m.p.h. on the approach to land I lowered the and only needs checking for skid and slip on quick changes of wheels and then selected take-off flap position. The Promotor direction. The elevator trimmer might well be higher geared retained its speed well at about 100 m.p.h. throttle back, to give more effect for small movements. until wheels and flaps were lowered, which would seem to The Promotor is at its best on cross-country flights, the indicate a clean exterior in spite of the rather low cruising purpose for which it is built. The view for pilot and passen- and maximum speeds attained. It may be that there was gers is quite exceptional, the comfort is of a high order, while some small error in the A.S.I., as I think it unlikely that the the noise and vibration levels are low. The stability already maximum speed was highei than 130 m.p.h., whereas the mentioned reduces the work of the pilot to little more than makers' figure is 141 m.p.h The absence of the airscrew that of a "look-out." The cruising speed at 2,200 to 2,300 spinner could hardly account ior the discrepancy, r.p.m. was in the region of no m.p.h. I.A.S. Coming in for the final approach I selected full flap and Like most modern aircraft in its class, this machine has a found that as much as quarter throttle was desirable to pre- viceless stall There is no particular warning of its approach vent the rate of descent becoming uncomfortably high. The other than the general wallowing tendency and lack of ete- best speed seemed to be about 75 m.p.h., dropping to 65-70 ••valor control. Ailerons continue to have some effect after m.p.h. over the boundary The landing wa surprisingly the sink has commenced. From all normal attitudes the stall easy, and the excellent vision from the cockpit was particu- is gentle and more or less straight, but if the nose is pulled larly appreciated. As far as I know, I flew the Promotor up high there is a more pronounced wing drop. With flaps on to the ground at approximately 55 m.p.h., the nosewheel and wheels up the stall occurs at about 58 m.p-.h., with load touching down at the same time as the main wheels. Although a few hundred pounds under the maximum. With-engine-off, it is customary with some nosewheel aircraft to land tai) flaps down the stalling speed is about 50 m.p.h. Fokkers down and later rock forward on to the nosewheel, I am tolc are another company sensibly to add their name to tbe list that the three-point touch-down suits this machine best. Cer of those who use the coloured quadrant system aroundVthe ta^nly the arrival was perfectly comfortable. •* It wfcijld have been possible to come to a standstill quite FOKKER F.2S PROMOTOR DATA \ quickly %y 'making heavy use of the brakes, but as there 190 h.p. (1.550 r.p.m.) Lycoming O-435-A Flat Six ^? n0 reagon for thig j aljowed the machme to roll on and s^ 3jft 4jn fouml it kept quite straight without any assistance from Length ... ".'. '.[', .]'. '." ..'. ,,'. •'.'.] ... ... 28ft contraj»v The liquid-spring undercarriage behaved very well, Wi'nht "' " ~ "" •' "•" '" '" 8ft8in - but seemed to me to be slightly on the hard side for the well- WeighVempty '"'" 2 11*5 I b baked grass runway. It is understood that Dowty's intendTotal weight ... "L '.'.'. '.'.'. .'.'. '.'.'. ... Z. .'.'. 3,'l40 ib to soften the springing. Having come to a standstill and Wing loading ... .„ ... ... 16.3 Ib/sq fc retracted flaps, I engaged tbe nosewheel steering and CTpetdtliv ^::;::: •;: ::: ::; ::: ;:: ...'"im^ "&°vc"back to.the tarm?c- k D Cruising speed at 3,3OOft at 60 per cent power 115 m.p.h. Charter companies operating the Fromotor as an air taxi «»nge with full tank (44 gal) 590 miles would find their passengers very agreeably surprised by the CUmb^ofjOOft' 5^*2 niin comfort and convenience of travel in this sort of aircraft. AsClimb to 6350ft "] '" '". ..'. '.'.'. ... • isll min no direct competitor is built in Great Britain a limited number Service ceiiing II,150ft of import licences could probably be obtained. Sales to private Und??? ™'"ro windl over 5Oftob"»cle !«yj owners are handled bv Fritz Diepen Vliegtuigen N.V., Ypen- ^"E run, zero w.nd, over 50ft obstacle 385 yd ^ Aerodrome Ri swijk (The Hague). - ^ r ...^ <
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