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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0282.PDF
178 FLIGHT, 15 February 1951 SKYJEEP In the Air . . . tapered, it is no trouble to look to one side or the other. Therudders have virtually no effect on the ground, even if a burst of engine is used, so one must manoeuvre entirely with the aidof brakes. The technique can be learned quickly enough, and the Goodyear brakes operate smoothly. However, there is cer-tainly a good case to be made for fitting a steerable tailwheel. Next, about take off. The check, for flying solo, includesrudder-trim neutral, elevators a fraction back, fuel tap (on the floor, centrally) in the fore-and-aft position, and flaps about15-20 degrees. No throttle friction-nut is needed. Permission to line-up and take-off was obtained from Gatwicktower, and I was all set to go. On opening-up into wind, there was no appreciable tendency to swing, and acceleration is rapid.The tail comes up quickly and sufficient rudder control, if used coarsely, is then available to make one feel positively in chargeof direction. During the early stages of the run—or on the landing run—a touch of brake would probably be required tocheck a swing should one develop. The aircraft climbs away at a steep angle, the rate at the reduced a.u.w. being about 800ft/min. On the climb the general feel of controls is better if the speed is kept up at 75-80 m.p.h. The flap can be wound in atany convenient time, as sink and trim-change are negligible. At speeds of less than 100 m.p.h. in level flight the controlsare not very well harmonized. The elevators are quite sensitive and light; the ailerons are rather heavier (the linkage is probablyin part to blame and will, I am told, be better on production aircraft) and they are sluggish in effect. Different again are therudders, which are light to move but call for coarse use and have a distinctly woolly feel. When cruising normally at about 115 m.p.h. the controls—particularly the rudders—feel better, and the aircraft is very stable fore and aft. Laterally it is said to be neutrally stable andthis means in practice that the wings must be held level. An attempt to fly hands-off, after trimming with the well-designedlevers provided on the throttle box, results in straight and level progress for a short period until a wing starts to drop. Thisis followed by increased drop, a skid towards it and, eventually, a descending turn of a sort in that direction. Apparently inslight contradiction, if trimmed in an accurate medium turn in either direction, the aircraft will hold the turn, hands off, forseveral seconds without an appreciable change in angle of bank. Gentle turns can be made fairly accurately with the use of stickalone at cruising speed. The Skyjeep is not aerobatic, nor should it be spun, althoughrecovery from a spin is normal. It is difficult to stall with power '" Flight " photogvaph. Any standard stretcher can be loaded smoothly over the rear fu lage of the Skyjeep when the hinged decking\tULPised. off, due to the restriction on the backward movement of thestick and, unless the nose is pulled up into a mild whip stall, a sort of controlled sink results at speeds between 55 and 45m.p.h., depending upon the amount of flap used. Rudder control fades out before the sink begins, but the aircraft flies more or lessstraight until the throttle is opened and then momentarily swings to starboard until the slipstream gives back some rudder effect.Recovery from the stall is rapid. No one is likely to get into trouble on gliding turns, howeversteep they may be, for here again the stick is on its back stop before the nose can be held up or the turn tightened up unduly,and rudder is not powerful in its effect at the speeds (70-80 m.p.h.) involved. When doing its normal work of flying a load from A to B, theSkyjeep is smooth and comfortable, not tiring to fly, and offers a very good all-round view. The performance figures quotedappear to be accurate, or even slightly conservative. After several power-off and power-on stalls with variousdegrees of flap had been tried, and shown the Skyjeep to be docile and viceless, it was time to return to Gatwick. In passing,I may add that I always find traffic control excellent at Gatwick, instructions being clear and to the point, and the controllersmost helpful. That is not to say that my experiences have been otherwise elsewhere. A surface wind of approximately 10 kt was blowing about8 deg off the runway, and on the approach two things were at once apparent; first, that the pilot's view on the final turn isbetter than with almost any other high-winged type I have flown, and secondly that even half flap would be sufficient forall normal purposes. Flap may be lowered as soon as the speed drops to 80 m.p.h., and thereafter the aircraft has a pronounceddescent rate unless engine is used. Controls are quite adequate all the way down, but unless conditions dictate otherwise, afairly fast approach, say 80 m.p.h., is more comfortable and the rate of sink is not quite so pronounced. The attitude of theaircraft under these conditions and with about 35 deg of flap is only slightly nose-down. If the speed is allowed to get low,even when flying solo, the round-out must be rather abrupt. After a very short hold-off, and with stick hard back, the Sky-jeep touches down very smoothly on three points. Presumably with more load aft, the tail would go down more readily. Thelanding itself is certainly as simple as one could hope for, and the aircraft showed no signs of swinging or bouncing, althoughthe runway was rough and muddy in patches for this trial. Before taxying in, I did a couple more circuits and tried apractice baulked landing from touch-down with full (45 deg) flap. The Skyjeep climbs away at once when the throttle isopened, and there is little change in trim. A momentary swing to the right is corrected without any trouble and the aircraftsteadies into a straight climb. Flap can again be wound off as soon as it is convenient. It is at times such as these that thehandiness of the Chrislea trimmers is appreciated. One or two miscellaneous points remain to be mentioned.The present very small solid-tyred t^ilwheel is to be replaced with an improved type, and an electric fuel gauge for the twowing-tanks will be fitted to production Skyjeeps. The tanks are interconnected and of the flexible bag type; capacity is 38gallons. The front seats are each to have car-type slide adjust- ment and, provided that the weight does not exceed 100 lb, twosmall perches for children can be placed behind the four adult seats. Although radio is an extra, full wiring and screening is incor-porated in all aircraft. Standard equipment comprises: standard blind-flying panel; eight-day clock; compass; electrical equip-ment with starter, generator, navigation, landing and cabin lights; dual controls; silencer; fire extinguisher; first-aid kit; signalpistol and cartridges; and tool-kit. CHRISLEA SKYJEEP DATA (155 h.p. Cirrus Major III) Dimensions and Loadings Span 36ft (/0,97 m) Length 22ft 2^ in (6,78 m) Height overall at wing-tips ... . ... ... ... ... m (2,13 m) Wing area (gross) .. ... ... ... ... ... 177sq ft (/6,44sqm) Wing loading at max. wt 14.4 Ib'sq ft (70,3 kg!m3) Wheel track 7ft (2,13 m) Weights Empty weight ' 1,623 Ib (736 kg) Disposable load 757 Ib (343 kg) Payload 469 1b (2/2 kr) Max. all-up weight 2,550 Ib (/ 156 kg) Performance at Maximum Weight Max. speed at s.l. ... » ... 126 m.p.h. (204 km/hr) Economical cruising speed ... ... ... ... 113 m.p.h, (182 km/hr) Stalling speed, flaps down 48 m.p.h. (77 km/hr) Take-off distance, wind 5 m.p.h. (8 km/hr), on grass ... ... 240 yd (219 m) Landing run, wind 5 m.p.h. (8 km/hr), on grass .. ... ... 160 yd (146 m) Initial rate of climb ... ... ... 550 ft/min (2.8 msec) Service ceiling 12,000ft (3 6657 m) Fuel consumpt., cruising r.p.m. ... ... ... ... 8 gall/hr (46 tit hr) Standard range, still air S09 miles (819 m)
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