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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1491.PDF
647 The pedals do not have to be tilted too far forward, so that atightly laced ankle would not be chafed during constant braking. One characteristic I did notice was an apparent elevator over-balance at low speed with take-off flap. Though this was a little disconcerting at first, it was not dangerous or difficult to dealwith; and it has been proved that the characteristic is not diver- gent. The e.g. has been moved progressively aft in the full loadcondition back to 35 per cent of the wing cord aft of datum. Flying trimmed for 50 m.p.h. with 2,300 r.p.m. and — 5 lb intakepressure, no adverse effects were found by A.R.B. pilots. It is thought that shielding of the elevator horn balance by the tailplanemay be the cause. Austers have achieved very commendable load- carrying capability in the Agricola. The maximum useful load isno less than 38 per cent of the gross weight at present authorized. After a ten-minute flight to get the feel of the machine, I landedand taxied up to a loading hopper suspended from a boom on the control tower. While I sat snugly in the closed cockpit, fivehundredweight of pelleted fertilizer was dropped with a roar into the hopper through the permanently open circular hatch in theroof just behind my head. On take-off I could feel that I was carrying extra weight, but the flying characteristics seemed to beexactly the same, with high manoeuvrability still available. I made a dummy run at 70 m.pJi., at 20ft, with take-off flap and a fairamount of power. Having ascertained that this would satisfy the photographer on the ground, I made the live run in the same wayand opened the hopper doors to start dusting. As the fertilizer left I could feel no change at all in trim or control. The wholequantity was gone in seconds and I climbed steeply away after selecting "jettison" to make sure that it was all gone. A certainamount of dust percolated into the cabin during dusting, but this was because the prototype hopper is not fully sealed. In productionaircraft, of course, the hopper is lined with glass-cloth and com- pletely sealed off from the rest of the airframe. All parts of theAgricola are either sealed or protectively coated against corrosion. Because of dusting and photographic commitments during myflight, I had no time to try stalling the Agricola. During one landing, however, I did stall it about one foot off the ground.I first realized this when the wing dropped and one mainwheel touched down before the other. There was apparently no aero-dynamic warning of the stall and full control remained up to the The business side of the Agricola's spacious cockpit. The levers on and beside the throttle quadrant are, from left to right, carburettor heat, hopper opening, throttle, mixture and pitch controls. Below them are the flap lever and indicator and parking brake. Aft of these are the hand-operated fuel-pump and trim wheel. Instruments, magneto switches and E.2Acompass are disposed on the shallow instrument panel. "Flight" photograph last moment. An expedient finally chosen by Auster to providestall-warning is the American Safe Flight Instrument Corpora- tion's stall warning device with a stick-shaker, but this was notfitted in the prototype when I flew it. Speed dropped off very quickly when I closed the throttle and extended take-off flap, butthe two A.S.I.s, set high up at each end of the wide, shallow instrument panel, could be easily watched with the minimum eyemovement. The stalling speed is in any case very low, and dusting operations would normally be carried out at speeds comfortablyabove that of the stall. After peeling off from the photographic aircraft I held a steep turn with the stick well back and found thatI could pull quite a creditable amount of g without any sign at all of a stall or flick. During a series of peel-offs I was most pleasantlysurprised by the Agricola's very high rate of roll. At the time of my flight, the third production Agricola wasbeing dismantled in the final assembly bay for packing and dis- patch to New Zealand. Major components of the fourth wereready to take its place and further machines are to follow at short intervals.Leading data at 3,675 lb gross weight (bracketed figures denote "no payload").—Span, 42ft; length, 28.07ft; unstick distance in 5 kt wind,185 yd (55 yd); distance to clear 50ft in 5 kt wind, 440 yd (160 yd); initial rate of climb, 610ft/min (l,310ft/min); service ceiling, 10,500ft(20,000ft); max. speed at 1,000ft, 127 m.p.h. (136 m.p.h.); max. cruise at 1,000ft, 123 m.p.h. (132 m.p.h.); economic cruise at 1,000ft, 101 m.p.h.(115 m.p.h.); range at economic cruise, 218 miles (240 miles); stalling speed (flaps down, power off), 44 m.p.h. I.A.S. (35 m.p.h. I.A.S.);distance to land from 50ft (5 kt wind), 380 yd (245 yd); distance to land from 20ft (5 kt wind), 315 yd (205 yd); landing ran, 145 yd (90 yd).
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