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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2158.PDF
542 FLIGHT, 30 September I960 All dressed up for the SBAC display in two shades of brown and black and white trim the first D.6/180 looks attractive. Note the plastic spats, dorsal fin, large spinner and fairing housing the tailwheel damper oleo AUSTER D.6/180 in the Air By MARK LAMBERT No 132 of the Series SOME people swear by Austers;' others swear at them. Itdepends on which of the many permutations of sub-typesone knows and where one has tried to do what with them. I am in the annoying position of having hated every ordinaryclub Auster I have flown and liked each of the new variants the makers have asked me to fly—Agricola, Alpine, AOP.9 and, now,the D.6/180. The answer is, I think, that the very considerable improvements which Auster have introduced during the pastfour or five years have filtered very slowly through to the British clubs. The rough old Austers last so well. If the luxurious, nosewheeled Atlantic of 1958 had to fall bythe wayside, then the "D" series is a good way of attaining the same "executive" standard in a simpler way. The manypermutations of wings, seats, engines and equipment offered in these new aircraft were described in the air test report of the firstD.4 in Flight for May 6. The D.6 is the four seater and the D.6/180 has the Lycoming O-360 of 180 h.p., which gives acruising speed marginally better than that of the Tri-Pacer. The D.6 I flew, registered G-ARDJ, had a long (36ft) wingand a Macauley constant-speed propeller. With basic instruments and no radio it costs £4,335—cheaper than a Piper Caribbean,which has 30 h.p. less. Broadly, the D.6 is an Autocar, but it has the new engine, a cabin 2in wider, new instrument panel, cuffedstruts, plastic wheel fairings, metal wing-spars, butyrate dope finish, the newer, improved control surfaces, a dorsal fin and, mostwelcome luxury furnishings, heater and Cessna-type air vents. The cabin geometry is about the same as that of the Autocar,as are controls, flap lever, trim handle, heel brakes and, particu- larly, the cabin doorway. G-ARDJ looked attractive in whiteand two shades of brown, with black cheat-lines. The cabin was carpeted and sumptuously cushioned and much trim lining hadbeen added. I was the more disappointed to have to reacquaint myself with the mild gymnastics of climbing in, especially thehands-and-knees job of getting into the back seats over the folded front-seat backs. Once installed I was very comfortable, but the engine cowlinghid the ground ahead, the big liquid compass and its viewing mirror loomed in the windscreen and the wing root was so lowthat without bending down I could see only the inner halves of the wing struts. But Auster have not gone to the Americanlengths of blocking-in the roof and the clear plastic top surface was most useful both on the ground and in the air. Access andvisibility could only be improved by a radical change in cabin configuration. An excellent feature of the D.6 is its new, big, pale greyinstrument panel with black coaming, affording plenty of room for flight instruments and radio. G-ARDJ had full flight-panel,Narco Mk V and VI radios and cigarette lighter (bin smoking was still prohibited, pending re-routing of fuel lines). Switches andcatches were neatly arranged and throttle plunger and pitch vernier control emerged beneath the middle of the panel. Acomplete break-away from Auster tradition the new panel reallv brightens up the cabin. The fuel-tank selecter was on the floor, wellguarded and easy to operate; and the gauges for the two wing tanks were in the wing roots, clearly visible and apparentlyaccurate to the last gallon. The Auster bungee-sprung main undercarriage, with its some-times annoying resilience, has been retained; but the quarter-leaf tailwheel spring is now damped by a hydraulic strut. Bouncinesson the ground, particularly during the landing run, has been admirably reduced, but the main gear can still lead one a bit ofa dance on rough ground during take-off. I found the heel brakes strong, sensitive and comfortable to use. The D.6 could be turnedon one wheel with no difficulty and a spring connection between rudder and tailwheel greatly eased directional control while "free-wheeling." It was not powerful enough to overcome torque if the throttle was opened. The Lycoming engine with its dynafocal mountings was smoothand quiet and noise level was at all times reasonable—a great deal lower than that in any other Auster I have flown. Conversationwith slightly raised voices would be possible at climb power. I flew the D.6 unaccompanied, with 22gal of fuel and a quantity ofluggage in the rear seats making a take-off weight of about 2,2001b. Empty and gross weights are respectively 1,4981b and 2,5001b. Values I noted before take-off from a notice in the cabinwere: VNE, 160 m.p.h.; VNO, 125 m.p.h.; climbing speed, 80 m.p.h.; maximum flap speed, 75 m.p.h.; "clean" stall, 49 m.p.h.; "dirty"stall, 38 m.p.h. Maximum r.p.m. were 2,700 and 72 per cent cruising power came at 24in and 2,450 r.p.m. Full throttle heightwas 5.000ft. As I have remarked, taxying was pleasant, noise-level low andsuspension good on rough ground, but forward and sideways visi- bility was below par. The standard RAF take-off check, as usual,covered all requirements and the roof window gave me a view of the approach before turning into wind. Immediately afterapplication of full power, almost held on the brakes, the rudder became effective and there was no swing worth mentioning. Thetail rose sluggishly and we began to bound along on the hard washboard undulations of Fair Oaks airfield. The D.6 bouncedunhappily a number of times before finally deciding to leave the ground. Not wildly impressed with take-off behaviour, I was verypleased to see well over l,000ft/min immediately registered on the v.s.i. as I climbed away at 80 m.p.h. The rather unbuoyantbouncing was, I think, purely the result of undamped under- carriage bungee: the ground run was very short and I timedit twice at lOsec to an unstick at about 50 m.p.h. A take-off with part flap (there are only two settings now) was much more definite,but occupied exactly the same time and about the same distance. I crossed the upwind boundary on the westerly run at 300ft eachtime. Take-off power was 2,700 r.p.m. and 28in, the r.p.m. having a slight tendency to overspeed at full throttle. During the full-power climb the D.6 was pleasant to handle,but the propeller pitch control was very sluggish and the vernier feature consequently rather lost its usefulness. The few Macauleypropellers I have encountered have all tended to be sluggish and hard to set precisely. Elevator trim, of the standard Auster pattern,operates in the unnatural sense, is too high geared and, in this case, deposited a layer of grease on my hand every time I used it.I have to read the quadrant label every time I use an Auster trim control; habit-forming is required. Levelling off at 1,800ft a.s.l. with 24in and 2,450 r.p.m., Ireached an i.a.s. of 133 m.p.h.—8 m.p.h. above placarded VNO. The D.6 was comfortable, forged along straight ahead and couldbe flown hands-off or with stick or rudder alone. Trim was difficult to adjust, but once settled seemed to stay reasonably wellLateral stability was neutral, with no apparent control friction, and both pitch and directional displacements from trimmed cruiseproduced one firm phugoid, followed by a hesitation and a second, fainter, one. I timed the rate of roll from a steady 60° left bant;to passing 60° right bank, using aileron alone, as 4sec—wlucn
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