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Aviation History
1971
1971 - 0814.PDF
FLIGHT International, 20 Mar 1971 719 An aeroplane that a Cardinal could enter with dignity- The cabin floor is only 2ft, 60cm from the ground, and the 4ft, I '2m wide doors on either side provide almost direct access to the rear seats •- '~*t I ^SP' ft ami ''MIL • i 9^SS£* *E»v- • fTp'j •HHHnHHHML ' • lVH in»wii»wMHII Bill II •HHflHHHHRil ment. Although still warm from an earlier flight, the engine started easily. Mixture was kept full lean for starting, and duly enriched immediately afterwards. A moment later the engine died and no amount of cranking would revive it. Then we discovered that I had efficiently switched the fuel, which had been left ON following the previous flight, to OFF. Nevertheless, subsequent cranking through every conceivable permutation of mixture, throttle and fuel-pump activity failed to produce even a cough. An engineer stuck his head through the door, "did something" and theri a few cranks sufficed to produce a healthy roar. Unfortunately, the manifold pressure gauge proved to be acting somewhat erratically but, because of the limited opportunity, we decided to make the most of the situation there and then. The weather was also poor, gusty with a solid cloud base at a little over 2,500ft, 760m. While we were taxying out between two rows of parked aircraft, the large area of perspex and the lack of wing struts made life very much easier. However, the heavily raked wind screen pillars which contributed much to the sleek lines of the aircraft, closely paralleled my arc of forward head movement, so that a fair amount of craning was required to see round that blind spot; the brakes and steering were precise. With four-up, moderate radio equipment and third-full tanks we had a good load, but were still about 3001b, 136kg below maximum. Zero-eight at Fairoaks is not the smoothest of runways but with 10° of flap and the stick held right back, the aircraft was off the ground at 65 m.p.h., 104km/hr IAS and well within the 600ft, 183m book distance for the weight. Speed built up rapidly and took us through circuit height while I was still thinking about the ease with which the aircraft was kept straight down the runway. The undercarriage takes lOsec to retract. The system is a simple one, operated by a small knob within easy reach •••MM a. •fi;'1 IBB Photography by TOM HAMILL and indicated by single green and red lights activated by the locking mechanism. All wheels retract rearwards, so that a noticeable tail-down change in trim occurs. By the time the effect is felt, however, the aircraft is likely to have built up more than enough speed to nullify it. During the climb, I had time to take in the magniflcance of the visi bility, full 360° vision being provided by the rear window. Downward and horizontal view is unbroken by any struts and, with the windscreen reaching back almost over our heads, the Cardinal comes close to overcoming high-wing blind spots. Hunting around for the photographic aircraft, we found ourselves skimming the cloud-base in good carburettor- icing conditions—if we had had one to ice up. The engine was noisy, perhaps slightly more so than the average Cessna and I felt that, unless throttled back to maximum- range setting, it could prove uncomfortable over long distances. But then noise is a trait of most sports cars and Cessna views the RG as the "sports car" of its aircraft range. In keeping with a sports car, the RG is manoeuvrable. Stick response is rapid and precise. In reply to my comment on this, Jose offered to show me just how manoeuvrable. Taking control, he executed as neat and rapid a barrel roll as I have experienced in any aircraft, aerobatic or not. Also like the average sports car it keeps a tight hold on corners, yet is stable enough to give something of that "big aeroplane" feel. Moderate turns are very much "feet-off"— perhaps a touch of inside rudder to check the very slight slip. A lot of bank is required to induce much slip, but once in a steep turn, a lot of muscle is required to keep the nose up. The fully movable tailplane feeds considerable pressure back to the stick. The normal lie of the control column is about one-third out from the panel so that stick movement away from this point, either forward or back-
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