Re: Because I can and its fun! :)
Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 9:59 am
[quote]short-coupled[/quote]
Looking at extremes is a good way to
understand stuff.
At one extreme is a taildragger with a
long distance from the main gear to the
tail, especially if it has a very large vertical
fin. With some wind on the nose - either
from a headwind down the runway, or a
little airspeed - it's going to be very
aerodynamically stable in yaw. It's
going to want to weathervane strongly
and point into the wind.
At the other extreme is a taildragger with
a very short distance from the main gear
to the tail, especially if the vertical fin
is undersized. Look at some WWI aircraft
sometime. That airplane is going to display
very little interest in weathervaning and
will happily fly sideways.
Especially if the short-coupled taildragger
has a very large rudder (a factor we have
not yet considered) you can see that
combined with a small vertical fin, we
have an airplane that will happily fly
completely sideways, with the ball
fully deflected. The Beech 18 and
Maule M4 and Pitts come to mind.
A short-coupled taildragger with a
small vertical fin and large rudder is
going to do exactly what the pilot
tells it to do, which is generally a
very bad thing. As Curtis Pitts once
said, "there are no squirrelly airplanes,
only squirrelly pilots!"
Most pilots don't like an airplane like that
(cue "fire-breathing dragon" nonsense)
but it will handle a strong crosswind MUCH
better than a "weathervaner" that pilots
prefer, with a long distance from the main
gear to the tail, a big vertical fin and a
small rudder.
Anyways, by simply looking at a taildragger -
the distance from the main gear to the tail,
the size of the vertical fin, the size of the rudder -
I have a pretty good idea how it's going to fly.
But I'm a "BAD PERSON" - hell, yesterday I
jumped solo into a twin of a type I had never
flown before, no checklist, and off I went, so
I probably don't know very much.
Looking at extremes is a good way to
understand stuff.
At one extreme is a taildragger with a
long distance from the main gear to the
tail, especially if it has a very large vertical
fin. With some wind on the nose - either
from a headwind down the runway, or a
little airspeed - it's going to be very
aerodynamically stable in yaw. It's
going to want to weathervane strongly
and point into the wind.
At the other extreme is a taildragger with
a very short distance from the main gear
to the tail, especially if the vertical fin
is undersized. Look at some WWI aircraft
sometime. That airplane is going to display
very little interest in weathervaning and
will happily fly sideways.
Especially if the short-coupled taildragger
has a very large rudder (a factor we have
not yet considered) you can see that
combined with a small vertical fin, we
have an airplane that will happily fly
completely sideways, with the ball
fully deflected. The Beech 18 and
Maule M4 and Pitts come to mind.
A short-coupled taildragger with a
small vertical fin and large rudder is
going to do exactly what the pilot
tells it to do, which is generally a
very bad thing. As Curtis Pitts once
said, "there are no squirrelly airplanes,
only squirrelly pilots!"
Most pilots don't like an airplane like that
(cue "fire-breathing dragon" nonsense)
but it will handle a strong crosswind MUCH
better than a "weathervaner" that pilots
prefer, with a long distance from the main
gear to the tail, a big vertical fin and a
small rudder.
Anyways, by simply looking at a taildragger -
the distance from the main gear to the tail,
the size of the vertical fin, the size of the rudder -
I have a pretty good idea how it's going to fly.
But I'm a "BAD PERSON" - hell, yesterday I
jumped solo into a twin of a type I had never
flown before, no checklist, and off I went, so
I probably don't know very much.