FOCUS gear Mod.

[Terry Terrenoire]

I do not remember it's inception, and I disagree with it. While watching
a film of some full scale areobatics lately, I saw a full size ship land
with the tail wheel hitting the ground first! That makes the tail-first
landing "scale"!

Terry T.

On Fri, 28 Feb 2003 12:54:40 -0500 "Henderson,Eric"
<Eric.Henderson at gartner.com> writes:
> Gene,
>        "Dragging the tail" is an expression meant to indicate that 
> the nose is being held higher than usual. The idea being to create 
> high planform-drag and a desired slowing-down effect. To do a three 
> point landing or just have the mains touch first, you need to fly 
> the plane in slowly that way. I am sure I did not say "drag your 
> tail along the runway".
> 
> BTW - I never really understood the purpose of "that" rule. What was 
> it preventing??? Anyone old enough to recall its inception?
> 
>  
> Eric.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gene.maurice at attbi.com [mailto:gene.maurice at attbi.com]
> Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 12:44 PM
> To: discussion at nsrca.org
> Subject: Re: FOCUS gear Mod.
> 
> 
> Eric,
> 
> I was under the impression that "dragging the tail in" is a no-no. 
> 
> Per the rule book:
> "Landing. The landing maneuver will start two (2)meters from the 
> ground. The 
> model flares smoothly to a nose-high attitude, dissipating flying 
> speed, then 
> smoothly touching the ground, within the landing zone, with the main 
> wheels 
> first, with no bouncing or changes in heading after touch down. The 
> nose wheel 
> on a tricycle gear and the tail wheel on a conventional gear (unless 
> a three 
> (3) point landing of mains and tail wheel touching simultaneously is 
> executed)
> should settle gently to the ground after a brief rollout."
> 
> Am I mistaken?
> --
> Gene Maurice
> gene.maurice at attbi.com
> NSRCA 877
> AMA 3408
> > I would suggest using a swept landing gear al la Hydeout or 
> Temptation. I tried 
> > a set of retract wings on a Focus and noted a couple of inches 
> difference in the 
> > wheel positions. Also initial landings tended to bounce if you 
> came in too hot. 
> > The wheels work in the current position and you soon learn to land 
> it that way 
> > by dragging the tail in! . However the plane will bounce less if 
> you can sweep 
> > the gear back.
> > 
> > The problem, that you already identified, is that you have to 
> widen the gear 
> > plate to accommodate the wider U/C legs that are available in CF. 
> They put the 
> > gear plate as far back as they could - it almost touched the wing 
> - but the 
> > plate is tricky to widen.
> > 
> > My recommendation is to replace the existing plate with a plywood 
> box to stop 
> > the bolted part flexing. You could leave the trailing 1/4" rail in 
> place. Cut 
> > through forward to accommodate the wider U/C-leg-top. Fit a 3/16" 
> "box plate and 
> > glue to the   former as well. It is more work, but it is winter 
> and you will not > regret a stronger landing gear support on this 
> plane, plus it will be easier to 
> > score higher on landings..
> > 
> > Regards,
> > 
> > Eric. 
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: John Crozier [mailto:sjcrozier at comcast.net]
> > Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 10:43 AM
> > To: nsrca discussion
> > Subject: focus gear
> > 
> > 
> > Anybody using Bolly gear on the Focus?
> > I don't want to do major mods on the landing gear platform.
> > The Sukhoi style has been suggested, but I can't find it on the 
> Bolly web
> > site.
> > Is the swept back design of the F3A large too drastic?
> > thanx...croz
> > 
> > 
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