Technical
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Tips & News
REF: FAA Order 8130.3E-- January 23, 2003
(19) After incorporating a major change as
described in § 21.93, the aircraft owner is
required to reestablish compliance with §
91.319(b) and notify the geographically
responsible FSDO of the location of the proposed
test area. The aircraft owner must
obtain concurrence from the FSDO as to the
suitability of the proposed test area. If the
major change includes installing a different
make and model of engine or propeller, the
aircraft owner must fill out a revised Form
8130-6 to update the aircraft's file in the FAA
Aircraft Registry. All operations must be
conducted under day VFR conditions in a sparsely
populated area. The aircraft must remain in
flight test for a minimum of 5 hours or for the
time the FSDO assigns. Persons nonessential
to the flight must not be carried. The aircraft
owner must make a detailed logbook entry describing
the change before the test flight.
Following satisfactory completion of the required
number of flight hours in the flight test
area, the pilot must certify in the records
that the aircraft has been shown to comply with §
91.319(b). Compliance with § 91.319(b)
must be recorded in the aircraft records with the
following, or a similarly worded, statement:
"I certify that the prescribed flight test hours
have been completed and the aircraft is controllable
throughout its normal range of
speeds and throughout all maneuvers to be
executed, has no hazardous characteristics
or design features, and is safe for operation.
The following aircraft operating data has
been demonstrated during the flight testing:
speeds Vso ______, Vx ______, and Vy
______, and the weight ______, and CG location
______ at which they were obtained."
EVALUATION OF THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER FOR RAF
Recently, one of my students
returned for some additional flight training.
After having spent several hours
training with three different instructors in
RAF machines, mine included,
he became very frustrated with his lack of
progress and had decided to
postpone more training. Upon his return I
learned he had added a horizontal
stabilizer to his RAF. This gave me an
opportunity to make my own evaluation
of this controversial equipment.
Within four hours training,
this student who had such prior difficulty with
unstable pitching was making
good, consistent take off and landings. This
was accomplished in 10-15 mph
wind, some cross wind. .
The following is my evaluation
of the horizontal stabilizers affect in various
maneuvers:
I. Take off and landings with
flights over the runway in and out of
ground effect at 50 to 75 mph.
Very stable, no up or down pitch
tendency. Any uncontrolled vertical
movement was noted to be flat,
no pitching.
2. Vertical descents and turns
with low and high power settings at
various airspeeds were flat
and stable with no pitching.
3. At 400 feet reduce power
to zero thrust, maintain 60 mph descending
through 180 degree turn, flare
to land. The rate of descent felt normal,
very solid throughout the maneuver.
One significant difference was in
the flare. With out the horizontal
stabilizer, the procedure I teach is a
two stage flare with the initial
flare for transition from a descent to
a horizontal flight path over
the runway in ground effect. As the
airspeed bleeds off the final
flare is performed. Of course each time
you move the cyclic the nose
does its up and down pitching . With
the horizontal stabilizer, the
landing can be accomplished with one
flare and is much easier for
the student to master.
During my evaluation flight I
did not encounter any negative effects of the
horizontal stabilizer, even
in steep climbs and steep turns. I first flew the
RAF with the stabilizer, then
flew my RAF without a stabilizer, paying
particular attention to the
nose up and down motion. While it's natural for
an experienced pilot to adjust
to this motion, you can't expect this from the
student.
With so much experience, it's
very easy for instructors to instinctively
compensate with minor adjustments
that are beyond a students level of skill. Using a horizontal stabilizer
will enable students to achieve good,
safe, flying skills with less
frustration and fewer hours of training. I see no
reason for it to take 25 hours
of training to fly a gyroplane. Over the last
twenty five years, I've trained
several hundred students in fewer hours using Benson style gyros with no
enclosures. Instability in the rotor craft has a direct impact on the students
confidence that he or she will be able to
successfully learn to fly the
gyroplane.
Ron Menzie
CFI Designated Pilot Examiner
I have been flight training in my RAF 2000 for seven years now and like most RAF owners I've experienced a lot of up-grades. Recently I installed a shock absorbing independent wheel landing suspension built by Don Parham.THE SOFT TOUCH
Landing gear
As an instructor, I experience some hard landings by students. Standard RAF rigid landing gear allows all
of the re-bound shock to be transmitted through the airframe to the rotorblades. Over a period of time this
can create fatigue problems.
The addition of the new suspension is easy to retrofit.
I suggest extending the width of the gear to 6 feet,
measured outside to outside of wheels. This extra width adds a lot of roll stability. I was concerned about
having the aircraft lean in a turn when taxiing but the total suspension travel at the shock is 2 ½ inches.
Most of this is compressed with the aircraft's total weight which prevents the leaning during taxi turns and you still get the benefit of smooth taxiing. Landings are very comfortable, even the harder set down landings. In my opinion, this suspension does for take off and landing what the horizontal stabilizer does for flight safety. Below are my comparison findings.With new suspension and additional width, 6 ft total
1. Lift off stability, especially during a roll (cross-wind)
both wheels maintain contact as the aircraft lifts allowing better roll and yaw control . Shows the same increased stability for cross-wind take off and landings.With standard rigid gear 5 ft. wide
2. At start of lift off with a cross -wind, without enough cyclic control, the aircraft will skip across pavement causing flat spots on the tires and more importantly for the student decreases the level of confidence in his or her ability to control the aircraft.
Check the attached photos out !
Ron Menzie
Searcy, AR.
e-mail ronsgyros@townsqr.com
to contact Don Parham phone: 918 823-4610
? Certification of your Rotorcraft ?
