Re: Rudder Talk

[Alan Shaw <wingco@iu.net>]

Bob Ginsberg

> You are right in that Alan prefers to land with a crab.  The castering
> nosegear allows the plane to easily straighten out.

Not recommended.  In early testing I did it to see what would happen.
Luckily the engine weight on the back seems to prevent ground loop flip.
Sorry did not mean to give the impression that that's the way I always land
in a cross wind.My cross wind technique is to fly straight down the run way
line in a crab....no cross control...start flare and then straighten the
plane just before touch down...no sooner or latter.   No fooling around...
get it on the ground or do a go around.
I've never had a rudder "stall" that I know of and mine had 45 degrees of no
resistance travel.  My opinion, at the weight and speeds we are landing we
can not deflect the rudder that far against the air loads with this system.
A 1/2" less rudder cord and 1/2" more bell crank could be a very different
story.  Small changes in control leverages make big differences in handling
and have caught many designers (and test pilots) by surprise.

Alan Shaw