REFLECTOR:Gear Up

Fred Marconi reflector@tvbf.org
Mon, 5 Apr 2004 00:51:37 -0400


  Dear Scott B:

  Well I was a little angry about the fork.  Mad Mike, before leaving was
very emphatic about changing the fork, he said there was a new one, much
better.  I called you on this specifically and you said everything was fine.
If there was a question, why did yu not call mad Mike to make sure
everything was OK.?   If not for wishing to center the wheel on the fork I
would not have noticed what was happening.  This is why the bolt did not
turn, I spoke to you about that as well.  In any event it's my fault for not
reading the V-News but then again what of the clients that are not
subscribed.  Well I have read the V-News but did not pick up on this.  On
another note if this is such an issue as with car companies that have
thousands upon thousands of clients, when a defect is noticed, they have
knowledge of who bought what and they notify the client directly.  There
should have been a record of when I bought the fork and what fork and if
this was such an issue to the well being of the client and the factory I
should have been notified by mail.  When it comes to sending me a bill there
is never a delay.  THAT VELOCITY KEEPS GOOD TRACK OFF.

   Scott on these issues the company need to take a greater role in
notifying the client.  YOu know how concientious I have been.  Rest assured
that if I would have recieved a note form Velocity on this I would have
taken action.  I did not hesitate to spend over $7000.00 for a new wing.  I
still love you, YOU ARE GREAT!

  Now on the brakes.  Really these Matcos are.....Well what can I say.  I
mean I can land in 2500' with as little experience as I have, but the brakes
do leave a lot to be desired.   It Chuck is right about the Clevelands the
company should not be recommending or selling the Matco's  We do not need to
be worried about overheating the brakes and damaging our main gear if there
is a better alternative.

  On a better note, I have 0.7 hours to go for the sign off.  The plane has
performed beautifully.  today I did alot of x-wind landings, at Pohokee I
landed with a 90 degree 15-18 mile x-wing.  I love how the plane handles.  I
love to fly this plane, it's a rush.

   I do have a problem with the s-Tec autopilot.  On the roll control the
plane bobs constantly from right to left.  The ailerons just keep on going
up and down.  The oscilations are small and very anoying.  Nathan had
adjusted the ailerons slightly down, after flying the plane they as 3/16" up
both.  I am going to tighten the cables and readjust the ailerons to a down
position.  What input do you have for me on this issue.  The climb and reach
altitude and level function was a complete orgasm.

  I practice on some high approaches on final and fast slow descent then
nosing down to 100 then smoothing her in.  This plane handles great!!!!
Would be interesting to see how she might perform with vortex generators and
fences.

  Fred
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: "Scott Baker" <sbakr@comcast.net>
  To: <reflector@tvbf.org>
  Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 7:27 AM
  Subject: Re: REFLECTOR:Gear Up


  > Fred,
  >     I don't think it's quite fair for anyone to criticize the factory
for a
  > busted nose wheel fork if it is of the old (smaller) design.  The
factory
  > has mentioned this time after time after time in the VV that the old
forks
  > should be replaced.  The factory subsidized the cost of the new forks.
If
  > someone is operating an old fork today - they are ignoring the warning
from
  > the factory.  So please don't lay blame on the factory for an "almost
  > mishap" when your older fork developed a crack.
  >     In regards to the main wheel getting stuck on the lip at the bottom
of
  > the wheel well.  This was caused as you know when the main gear leg
warped
  > when it became overheated after being exposed to the excessively hot
heat
  > from the brakes.  Overheated brakes and the problems that come from
  > overheated brakes has also been the subject of repeated articles in the
  > Velocity Views.  If you ride the brakes or do repeated hard braking, a
lot
  > of heat develops around the brake disk, which is then transferred to the
  > gear leg.  Too much heat leads to a softening of the gear legs.  And if
  > there is any stress on the gear legs when they are soft, the legs will
warp
  > to relieve the stress.  We need to a) understand that this situation is
  > possible, b) try to avoid overheating the brakes, and c) when the brakes
are
  > overheated, do something about it like throwing a wet towel around the
leg
  > and/or pulling the aircraft forward about 15' after it has been stopped
so
  > that the pressures on the gear leg are neutralized, and lastly d) look
for a
  > warped leg during the preflight, just in case a,b,and c have been
ignored.
  > If the wheel or lower portion of the gear leg looks crooked, the
geometry of
  > the gear has obviously changed - and therefore the clearances of the
gear
  > going into the wheel well will be changed and there is a possibility of
  > getting wheel stuck in the well.  The lip at the wheel well presents a
ledge
  > where hardware can catch and hang-up when this happens - so yes, I agree
  > with you that not having a lip is better than having a lip - but
eliminating
  > the lip does not eliminate the possibility of a stuck gear ... the tire
  > could easily wedge itself against the wheel well and the gear could be
stuck
  > to the point that it might not come down.  Again the root of this
paragraph
  > was overheated brakes and warped gear legs.
  >
  > ----- Original Message ----- 
  > From: "Fred Marconi" <fmarconi@bellsouth.net>
  > To: <reflector@tvbf.org>
  > Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 12:45 AM
  > Subject: Re: REFLECTOR:Gear Up
  >
  >
  > >   Scott:  Insurances for Velocity are provided at with a 10%
deductible.
  > At
  > > that I felt that it was not wise to take hull coverage.
  > >
  > >   Velocity has a bad record, and I have to say that this is in part
the
  > > factory's fault.  The initial fork that was used for the front wheel
was a
  > > bad desigh.  It took many accidents before they decided to change.
  > > Insurances did not forget this.  The landing gear system can be better
  > > designed, the factory is slow to change, we pay the insurance price.
  > >
  > >   I was one of the lucky ones, I cought the crack on the old fork
before a
  > > mishap, I do have to thank the company for offering me a replacement
for
  > the
  > > new desigh at no charge.  The mains, well they got stuck on me and
  > > fortunatelly I had someone in the plane and we knocked them loose.
The
  > > wheel got cought on the inbord lip of the strake.  The camber had
changed
  > 2
  > > degrees, enough to cause a problem.  I removed the lip and will add
the
  > > material to the skirt.  This skirts need to be redisigned, they would
not
  > > hear of this.
  > >
  > >   Fred
  > >
  > >   ----- Original Message ----- 
  > >   From: "Scott Derrick" <scott@tnstaafl.net>
  > >   To: <reflector@tvbf.org>
  > >   Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 2:01 PM
  > >   Subject: Re: REFLECTOR:Gear Up
  > >
  > >
  > >   > Don,
  > >   >
  > >   > What a drag!!! IN more ways than one!!  Sorry for the bad joke,
  > >   >
  > >   > Having just been through a nose up landing because of a stuck up
nose
  > > gear
  > >   > I feel some of your pain.  THough I didn't trash a prop, I'm still
  > >   > reshaping the nose, rebuilding the nose gear doors, and completely
  > >   > replacing the nose gear assembly so I have the latest and greatest
  > >   > equipment.
  > >   >
  > >   > I don;t have in-flight insurance so I'm doig htis out of pocket.
Not
  > to
  > >   > bad really, but a trashed MT would have been pricey!
  > >   >
  > >   > Hope you figure out why it didn't lock.  What year was your kit?
  > >   >
  > >   > Scott
  > >   >
  > >   > > I had the main gear on my 173RGE collapse on landing this
afternoon.
  > > At
  > >   > > first glance the damage doesn't seem to be too bad. A ground up
  > belly
  > > and
  > >   > > a trashed MT prop.
  > >   > >
  > >   > > It is really too soon to do much speculation as to the cause
until I
  > > have
  > >   > > had a chance to examine it more carefully. However, at  this
point
  > it
  > >   > > looks as though the overcenter linkage may simply not have
latched
  > >   > > properly. I can't really say whether I had two greens on the
gear
  > > lights
  > >   > > or not, but I am sure that I didn't have a red light.
  > >   > >
  > >   > > I will report back if and when I have more definite information
as
  > to
  > > what
  > >   > > happened.
  > >   > >
  > >   > > Donald Royer
  > >   > > djroyer@earthlink.net
  > >   >
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