REFLECTOR: 165 kt Gear Extension Speed

Scott Derrick scott at tnstaafl.net
Mon Dec 5 09:37:40 CST 2005


Tom,

I'm very interested in your new nose gear mechanism.  I remember your 
first post about it and it sounded simple and effective.

Scott

Tom Martino wrote:

>I can tell you first hand ... that my gear doors made no appreciable
>difference in indicated airspeed.
>
>I can indicate 200 knots with or without them.  I could not notice any
>difference at all.  
>
>I did away with them.  Keeping it simple!
>
>I also came up with a unique way to close the nose gear doors.  I will
>soon post photos.  I wanted to wait until I had 50 hours on it ... which
>has come and gone.
>
>The nose door system consists of a cable (similar to the rudder cable)
>with a spring on each end.  The cable is looped through an eyelet on the
>nose strut and then each spring end is connected to the gear door.  
>
>When the strut is lifted to bring up the gear, the cable pulls on the
>doors and the springs keep them tightly closed.  (The cable runs freely
>which automatically equals out the pressure on each door.)
>
>When the strut drops, it pulls down on the gear doors to open them.  
>
>I am not sure what gear extension speed is safe to use with no main gear
>doors, but there isn't much to falter.  Can anyone venture a guess as to
>how much speed the main gear struts can take?
>
>Tom  
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
>Behalf Of Scott Derrick
>Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2005 7:43 PM
>To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
>Subject: REFLECTOR: 165 kt Gear Extension Speed [bayes][heur]
>
>I have been flying a T210 lately and can't say enough about how 
>versatile the 165 Kt gear extension speed is.  Once extended you can run
>
>up to Vne.  This 210 does not have any main gear doors, just nose gear 
>doors. 
>
>Yesterday I was flying in from Las Cruces, was day dreaming and suddenly
>
>realized I was 15 miles from the airport at 10,500 and needed to be down
>
>to 7,500 in  10-12 miles, and slowed down to 120 kts when reaching 
>7,500.   Totally impossible in my V.   I let the gear down,  and without
>
>touching anything else was descending at 800ft a minute at 150 kts 
>indicated.  I pulled 2 inches of MAP every 2 minutes, and made a 
>straight in with no problems, no stress...   All because I could extend 
>the gear at such a high speed.
>
>My V should cruise much faster once I'm back in the air and I'm 
>concerned about being able to slow down or descend rapidly if required, 
>and not abuse the engine by having to pull the throttle from 75% to 
>idle.  The only option in a Velocity cruising above 120 kts..  Well you 
>can extend both rudders but thats not nearly enough.
>
>I have considered modifying the speed brake, but not sure what would be 
>needed to insure it wouldn't depart the airframe at 165 kts if extended,
>
>much less 200 Kts.. 
>
>So I'm now considering emulating the T210.
>
>First by removing most of the main doors:
>     Leave the portion that covers the brake unit attached but beef it
>up.
>     Leave the short portion that seals off the fuselage when the gear 
>is up, and beef that piece up too.
>     Glass the brake line onto the gear leg, or add a fiberglass channel
>
>for it to sit in(not carve out but add a 'U' channel).
>   
>Then beef up the nose gear doors and hinge points. 
>      A couple carbon fiber layers on the inside of the doors
>      Reinforce the hinges and fuselage pivot points with carbon fiber
>    
>I wonder if the nose gear extension mechanism(rods, sliders, hyd ram, 
>etc) would be up to a 165 kt extension?   Somebody had mentioned they 
>were testing a simplified nose gear door mechanism that used the nose 
>strut to extend the doors, is this working?
>
>I remember reading a post from Scott Baker that the gear extended speed,
>
>sans doors, was Vne, like the T210.  Is this correct?
>
>I also remember reading that a couple of folks have tested their planes 
>with and without main doors with no noticable speed loss.  Correct?
>
>Sound sensible?  I really think with the high cruise speeds of the 
>Velocity, being able to extend the gear at around 165 kts, would really 
>enhance its capability and safety.
>
>Scott
>
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