REFLECTOR: Nose Wheel Steering

Chuck Jensen cjensen at dts9000.com
Tue May 6 19:04:14 CDT 2008


John,

A mistake?  Are you suggesting that I might make a mistake....of course I have!  But the question of what to do is really a two part issue.  I now engage the locking pin by pushing in the cable handle as I start may take off role.  I used to do it in the air, but I have forgotten it at least twice.  Once had no effect because my nose wheel happened to be fairly tight and there was no crosswind so it tracked without shimmy.  The other landing without the engaged pin was in a crosswind which immediately started the shimmy as the nose gear touched down at an angle.  

At that point, there is only two things to do; go missed and find a grass field or grin-n-bear it. The grass field will not initiate a shimmy (side forces, or absence of, and all those issues) but you'd better be lucky to find somebody with a wrench to tighten it.  When the shimmy started, I lifted the nose a couple times but the pin and fixture would never line up.  I went around and hoped the gear retract would cause the wheel to realign so the pin would align and engage, no luck.  I finally just grinned-n-beared it.

Now I engage the pin is as soon as I get aligned with the runway for TO, check it as I set up for cruise and check it again when I get in a landing configuration.  So far, I've never come close to forgetting using that system of redundant reminders.

Chuck Jensen


-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]On
Behalf Of John Dibble
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 2:32 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Nose Wheel Steering


Chuck, have you departed and forgot to lock it?  I'd like to know what happens in that case.

John

Chuck Jensen wrote:

> Tom,
>
> The super-duper nose wheel lock by Ken Mishler is the answer to your problem.  Controlled with a push/pull cable in the cabin, a pin slips into a mating surface mounted on the nose gear that prevents the nose gear from swiveling.  The pin is disengaged for taxiing and reengaged on the takeoff roll.  Not having to worry about shimmy, the tension on the nose wheel can be backed WAY OFF.  Taxing is then a pleasure, instead of an annoyance.  Highly recommended.
>
> Chuck Jensen

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