REFLECTOR: Brake authority

[Hiroo Umeno]

Scott,

Thank you for the insight.  I am starting to think that my brakes might be "sub-standard" in that perhaps there is a trapped bubble somewhere.  I will bleed it again and see if that makes a difference.  I will check for glazing as well while the pants are off.

My transition training was done by Steve Murphree, I believe he is a factory authorized and we did go through the airspeeds quite a bit.

Hiroo

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On Behalf Of Scott Baker
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:10 AM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Brake authority

Hiroo -
The Matco W600XT brakes are very effective for SUV, SE, LW/173 model Velocity aircraft.
I don't recall if you have been to the factory flight transition training program - to learn the importance of airspeed control on during landing.
We recommend an approach speed of 1.3 x Vs ...which translates somewhere around 85-knots for fully loaded aircraft and around 80-knots when lightly loaded.
On a 3000' runway plan on touching down within the first 500' to avoid the need for heavy braking.
Fixed gear aircraft with wheel pants should also consider venting the pants to allow ram-air cooling of the brake discs.
Also check the engine idle speed - and confirm you are able to pull the engine power to full-idle during landing.  If the engine idle is high (by 100 rpm or more), this will add a lot to the landing distance.  Failing to completely close the throttle during landing also places extra demands on braking.
Make sure the brake were 'broke-in' correctly and that the discs are not glazed.