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Ralph, Let's work on the words and see if we can come to an agreement. Here's my thought process when I used the word "castor" in the FAQ: When the plane touches down in the crab, the nose wheel is in line with the fuselage. The instant it makes contact with the pavement, with the plane in the crab, the nosewheel swivels to line up with the direction of motion. To me, that's exactly what I would mean by saying "castoring." Naturally, we prefer to hold the nosewheel off until the plane has rotated itself. However, Ercoupes still handle the crabbed crosswind landing just fine when the nosewheel touches BEFORE the aircraft has turned. That is because the nosewheel WILL "castor" when it's not lined up with its motion. In fact, when the plane is as Fred designed it, with NO snubber cable on the nose gear, the single fork gear extends far enough that it WILL contact the ground before the weight is fully on the main wheels. The mains have about one foot of shock travel and the nose gear is most of that. (Lots of shock absorber travel is good for the gear and aircraft's structure.) Yet, when the plane isn't making a perfect squeeker, all three wheels are in contact with the ground before the plane has made any significant turn to line up with its direction of motion. So, we're back to the meaning of castoring. I'm thinking that the nosewheel DOES "castor" for an instant. (That's why we need to hold the control lightly.) From THEN ON, it's steerable. (Think about what happens if you hold the nose gear control FIRMLY at touchdown - BAD!). What do you think, Ralph? Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] (remove the QQQ) -----Original Message----- From: R M Finch [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 11:20 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Coupe-List' Subject: RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Avweb Article The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary) for caster says, "3 : any of a set of wheels or rotating balls mounted in a swivel frame and used for the support and movement of furniture, trucks, and portable equipment." Though no definition of a verb form was available, the key is "swivel." Our Ercoupe nose-gear does not swivel and therefore is not castering. It's not helpful to depend on arguments about castering for an instant, and only confuses matters. Ralph ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
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