----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any
advice in this forum.]----
Can some people test this when they next go crosswind flying and let us
know
what they find?
I read the little phamphlet that was the POH of the 40's and thought I'd
better try their soft field technique.
I did this with a moderate X-wind with say 6-8 knots of cross wind component
with light gusts of maybe 2-4 kts. I was fairly light in a "D" model.
I was quite unhappy with the results. The plane was wallowing with minimal
control right in that never-never land of "Am I gonna fly or not".
A gust dropped the wing right after lift off which made me wonder if I had
made a serious mistake. <G>
I had previously tried this in calm wing and it worked like a charm. The
plane lifted off and I dropped the nose a bit and off we went.
Both time I did this I was on a long, wide concrete runway.
I decided right there and then to avoid soft fields with cross winds unless
I had enough room to rotate at a reasonable airspeed.
Another thing to consider is how the gusts will affect your airspeed. I used
to keep my Coupe at an airport that would frequently have wind shear. I have
seen -5 MPH fluctuations frequently and as much as -10 on occasion. It would
be real embarrassing to pull it off at minimum airspeed in a cross wind
doing the soft field thing and have one of those -10 gusts hit.
That's just my 2 cents worth. Others might have used this technique and
really like it. I only experimented with the full up elevator a couple of
time and decided it wasn't for me.
Cheers:
Paul
N1431A
==============================================================================
To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
