I can ditto this experience. After removing the snubber cable on my plane, landings were different and IMHO better in my Coupe.
Although it feels like a 3 wheel touch down, it is not quiet so. In the attached picture you'll see me landing and the nose wheel is a millisecond later touching the ground than the main wheels. However, the Ercoupe is a special aircraft that in the 2 control configuration is better controlled with a fully extended nose wheel while landing. Other aircraft are having their means of correcting for side wind loads, we rely on the nose wheel contact. Convincing to me is the soft contact of the fully extended nose wheel and occasional passengers are admiring my soft landings. Nothing to it - if they would know. :-) Hartmut To: [email protected] From: [email protected] Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:19:26 -0500 Subject: RE: [ercoupe-tech] NOSE WHEEL SNUBBER My epiphany on the nose wheel snubber I took mine off (along with the rudder pedals) in our recently completed overhaul. Over the last few weekends, I did some cross-wind practice. I found that, in the initial moments of touch-down, the plane handled better, now, than it previously had handled with rudder pedals. Watching a video of my landings, I could see why. I came in nose high, as I always do. With the snubber in place, my nose wheel would not touch until after the mains. So, although I would be on the ground, I would not yet have nose wheel steering until I got the nose down. But, watching my landings now, I can see that, although I land nice, slow, and nose-high, I still do three-point landings, so I have authoritative steering from the moment of touch-down. It is great! Dave Winters _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ Contacts: Organize your contact list. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/marcusatmicrosoft.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!503D1D86EBB2B53C!2285.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_UGC_Contacts_032009
<<attachment: landing.jpg>>
