Who's landing hot? Notice from time to time, some people screw up the flare - initiate it just a tad late - and allow the nose gear to touch first. The upward force of that premature nose gear touch rotates the airplane around it's lateral axis and the mains touch with some flying speed and the airplane becomes airborne. The pilot, in an attempt to correct the bounce, instinctively applies forward pressure on the yoke forcing another nose wheel touch and the sequence repeats except this time with a bigger bounce. Subsequent control inputs become a half cycle out of phase the and bounce becomes more exaggerated. That is a true JC maneuver (slang) or "pilot-induced-oscillation" (PIO). You haven't lived until you've been in one of those. I witnessed one in 1961 in a T-33 and we flew out of it. The corrective action, by the way, is to go around immediately. If you ride it out, you are either going to crash or at the least crunch the nose gear and firewall. Pants on the ground Hat turned around Bart In a message dated 8/18/2010 11:12:40 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Just as the choice to smoke or not smoke is one each of us must make, there are good choices and bad choices. I choose to presume people who wear their caps backward (that aren't welders) don't know any better, and I never vocalize that choice ;<) The presence or absence of a snubber is of little consequence to a reasonably experienced Ercoupe pilot. A level static sill is MUCH more important. I do believe it a disadvantage to pilots new to the Ercoupe to have a snubber. Any pilot that repeatedly lands an Ercoupe "hot" either does not understand or does not demonstrate the proficiency of control necessary for predictable and safe operation(s). The remedy is not a ten buck length of aircraft cable. It is sufficient qualified instruction to thereafter predictably and repeated land an Ercoupe at or below 70 mph TIAS in any weather condition likely to be encountered. Presuming proper rigging and a stabilized approach, touchdown at up to 90 mph should be uneventful...a "wheel landing" on the main gear followed (almost immediately) by the nose gear. WRB -- On Aug 18, 2010, at 18:47, [email protected] wrote: > > > I've heard this over and over but if that little cable isn't on the > nose gear and your landing speed is a little hot, you will hit the > nose gear first, because the nose gear hangs down lower, and enter to > what many is called a JC maneuver, as in "J-----s C------t!!!!!!!!!!! > It is also called a PIO, or pilot induced oscillation and is the > primary reason a lot of Ercoupes have a bent firewall. I say keep the > cable and save the Ercoupe. > Bart >
