See message below from Miles Humphrey...
----- Original Message -----
From: Miles Humphrey
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2004 10:38 PM
Subject: Pitch down in slips
Mark
I would like to tell you about something I heard about the pitch down in a
slip. I went to talk to a person whose name I have misplaced, but he is the
owner of Sky King Aviation at Chandler Field in Mesa, AZ, and is an instructor,
flies anything multi-engine, jet, Bonanza, RV, Lancair, and many others and
says the most interesting, most fun and neatest of them all is the KR!!!!.
BUT--he was ferrying one to Maryland, packed in with his Father, when, in
cruise, he noticed the ball over to one side, so he applied right rudder, the
ball went to the corner, he pressed harder on the rudder and the plane pitched
down so violently that he hit his head on the canopy-the more rudder, the worse
it became. Not knowing what was happening, he let go of all controls and the
plane recovered immediately, and in so doing noticed that his foot had slipped
over on the LEFT rudder pedal on the pasenger side, so he was pressing left
when he wanted to use right and thought he WAS using right. His explanation
was that in cruise the KR is trying to fly tail high and the HS is therefore
holding the tail down , but when he swung the plane sideways, the HS must have
gotten blanked out so that it was no longer holding the tail down so up it
went! And he is pretty sure of his diagnosis. If this had happened at a low
altitude, he would have bought the farm. So a slip, at least a strong one ,
could be dangerous on approach, since Larry is experiencing exactly the same
thing. The two descriptions of the circumstances and the plane's reaction are
strikingly similar. If you would like to talk to this man about it he said he
knew Lee Van Dyke of Mesa and that might be a way to contact him. I apologise
for bothering you directly but I think this could be important.
This thing Dana has started might even evolve into a sort of regional EAA
Convention- and he's just the guy that can handle it!
Miles Humphrey
