Hi guys and girls; Before the unfortunate accident with Ol' Blue I made the comment that every time I thought that I had everything fixed I always seemed to find something else to fix or change on the plane.
One of the things that I hadn't got around to was the tail wheel/rudder interconnection. I knew It wasn't right but I wasn't sure how to fix it. I did a search on the KR net and found 500 or more references to tail wheel, most of which didn't concern my question but with so many, I could have missed it. Anyway, before I purchased Ol' Blue I did a walk around and discovered that the rudder seemed to be disconnected from the tail wheel and the rudder peddles as well. I also noticed that when sitting in the pilot seat and working the rudder peddles that the rudder did not move but the tail wheel did, which helped explain why the previous owner used the brakes to keep the plane straight during takeoff and landing, something that my instructor told me never to do, your instructor may differ. So I knew something was not right and that I would have to do something about it after the purchase. Well it was a simple fix, the tail wheel springs were drawn too tight and the rudder cables were limp so I added extensions and that took care of that The rudder and tail wheel worked together in unison. I encountered problems during takeoff and landing with the plane wanting to drift left even with no crosswind and after checking the wheel alignment I discovered that the wheels were misaligned to the left by several inches (measured at a 10 foot distance) and were toed-in, this I am told is not good, if anything they should be toed-out slightly. Anyway, after correcting the wheel alignment the plane taxied straight and true but after several harrowing takeoffs and landings in mild crosswind conditions I knew that something else was wrong with it. I have had a lot of time to think through the problem since the accident and I noted that I had the same problem with the real plane as I did with my X-Plane model. The conclusion was that when taking off or landing, until the tail wheel leaves the ground, it is steering the plane down the runway for the most part and if you have a crosswind you need to use rudder to counteract the crosswind, but when you do, the tail wheel also turns and steers you sideways which can result in a dangerous condition. So what to do about it? X-Plane continues to evolve and new features are added all the time and recently a fully controllable tail wheel has been added, that is you can set it up to behave anyway you want it to from full castering to locked straight for takeoff or anything in between. So I said let the experimenting begin and see what works best especially in a crosswind. Using X-plane is much safer and quicker than using a test plane like Ol' Blue. Now I already know how a tail dragger reacts when the tail wheel and rudder are linked together with no slack, I considered it dangerous in a crosswind on pavement, grass is more forgiving. I've tried a full castoring tail wheel in X-Plane and for me I thought it was dangerous also. A tail wheel that is fixed straight ahead is too hard to maneuver on taxiways so that just leaves a castoring/lockable tail wheel or a steerable/lockable tail wheel I believe, unless I've forgotten something. So I decided to use X-Plane to see which method worked the best and safest. With X-Plane I can set the tail wheel to lock straight ahead by pulling any up elevator input during takeoff or landing. In the real plane you would have to lock it manually with a pull cable. But having flown my KR-2 model in X-plane for several hundred hours now, I find it much easier to land and takeoff in crosswinds with a locked tail wheel when on pavement, grass as I said is more forgiving even in X-Plane. I don't know if there is anyone who is using a castering/locking tail wheel on a KR but if there is I would like very much to hear their real world input on this subject as well as those who use the plans style rudder/tail wheel interconnection method. Your crosswind takeoff/landing technique would be very informative to the rest of us. Here is a link to some who have had experience with it. http://www.mombu com/aviation/aviators/t-advice-on-flying-pitts-with-haigh-locking-tailwheel-1 68451.html I could only find two brands of locking tail wheels, the Raven and the Haigh but I'm sure some enterprising individual could design and build one more appropriate for a KR and a whole lot cheaper and share the design with the KR group if it was worth while. Also, I have two X-Plane, version 9.31, KR-2 models available with this new feature for anyone who wants to try them, or I can just send them to the several dozen individuals who are already using the older models. Oh, and the doctor said I can drive again and start walking on my left foot, praise the Lord. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everybody. Regards, Myron (Dan) Freeman Indpls, Ind. 46203-3570 Home of the Indy 500, the World's most famous auto race. mfreem...@indy.rr.com ?
