If you start the take-off in a Duke with the elevator back
and then when the nose starts to rise, fly the plane 's
attitude so it does not lift off before Vmc+5 it won't be
such a ground hog. The Duke sits nose down and the big nose
cone produces a lot of down force. A modified soft-field
procedure reduces the rolling load on the nose wheel and
reduces the take-off roll.


"Capt.Doug" wrote in message
news | "Jim" wrote in message
| Any comments on the Duke's magnesium tail control
surfaces? I've read a
| few
| horror stories, but don't know if it's typical or not.
The relative low
| price of the Dukes has been attributed to a higher
maintenance cost per
| passenger mile compared with other medium twins...
anybody have first hand
| knowledge and or numbers?
|
| I managed a Duke for a while. Maintenance was in line for
a pressurized
| piston twin (P-Navajo, P-Aerostar. C-414), until a crack
was found on the
| forward pressure vessel bulkhead. It was probably just an
isolated event and
| not indicative of the species. The biggest problem I had
with the Duke was
| that it is a ground loving hog. It uses a lot of runway.
|
| D.
|
|