"brian whatcott" wrote in message
...
Peter Dohm wrote:
"brian whatcott" wrote in message
...
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:
"Peter Dohm" wrote in message
...
With the quest for efficiency, in recent years, most of the newer
tri-gear designs have featured free castering nose wheels. That has
certainly reduced the aerodynamic drag of the nose wheel;
Moving it to the back and reducing the size by a factor of 4 would do
even more...

Not to mention...even the venerable C150 disengaged the nosewheel in
flight to free caster.

Brian W

Not the ones that I flew. On the 150 and 152 models with which I was
familiar, the scissor link engaged a cam on the oleo casing when the nose
strut was fully extended--which forced the nosewheel into its straight
ahead position. Since the nosewheel steering force was applied through a
pair of springs, the rudder operated normally with only a little more
pressure; but, due to the limited nosewheel steering force which was
available, tight turns on the ramp did require assistance from the
brakes.

Peter



This is a way more accurate description of the mechanism by which C-150s
have nosewheels that point ahead in flight. I do agree! Does
"Free-castoring" constitute something more effective than this for flight
drag reduction? :-)

Brian W

Only in so much as the mechanism is smaller and much easier to fully enclose
in a fairing that allows both vertical and yawing movement of the nosewheel.
There was an STC'd speed modification offered for the Cessna 182, around 25
years ago, which included a telescoping fairing for the front oleo and
steering mechanism. As far as I can recall, the modicication was extremely
successfull in reducing drag; but it was expensive. In addition, there were
possible safety concerns--in that it placed considerable aerodynamic side
area farther forward (which would have increased the risk of an
unrecoverable spin) and also may have made a preflight inspection of the
steering mechanism much more dificult.

Peter