Tailwheel

Walking to get the dolly after a long flight might reduce the chance of
blood clots in the legs and will certainly aid in preventing weight gain.
Or do youse guys just walk to the cooler for that "beverage"?

Ah... Off season...


"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
...
On 12/12/2012 9:02 PM, Bill D wrote:

Course the tailwheel could be retractable . . . more complex and
expensive. Cost/ benefit?
bumper

Well, that's a point. As I imagine it, the tailwheel would extend
only 5mm further than one of those breakaway rubber things with a
skate wheel. That far back, the boundary layer is pretty thick so not
much extra drag - probably less than an open air scoop.

This is not one of those things for retrofit - the 337 field approval
hassle wouldn't be worth it but it would be a nice feature on a new
glider or an experimental. The idea isn't for taxiing, it's just to
make it easier to push the glider off the runway without running to
get a tail dolly. Of course, nothing in the idea would prevent using
a tail dolly for really rough ground.

The Grob tail wheel that plugs in always seemed like a good idea: full
dolly size wheel for moving it around, drops off during launch if you
forget it, small and light enough to carry in the glider, seemingly minor
weight addition to the glider to use it.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

On Thursday, December 13, 2012 10:09:01 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
Walking to get the dolly after a long flight might reduce the chance of
blood clots in the legs and will certainly aid in preventing weight gain.
Or do youse guys just walk to the cooler for that "beverage"?

Cool dudes do NOT push the glider about.
We taxi back to the trailer and the cool beverage ;-)

See ya, Dave "YO electric"

On Thursday, December 13, 2012 4:20:33 PM UTC+1, Dave Nadler wrote:

Cool dudes do NOT push the glider about.

We taxi back to the trailer and the cool beverage ;-)



See ya, Dave "YO electric"


Really cool dudes taxi back to the trailer without an engine... ;^)

66

On Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:57:27 -0800, Eric Greenwell
wrote:


The Grob tail wheel that plugs in always seemed like a good idea: full
dolly size wheel for moving it around, drops off during launch if you
forget it, small and light enough to carry in the glider, seemingly
minor weight addition to the glider to use it.

My partner and I used to have an Astir-CS, and I wouldn't have wanted
the factory tail dolly in the cockpit: it was several pounds of
ironmongery and could have done some damage in a bad outlanding. We
did make a small, lightweight one to carry aboard, but used the much
larger factory wheel for most ground handling.

The dolly hole made a whining noise that was ground-audible at 1000
AGL...don't know how much drag that really produced, but we habitually
taped it over before a contest launch. And that produced a memorable
event: I positioned my partner on the grid, removed the dolly, and he
said "Tape up my a$$hole!", unaware that he was on a hot mike.

Sounds like a jet! I can't make a direct link, but if you check out
"UF Low Level" from hehttp://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhum
it's clearly audible.
Eric: While that 'wheel on a post' dolly COULD be made fairly
lightweight, the OEM unit isn't. But it DOES fall away if you forget
to remove it. ;-)


On Dec 13, 7:56*am, Ralph Jones wrote:
On Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:57:27 -0800, Eric Greenwell

wrote:

The Grob tail wheel that plugs in always seemed like a good idea: full
dolly size wheel for moving it around, drops off during launch if you
forget it, small and light enough to carry in the glider, seemingly
minor weight addition to the glider to use it.

My partner and I used to have an Astir-CS, and I wouldn't have wanted
the factory tail dolly in the cockpit: it was several pounds of
ironmongery and could have done some damage in a bad outlanding. We
did make a small, lightweight one to carry aboard, but used the much
larger factory wheel for most ground handling.

The dolly hole made a whining noise that was ground-audible at 1000
AGL...don't know how much drag that really produced, but we habitually
taped it over before a contest launch. And that produced a memorable
event: I positioned my partner on the grid, removed the dolly, and he
said "Tape up my a$$hole!", unaware that he was on a hot mike.

HP 14, fully castering tailwheel for easy ground handling,
offset CG towhook, dropped a wing on the roll; it instantly groundlooped
broke the rope, and nearly smashed a parked glider.

Maybe a worst case but a lesson in what can happen.

JMF



At 21:22 12 December 2012, Eric Greenwell wrote:
On 12/12/2012 12:08 PM, Bill D wrote:

One imagines a variation of this could work with gliders. If the
cockpit is empty, weight on the tailwheel would make it caster.
With a pilot in the cockpit, the lighter weight on the tailwheel
locks it straight ahead. The castering shaft would just have a
axial spring pushing the tail wheel down 5mm or so to lock it
straight ahead. Basically it would be automatic with no input
from the pilot.



And the first bump it unlocks ?

Complicated and not smart.

Geez, more negative experts!

A large enough bump might unlock it for a few milliseconds, but it
would re-lock instantly. Note that Blanik's are taildraggers and
many have permanently castering tail wheels so it can't be a big
deal.

Blaniks have a huge rudder that becomes effective even before the wing
runner lets go. Not so for high performance gliders.

Another likely reason: the tailwheel is large but carefully faired in.
Enabling it to swivel would involve tradeoffs in cost, weight, and drag.

And possibly: people tow the gliders around with vehicles attached to
the tail dolly. Attaching a tow bar to just the might be a problem.

But I agree it would be nice; personally, I'd rather have a steerable
tail wheel. No more directional control problems at low speeds. I love
the one on my ASH 26 E even when I take a tow, and, of course, every
time I land.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

On 12/13/2012 7:56 AM, Ralph Jones wrote:

The Grob tail wheel that plugs in always seemed like a good idea: full
dolly size wheel for moving it around, drops off during launch if you
forget it, small and light enough to carry in the glider, seemingly
minor weight addition to the glider to use it.

My partner and I used to have an Astir-CS, and I wouldn't have wanted
the factory tail dolly in the cockpit: it was several pounds of
ironmongery and could have done some damage in a bad outlanding.

These days it would light weight carbon fiber and stow safely behind the
seat.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

On Thursday, December 13, 2012 3:50:18 PM UTC-5, firsys wrote:
HP 14, fully castering tailwheel for easy ground handling,
offset CG towhook, dropped a wing on the roll; it instantly groundlooped
broke the rope, and nearly smashed a parked glider.

Maybe a worst case but a lesson in what can happen.

JMF

Hi John - Hope you are well !
HP14s are supposed to have springs for tailwheel steering, no ?
IIRC I had an exciting take-off some decades ago when I didn't
replace the busted springs... Fixed prior next flight !
Have a great Holiday season,
Best Regards, Dave "YO electric"

On Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:04:36 -0800, Eric Greenwell
wrote:


These days it would light weight carbon fiber

So would the rest of the ship...;-)