T-18 more roomy than I had thought it would be

"Sliker" wrote in message
...
...
practice as in theory. And with a 180hp engine, the T-18 owner said
he couldn't do a full power runup with the stick all the way back,
without the tail coming off the ground. Seems the 180hp T-18's are a
bit nose heavy, especially with a constant speed prop. I've noticed in
accident reports, nose overs are the most common occurance. One reason
...

Personally, the 180 hp is a bit of an overkill for a T-18 if you want my
opinion...
They will also tend to end up well over John Thorp's design gross weight.

Take a look at http://www.t18.net/resources.htm if you havn't already.

If you put a lot of attention into the details, you can do pretty darn good
on a little old O-290 - see
http://www.t18.net/resources/T-18%20orig%20hdbk.doc for some extensive
performance data in the middle (I know the builder real well and I believe
his numbers. )

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

A 180 does seem like a big engine in that little T-18. If I did put
that much power in one, I'd use something like a Prince prop, which is
made from wood, and light. A 180 with a constant speed is a lot of
weight to hang on the nose of that little plane.

Another thing about the T-18 I'm not wild about is the nose section
taper. The sides of the nose taper inward, a design left over from the
original idea of the T-18 being open cockpit and having it's cylinders
hanging in the breeze, like a J-3's. When it was discovered the plane
was too fast for open cockpit, and open cylinders, a canopy was
installed and "cheeks" put over the cylinders sticking out. But what
should have been done then, was to straighten out the sides of the
nose, like an RV 6 or 7. Which would have eliminated the cheeks stuck
on the side of the cowling, and provided more room in the forward part
of the cockpit, where your feet are. I can't imagine that plane ever
being an open cockpit. What was John thinking!? I remember something
he wrote that said when they flew it open cockpit, if felt like it
would suck you right out of it. So that idea was abandonned early. I
guess John just didn't want to go back to the drawing board and draw
all new plans for the entire nose section.
Another thing one T-18 owner said at SNF was when John designed the
T-18, he was thinking in terms of the FAA's 170 lb pilot. But if he
had known, the reality is, most guys are upper middle age by the time
they finish one, and many have the usual spare tire, and need more
than a 38" cockpit width, even 40" is barely enough. 44" should be the
minimum for side by side planes. My Glasair 3 is 42", which I think is
a bit tight for 2 big guys.

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:11:16 -0400, "Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" The Sea
Hawk At Wow Way D0t C0m wrote:

"Sliker" wrote in message
.. .
...
practice as in theory. And with a 180hp engine, the T-18 owner said
he couldn't do a full power runup with the stick all the way back,
without the tail coming off the ground. Seems the 180hp T-18's are a
bit nose heavy, especially with a constant speed prop. I've noticed in
accident reports, nose overs are the most common occurance. One reason
...

Personally, the 180 hp is a bit of an overkill for a T-18 if you want my
opinion...
They will also tend to end up well over John Thorp's design gross weight.

Take a look at http://www.t18.net/resources.htm if you havn't already.

If you put a lot of attention into the details, you can do pretty darn good
on a little old O-290 - see
http://www.t18.net/resources/T-18%20orig%20hdbk.doc for some extensive
performance data in the middle (I know the builder real well and I believe
his numbers. )