Original Posted By: "Jack"
Hey Jack. I've noticed in looking at some pictures of your airplane on Chris Tracy'ssite that that you have/had a plans built tail wheel and one with a leafspring. I was just wondering which one you have currently, why the change andwhich do you like best? I would like to keep the look of the plans built wheel, yet I really the ideaof steerable with break free castering.Thanks.--------Fred KimPittsburgh, PaRead this topic online here:http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... __________
Pietenpol-List: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
RE: Pietenpol-List: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
Hi Fred, the pictures may be messed up because I am utilizing the leafspring design. Jack Phillips swears by the plans built but mine weighs 4pounds with a Scott wheel. Not flying yet...Jack TextorDSMNX1929T-----Original Message-----
Hi Fred, the pictures may be messed up because I am utilizing the leafspring design. Jack Phillips swears by the plans built but mine weighs 4pounds with a Scott wheel. Not flying yet...Jack TextorDSMNX1929T-----Original Message-----
RE: Pietenpol-List: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Original Posted By:ake, Virginia =0A=0A =C2- =0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0Aowner-pie
=0A=0A=0A =0A =0A=0A =0A=0A =0A=0A =0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0AAs I indicated, I=99ve got about 300=0Ahours on the airplane, and the first tailwheel had 7 hours, the second (first=0Aa-arm) had 5 hours.=C2- The rest have been with the second a-arm design. =0A=0A =C2- =0A=0AI=99ve seen your pictures and=0Arecommend you add the cross brace to the a-arm.=C2- Otherwise it twists pretty=0Aeasily.=C2- If it lets go on landing as mine did while taxiing, you will find=0Ayourself in an awkward situation. =0A=0A =C2- =0A=0AJack Phillips =0A=0ANX899JP =0A=0ASmith Mountain L
=0A=0A=0A =0A =0A=0A =0A=0A =0A=0A =0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0AAs I indicated, I=99ve got about 300=0Ahours on the airplane, and the first tailwheel had 7 hours, the second (first=0Aa-arm) had 5 hours.=C2- The rest have been with the second a-arm design. =0A=0A =C2- =0A=0AI=99ve seen your pictures and=0Arecommend you add the cross brace to the a-arm.=C2- Otherwise it twists pretty=0Aeasily.=C2- If it lets go on landing as mine did while taxiing, you will find=0Ayourself in an awkward situation. =0A=0A =C2- =0A=0AJack Phillips =0A=0ANX899JP =0A=0ASmith Mountain L
RE: Pietenpol-List: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
Hi Fred,I originally built my Pietenpol with a leaf spring tailwheel, uisng a Scott6" tailwheel that I bought on ebay, and a leaf spring from a Piper PA-12Super Cruiser. I used this combination for the first 7 hours of operationof my aircraft until I had a forced landing due to problems with my carbheat setup. In that landing, I put the airplane down on US Highway 64 westof Raleigh, NC. As I approached to land, I found a pickup truck was rightwhere I need to land and had to pul the nose up to slow down enough to lethim get ahead of me. Then to prevent a stall I nosed down pretty severelyand flew the plane into the ground hard enough that it broke the axle. Irecovered from the bounce, landed the plane safely and was congratulatingmyself on having saved the airplane when the axle gave way, the right wingdropped and full left rudder, left brake and left aileron could not keep itout of the ditch. The ensuing groundloop tore the tailwheel leafspring offthe fuselage, cracking the lower right longeron in the process.Not the happiest day in my life. This was in November 2004. The repairstook over 7 months. During that repair process, I did more analyzing of thetailwheel design and came to the realization that (as usual) BHP knew whathe was doing when he developed his A-Arm design. The problem with a leafspring design is that it was really developed for a steel tube fuselage. Ina leaf spring tailwheel, the loads are concentrated at the main bolt thatconnectes the spring to the fuselage, and the saddle that clamps the springsat the tailpost. This works fine with wood until the side loads (such as ina groundloop) are too great and the saddle lets go. At that point ALL theloads go into that bolt, and the twisting forces get transferred to thelongerons. Since my longeron was cracked by the impact I had to repair thatarea and did not want to then put another leaf spring bolt back into thatrepaired area, so I looked at the BHP design.I built the BHP design to the plans for the tailskid and added a fitting tohold the shoe of the tailwheel. Once I got the airplane repaired and flyingagain, I did the initial test flights with that setup. I noticed thatapplying hard rudder inputs to break the tailwheel into free-swivel modecaused a strange shimmy that was really the twisting of the a-arm. Afterabout 5 hours of operation, as I was taxiing for takeoff and hit a potholewith the tailwheel, which broke off. Good thing it happened while taxiing!This picture shows the first A-Arm tailwheel assembly I tried. Note therepairs to the lower right longeron.After that, I built a new A-Arm assembly with a couple of improvements. Imade the steel tubing of .049" wall rather than the 20 gage (.035") calledfor in the plans. I added a brace between the open ends of the assembly tostiffen it, and I moved the tailwheel to be directly under the coil spring(as the plans had originally shown). Because I added so much steel, Ichanged from the 6" Scott, which weighed a lot, to an Aircraft Spruce"Homebuilders Special" 4" tailwheel. Once it was all finished, I wassurprised to find that the whole assembly weighed about 4 lbs less than theorignial leaf spring assembly. The tailwheel is fully steerable and canbreak into free swivel and works just fine. The only problem with thetailwheel is that it breaks into free swivel much easier when turning leftthan when turning right (one of these days I'll take it apart and fix that)but it's not a problem as long as I remember that. It's been working finenow for 7 years and nearly 300 hoursHere's a picture of the final configuration:And here's a picture showing it installed on the airplane:As Abraham Lincoln once said "I apologize for the long letter. I didn'thave time to write a short one."Jack PhillipsNX899JPSmith Mountain Lake, Virginia-----Original Message-----
Hi Fred,I originally built my Pietenpol with a leaf spring tailwheel, uisng a Scott6" tailwheel that I bought on ebay, and a leaf spring from a Piper PA-12Super Cruiser. I used this combination for the first 7 hours of operationof my aircraft until I had a forced landing due to problems with my carbheat setup. In that landing, I put the airplane down on US Highway 64 westof Raleigh, NC. As I approached to land, I found a pickup truck was rightwhere I need to land and had to pul the nose up to slow down enough to lethim get ahead of me. Then to prevent a stall I nosed down pretty severelyand flew the plane into the ground hard enough that it broke the axle. Irecovered from the bounce, landed the plane safely and was congratulatingmyself on having saved the airplane when the axle gave way, the right wingdropped and full left rudder, left brake and left aileron could not keep itout of the ditch. The ensuing groundloop tore the tailwheel leafspring offthe fuselage, cracking the lower right longeron in the process.Not the happiest day in my life. This was in November 2004. The repairstook over 7 months. During that repair process, I did more analyzing of thetailwheel design and came to the realization that (as usual) BHP knew whathe was doing when he developed his A-Arm design. The problem with a leafspring design is that it was really developed for a steel tube fuselage. Ina leaf spring tailwheel, the loads are concentrated at the main bolt thatconnectes the spring to the fuselage, and the saddle that clamps the springsat the tailpost. This works fine with wood until the side loads (such as ina groundloop) are too great and the saddle lets go. At that point ALL theloads go into that bolt, and the twisting forces get transferred to thelongerons. Since my longeron was cracked by the impact I had to repair thatarea and did not want to then put another leaf spring bolt back into thatrepaired area, so I looked at the BHP design.I built the BHP design to the plans for the tailskid and added a fitting tohold the shoe of the tailwheel. Once I got the airplane repaired and flyingagain, I did the initial test flights with that setup. I noticed thatapplying hard rudder inputs to break the tailwheel into free-swivel modecaused a strange shimmy that was really the twisting of the a-arm. Afterabout 5 hours of operation, as I was taxiing for takeoff and hit a potholewith the tailwheel, which broke off. Good thing it happened while taxiing!This picture shows the first A-Arm tailwheel assembly I tried. Note therepairs to the lower right longeron.After that, I built a new A-Arm assembly with a couple of improvements. Imade the steel tubing of .049" wall rather than the 20 gage (.035") calledfor in the plans. I added a brace between the open ends of the assembly tostiffen it, and I moved the tailwheel to be directly under the coil spring(as the plans had originally shown). Because I added so much steel, Ichanged from the 6" Scott, which weighed a lot, to an Aircraft Spruce"Homebuilders Special" 4" tailwheel. Once it was all finished, I wassurprised to find that the whole assembly weighed about 4 lbs less than theorignial leaf spring assembly. The tailwheel is fully steerable and canbreak into free swivel and works just fine. The only problem with thetailwheel is that it breaks into free swivel much easier when turning leftthan when turning right (one of these days I'll take it apart and fix that)but it's not a problem as long as I remember that. It's been working finenow for 7 years and nearly 300 hoursHere's a picture of the final configuration:And here's a picture showing it installed on the airplane:As Abraham Lincoln once said "I apologize for the long letter. I didn'thave time to write a short one."Jack PhillipsNX899JPSmith Mountain Lake, Virginia-----Original Message-----
Pietenpol-List: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Original Posted By:
RE: Pietenpol-List: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
As I indicated, I've got about 300 hours on the airplane, and the firsttailwheel had 7 hours, the second (first a-arm) had 5 hours. The rest havebeen with the second a-arm design.I've seen your pictures and recommend you add the cross brace to the a-arm.Otherwise it twists pretty easily. If it lets go on landing as mine didwhile taxiing, you will find yourself in an awkward situation.Jack PhillipsNX899JPSmith Mountain Lake, Virginia _____
As I indicated, I've got about 300 hours on the airplane, and the firsttailwheel had 7 hours, the second (first a-arm) had 5 hours. The rest havebeen with the second a-arm design.I've seen your pictures and recommend you add the cross brace to the a-arm.Otherwise it twists pretty easily. If it lets go on landing as mine didwhile taxiing, you will find yourself in an awkward situation.Jack PhillipsNX899JPSmith Mountain Lake, Virginia _____
RE: Pietenpol-List: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Original Posted By: Michael Perez
Re: Pietenpol-List: Re: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Original Posted By: "Jack(at)textors.com"
Very nice!--------Mark ChouinardWings, Center Section and Empannage and Fuse framed up - Working on Landing GearRead this topic online here:http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... ___Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Re: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Very nice!--------Mark ChouinardWings, Center Section and Empannage and Fuse framed up - Working on Landing GearRead this topic online here:http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... ___Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Re: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Original Posted By: "Greg Cardinal"
Fred yes I have 2 leaf springs with a Scott tail wheelJack TextorSent from my iPadOn Sep 13, 2012, at 10:56 AM, "FandS_Piet" wrote:> > Jack T. My eyes may be deceiving me but it clearly looks like there is a leafspring style tail wheel in one of the pictures.> > --------> Fred Kim> Pittsburgh, Pa> > > > > Read this topic online here:> > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... 990#382990> > > > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________________________
Fred yes I have 2 leaf springs with a Scott tail wheelJack TextorSent from my iPadOn Sep 13, 2012, at 10:56 AM, "FandS_Piet" wrote:> > Jack T. My eyes may be deceiving me but it clearly looks like there is a leafspring style tail wheel in one of the pictures.> > --------> Fred Kim> Pittsburgh, Pa> > > > > Read this topic online here:> > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... 990#382990> > > > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________________________
Pietenpol-List: Re: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Original Posted By: "Jack Phillips"
Jack did you order 2 of the same springs. If so I assume you has to modify oneof them (shorten/bend it).--------Fred KimPittsburgh, PaRead this topic online here:http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... __________
Jack did you order 2 of the same springs. If so I assume you has to modify oneof them (shorten/bend it).--------Fred KimPittsburgh, PaRead this topic online here:http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... __________
RE: Pietenpol-List: Re: Jack Phillips Tailwheel
Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
To be honest, I simply don't remember. I do remember that I got the springfrom McMaster-Carr.Jack PhillipsNX899JPSmith Mountain Lake, Virginia-----Original Message-----
To be honest, I simply don't remember. I do remember that I got the springfrom McMaster-Carr.Jack PhillipsNX899JPSmith Mountain Lake, Virginia-----Original Message-----