Pietenpol-List: Re Have a new camera
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:41 am
Original Posted By: Douwe Blumberg
Hi Guys, My two bob's worth re comments on Jeffs video.I have found from bitter experience that it is quite difficult to assess aclimb or approach gradient by watching a video, particularly when filmedfrom behind or in front of the flight path.Many years ago I was involved in an initial test flight of an RV6A fittedwith a dreaded nose wheel.The flight was uneventful & after carrying out several stalls to establish asafe approach speed I made my approach in the accustomed manner, after anormal touch down, without any warning the machine started a violentporpoise over which I had no control, then the nose leg failed I onlytraveled about 50 yards on a sealed runway.Later inspection showed a clean break exactly where the leg changed inthickness with very little radius where it exited the outer tube.The owner showed me a video sequence taken from almost in front of theevent.this video & the broken leg were sent to the manufacturer in the USA whosent out an email world wide criticizing the test pilot & alleging that hehad made a very steep approach with little flare and had subjected themachine to some brutal pitch changes after landing.This was a bit hard to take as at the time I had a total of 22000 flyinghours on over 100 types & had also done over 20 initial test flights of homebuilts including 6 RV's.It was very interesting to note that shortly after this another two noselegs failed, then the nose leg design was very quickly modified to have asafe radius where it exited the tube.This whole affair was based on a video evidence,shot from dead ahead of theapproach path.So what I am saying here is that perhaps caution should be taken beforecriticism is made after watching a video taken from behind or in front.>From the shots taken from the side I thought that Jeff was exemplary withhis technique, he was careful not to pull off too early, had a good marginabove the stall & showed excellent directional control, nothing squirrellyabout it.The other factor is that with trees ahead it is not a bad idea to go for maxclimb gradient initially. These trees could not be seen on the videoBack to my shed, my own Piet only needs fuel tank, top decking on fuse &covering after 3 years hard work,I have to keep at it as I'm now 81, I look forward to sending you all avideo of my own first flight (taken from the side)Best regards Graham Hewitt in West Australia________________________________________________________________________________Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:55:04 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
Hi Guys, My two bob's worth re comments on Jeffs video.I have found from bitter experience that it is quite difficult to assess aclimb or approach gradient by watching a video, particularly when filmedfrom behind or in front of the flight path.Many years ago I was involved in an initial test flight of an RV6A fittedwith a dreaded nose wheel.The flight was uneventful & after carrying out several stalls to establish asafe approach speed I made my approach in the accustomed manner, after anormal touch down, without any warning the machine started a violentporpoise over which I had no control, then the nose leg failed I onlytraveled about 50 yards on a sealed runway.Later inspection showed a clean break exactly where the leg changed inthickness with very little radius where it exited the outer tube.The owner showed me a video sequence taken from almost in front of theevent.this video & the broken leg were sent to the manufacturer in the USA whosent out an email world wide criticizing the test pilot & alleging that hehad made a very steep approach with little flare and had subjected themachine to some brutal pitch changes after landing.This was a bit hard to take as at the time I had a total of 22000 flyinghours on over 100 types & had also done over 20 initial test flights of homebuilts including 6 RV's.It was very interesting to note that shortly after this another two noselegs failed, then the nose leg design was very quickly modified to have asafe radius where it exited the tube.This whole affair was based on a video evidence,shot from dead ahead of theapproach path.So what I am saying here is that perhaps caution should be taken beforecriticism is made after watching a video taken from behind or in front.>From the shots taken from the side I thought that Jeff was exemplary withhis technique, he was careful not to pull off too early, had a good marginabove the stall & showed excellent directional control, nothing squirrellyabout it.The other factor is that with trees ahead it is not a bad idea to go for maxclimb gradient initially. These trees could not be seen on the videoBack to my shed, my own Piet only needs fuel tank, top decking on fuse &covering after 3 years hard work,I have to keep at it as I'm now 81, I look forward to sending you all avideo of my own first flight (taken from the side)Best regards Graham Hewitt in West Australia________________________________________________________________________________Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:55:04 -0500 (GMT-05:00)