Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: "Dortch, Steven D MAJ NG NG NGB"
Jeff wrote:>Further, the Piet really likes to slip. I'd like others' >opinions on this, but since I've become comfortable with>slips in the Piet, I've been thinking that if it all went>pear-shaped one day, and I had to get the plane down on a>spot with almost no open ground, I could slip right into it,>right to the ground, and walk away, even if it totalled the>plane. There is that much control and the speed can be that>low.I would have to agree. I learned to fly in a 40HP J-3 Cuband practically every landing was made with a slip on finalto adjust the approach. I was taught not to make long, flatdraggy approaches and to always make my approaches withpower off, so you always carried a little extra altitude thatyou trimmed off by slipping on final. The use of power toadjust the approach was usually met with the feel of theinstructor's unseen hand pulling the throttle back to the stop.It's all about energy management.I like to operate off of the grassy part of the field at myhome base at San Geronimo, where the final approach involvesdropping the airplane in over some trees that are maybe 20-25feet tall. If I slip it in pretty steep to drop in over thetrees, I can do my landing and rollout on grass and nevereven get to the paved hard-surface runway. I have come inridiculously high on final, thrown the airplane into a hardslip, and still made the grass. It's great fun and, like Jeffsays, you can put the airplane into very small spots...especially in a pinch, where an intentional groundloop wouldbe an acceptable alternative to something worse. A standardsized football field would be an incredible extravagance ofspace to land in, and no sweat at all in a Piet.PS, I think the national motto here in South Texas is, "neverput off tomorrow what you can put off today". I think I'llgo take a siesta...Oscar ZunigaAir Camper NX41CCSan Antonio, TXmailto: taildrags(at)hotmail.comwebsite at http://www.flysquirrel.net ________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: "Jerry Dotson"
Raymond,Having only sweated copper fittings, why not use a propane torch, instead? I don't think you're going to get enough heat out of an iron.Dan-- yocum(at)gmail.comOn May 23, 2010, at 3:27 PM, skellytown flyer wrote:> >>> Have any of you made your own tank from galvanized metal ? and if so > how successful were you in soldering up the joints? I am getting > mine together right now for my center section and hope to be able to > start soldering in a week or two if work and life doesn't slow me > down too much.anyway just wanted to pick the brain of experienced > solder hands either on or off-list.I have some acid core solder and > access to 3 fairly heavy soldering irons I can borrow if I decide to > try it myself. been a lot of years since high school and my only > time to do it with heated irons in a furnace.Raymond>>________________________________________________________________________________Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: slips

Original Posted By: Dan Yocum
Dan,I've noticed something very similar with mine. It seems that once in a hard slipI need to apply almost the same amount of pressure in opposite rudder to straightenout. Other old taildraggers I've flown seem to want to get out of theslip more on their own, the Piet just takes a little effort. No big deal. I also seem to get a little stick shake. It's nowhere near a stall though. Ithink its just a little turbulence coming off of the big covered wire wheelsthat are now going sideways through the air. Don EmchNX899DERead this topic online here:http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... __________

Original Posted By: "Clif Dawson"
Yep. No big deal. Glad to hear mine's not the only one.The previous owner, a young aerospace engineer, put little yarn pieces all over the tail and videoed it during a full slip. The rudder actually "stalls" and needs that extra foot pressure to get out of the "stall." There was some disagreement between his other aeropsace engineer friends as to what caused it to behave that way, but my gut feeling is that there's so much air getting forced through the gap that it can't return to the normal position without some foot pressure.I just chalk it up to being one of those quirks of an airplane designed in 1929 by a man who just wanted to fly.Dan-- yocum(at)gmail.comOn May 23, 2010, at 9:18 PM, Don Emch wrote:>> Dan,>> I've noticed something very similar with mine. It seems that once > in a hard slip I need to apply almost the same amount of pressure in > opposite rudder to straighten out. Other old taildraggers I've > flown seem to want to get out of the slip more on their own, the > Piet just takes a little effort. No big deal. I also seem to get a > little stick shake. It's nowhere near a stall though. I think its > just a little turbulence coming off of the big covered wire wheels > that are now going sideways through the air.>> Don Emch> NX899DE>>> Read this topic online here:>> http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... __________