Today's Message Index:
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1. 04:53 AM - Re: ILAFFT (GARY PENNINGTON)
2. 01:34 PM - Re: ILAFFT (N1BZRich@AOL.COM)
3. 02:21 PM - Lightning Newsletter survey report (N1BZRich@AOL.COM)
4. 10:55 PM - Re: ILAFFT (James, Clive R)
Message 1
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Good morning Clive
You have a good attitude....even when things go wrong. Good luck to you.
Gary Pennington
----- Original Message -----
From: James, Clive R<mailto:clive.james@uk.bp.com>
To: lightning-list@matronics.com<mailto:lightning-list@matronics.com>
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 2:44 PM
Subject: Lightning-List: ILAFFT
Hi Chaps, I wrote a little story up about my last day at home
I was having a really good day..then I learned about flying from
that.
I finally had the Esqual up and running with it's new trim system
and had had a few good flights one day the previous week. The flying the
first day was cut short as I had a baffle come loose in a cooling duct
and the noise was something that I had to figure before I flew again.
The weather the first day was almost calm and clear with low cloud base
but fine for local flying. The electric trim was working Ok and the
plane was, as usual a joy to fly about in.
After fixing the baffle properly (real flock'd epoxy job). I packed
for work a day early and had my last day of leave clear to fly the
Esqual and try out the trim and the stability.
I flew the Esqual first in September with a really experienced pilot
and instructor. He shook my down such that I could fly alone and then
develop it. Subsequently I had even flown into a tree surrounded
airfield on a gusty crosswind day, 4 months previously without any
fuss. Between then and last week I'd been flying my trusty SP which I
now have over 1000 hrs on over 8 years. Nothing on the Esqual however.
The Esqual like the lightning has a castoring nose wheel and toe
brake steering. My first 250 hrs was done on a microlight with the same
set up. Somewhat lighter and with a more effective rudder without prop
blast but never the less a similar principle I felt I was 'tuned
into'. This thought was to be my undoing..
I took off on the first flight and seeing 2 days previously had
done 4 uneventful take off and landings decided an hour of handling
checks would be appropriate. This would give me a chance to assess the
stability, the trim settings and see what fuel it was using in an hours
flying . This I did, thoroughly enjoyed myself, got frozen (no heater)
and landed to make adjustments. The stability wasn't positive and I
didn't have enough up trim for approach with landing flap. I still had
some up bungee up trim set in so was planning to disconnect this to
rely on the trim tab only and to adjust the throw of the tab for the up
trim to be more effective at full up travel.
As I landed and taxied back I noted the right brake was a little
weak. After a cuppa and a muse, I adjusted the trim tab and dropped the
bungee off the elevator and noted some fluid on the cockpit floor below
the brakes. I've been chasing a small leak for some time and thought 'at
last, a leak big enough to find'. Sure enough I traced it to a fitting
on the master on the right brake pedal and also found air had collected
in the brake pipe. I bled the air and tightened the fitting, dried
everything off and tested it, no drips ready to go. I'd now found my
spongy right brake problem and fixed it. Back to the flying.
The weather was good a slight cross wind from the left but ideal for
landing down the side of our hangar when I returned. The hangar at my
base is in the middle of the one end of runway. A quaint feature that
was caused many years ago by the edges of the runway not belonging to
those that owned the middle. Not a problem to us local fliers as we are
used to it.
I took off and climbed up as far as ATC would let me ( we are under
the Northerly approach to a local airport). Still I got up enough to get
some straight and level in and see what the trim was doing now. Still
not positive but neutral, now I was getting somewhere. As I approached
the airfield with a positive step forward in the test flying a down
wind 'go around' was appropriate for the lads on the ground. That done
and a tear drop to get back to approach height and to slow down I slid
down the side of the hangar as I had many times before and swung onto
the runway. A little fast but those big flaps will soon sort that out.
The plane floated a little further than I would have liked but I soon
had it down on the runway and was steering with my feet and my toes.
Nothing seemed to be happening right and a slid steadily to the right of
the runway, the right brake!.alas the wrong thought as I was soon off
the right side sitting in the mud wondering what had happened to that
positive feeling I had not 1 minute before.
Like you do, I have analysed those few seconds a few hundred times
since.
Here's my list of what I did wrong:
Too fast, I have recently read the excellent article on flying the
Lightning by Buz and Nick. Too fast is a no no, unless you have a mile
of runway to wait above till you land. I was, I know now, too fast.
Toe brakes and castoring nose wheel, I've done little taxiing with
the toe brakes since September. Lots of Jab flying with a nose wheel
though. 4 months before, prior to ever leaving the ground, I'd done
quite a few miles on the runway, swerving stopping, turning on a
sixpence till I was back where I was in my Shadow microlight days.
Surely that would do , alas it wasn't enough, should have refreshed my
feet more on the ground.
Concentration, as I came in to land I was thinking about the next
change I could make to help the stability. What effect will some down
bungee have?
Brakes, I was still tuned into the fact I had a soft right brake, I
didn't try the brakes on my landing checks, in fact I can't remember
when I did a brake check in the air. Sitting in the hangar after the
right brake had a harder pedal than the left. The black stripe on the
runway showed that the right brake was, on that landing as good as the
left if not better.
So, entirely avoidable , and I learned about flying from that.
Good news is insurance are going to support the repairs, I'm going
to take the plane home to fix it for a few months and make some other
improvements fit that heater for one.
(and fit a bathroom, though not in the plane).
For Esqual owners, there is a mod that can be done to the rudder
pedal arrangement that stops the quadrant pivot bending. I'm not sure
that the fact the pivot is bent and the pedals now make an almighty
grating noise had anything to do with me loosing control of the steering
but it certainly didn't help. I've attached the picture that Nick was
good enough to send me which clearly shows the mod that I recommend all
Esqual owners fit. Regards Clive
P.S. If you have the urge to tell me something extra I did wrong
please resist the temptation to share it with me, I feel bad enough.
Clive R James
Harding OIM,
BP Exploration Operating Company Limited,
1 Wellheads Avenue, Dyce, Aberdeen AB21 7PB
Tel: +44 (0)1224 772982
Fax: +44 (0)1224 834896
e-mail: clive.james@bp.com<mailto:clive.james@bp.com>
BP Exploration Operating Company Limited, a company registered in
England and Wales with the company number 305943 and VAT number
GB365678995 and whose registered office is Chertsey Road, Sunbury on
Thames, Middlesex TW16 7BP
Message 2
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In a message dated 1/24/2009 7:54:29 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
pennington@q.com writes:
You have a good attitude....even when things go wrong.
Hi Clive,
I second what Gary had to say. It is always helpful if we can learn
form other peoples mistakes - especially in the flying game. As someone said
a
long time ago, "Learn from the mistakes of others because you will never live
long enough to make all the mistakes yourself". Therefore, reading things
like "I learned about flying from that" may help you if you are ever faced
with a similar situation. So file away that knowledge gleaned by reading about
other pilot's experiences so that if the time comes, you may be able to reach
into your own "bag of tricks" for a workable solution.
Blue Skies,
Buz
**************From Wall Street to Main Street and everywhere in between, stay
up-to-date with the latest news. (http://aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000023)
Message 3
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Subject: | Lightning Newsletter survey report |
All,
I just wanted to thank all of you that took the time and effort to
answer the newsletter survey that I sent out a few weeks ago. I got a total of
13
replies from Lightning Newsletter readers that will help steer me to what
the readership wants to see in the newsletter. Of course there is no way to
know how many people actually read the Lightning newsletter, but the feedback
from the 13 was confirmation that we do have at least that many readers. Or
maybe it means that at least 13 Lightning enthusiast can actually read. :-)
Humor. Yes, humor is good.
Of course the idea of the survey was to get some feedback as to whether
or not the newsletter was meeting the original goal of being informative,
educational, and somewhat entertaining for the Lightning community. Those that
did reply gave the newsletter an overall good review and provided some good
suggestions that I will try to incorporate in future newsletters. Overall
those 13 readers that responded seemed to think that the newsletter was
certainly worthwhile and a good way to spread the word on the Lightning, and to
keep up on the latest happenings at Shelbyville and throughout the Lightning
community.
Bottom line, keep feeding me information and photos for the newsletter
and I will try to keep it coming for the time being. I am still looking for
someone the take over the newsletter at some point in the future, so everyone
in favor of Jim Langley, say Woogley Goo.
Blue Skies,
Buz
**************From Wall Street to Main Street and everywhere in between, stay
up-to-date with the latest news. (http://aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000023)
Message 4
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Thanks Gary + Buz, I'm an avid reader of anything 'flying' but got a
little complacent this time.
Also I try and get 'things done' just before I leave for my tour of work
and it's not the first time it's caught me out.
To be honest writing it down was a good way of purging myself. Bit like
a confessional (I imagine).
Regards, clive
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of
N1BZRich@aol.com
Sent: 24 January 2009 21:32
Subject: Re: Lightning-List: ILAFFT
In a message dated 1/24/2009 7:54:29 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
pennington@q.com writes:
You have a good attitude....even when things go wrong.
Hi Clive,
I second what Gary had to say. It is always helpful if we can learn
form other peoples mistakes - especially in the flying game. As someone
said a long time ago, "Learn from the mistakes of others because you
will never live long enough to make all the mistakes yourself".
Therefore, reading things like "I learned about flying from that" may
help you if you are ever faced with a similar situation. So file away
that knowledge gleaned by reading about other pilot's experiences so
that if the time comes, you may be able to reach into your own "bag of
tricks" for a workable solution.
Blue Skies,
Buz
________________________________
>From Wall Street to Main Street and everywhere in between, stay
up-to-date with the latest news
<http://aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000023> .
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