Harold,
Would you mind if I translate that piece in French and have it published
in the local amateur aviation magazines?
Serge VIDAL
KR2 ZS-WEC
Paris, France
"haroldwoods" <haroldwo...@rogers.com>
Envoyé par : krnet-bounces+serge.vidal=sagem....@mylist.net
2005-01-01 22:22
Veuillez répondre à KRnet
Remis le : 2005-01-01 22:23
Pour : <kr...@mylist.net>
cc : (ccc : Serge VIDAL/DNSA/SAGEM)
Objet : KR> Control surface failure.
Eduardo wants to know how I got down from 5000 feet. Well here goes.
The object of that exercise was to test for power stalls. I also wanted to
check it out for a wing drop on a violent stall. This was at about 35
hours into the testing.Up to about this time you could never let go of the
stick because it would roll left.We found that when the wing was bolted
onto the fuselage, it had hung up on the left side. and did not come down
properly. This had twisted one wing. We were able to get the wing into a
new and correct position.The question was would it still roll left? While
I was at 5000 feet the mild stalls indicated there now was no roll on the
stall. That was why I decided to do a violent power stall. I zoomed up to
somewhere between 60 or 70 degrees, chopped the power and pulled back very
hard on the stick.The Jodel has a peculiar 2 stick system. Provision had
been made for two sticks but only one was installed on the pilot's side .
A horizontal tube interconnected the two sticks. The passenger side at
this moment in time was only an empt
y elbow pointing upwards. In the future the passenger stick would be
inserted into the elbow. When the pilot's stick broke off at the floor
level, all that remained was the horizontal extension with the empty elbow
on it.
The plane picked up speed in its vertical dive. I was over Mud Lake and
could see the pads of bull rushes getting bigger.I pulled the trim tab to
nose up but it was stuck. The plane has arbitrarily been red lined
somewhere around 145 mph. It was now passing 180 mph. I tried to reach
over the back seat to get at the elevator controllable but the floor in
the baggage compartment prevented this. Then I noticed that the bull
rushes were now moving down past the nose. The very high lift generated
by the high speed was causing the plane to "climb". At 2000 feet it was
level and starting to climb. At 4500 feet it stalled, again no fall off on
the wings.
As it stalled I applied full throttle, flattening the stall. Then power
off and down we went again. It was a milder repetition this time . There
were 3 roller-coaster dives. I was able to get it level at about 4000
feet. It flew perfectly level.I then inspected the break. I reasoned that
if I could place the stick alongside the passengers horizontal portion and
tie it to the elbow , I might regain control. In the luggage compartment
was a screw driver. It was far too sloppy when set into the elbow.
I got the yellow pencil from the log book, broke it into 3 pieces, placed
them in the elbow and pushed the screw driver in between. It was much
stiffer now.I took off my belt from my trousers, released my shoulder
harness got my head down under the dash and proceed to wrap the belt
around the stick and the horizontal tube.It was at this time that I
realized the engine was revving up. I glanced over the panel in time to
see the horizon vertical on the nose. It had rolled over and was nosing
down into another dive. I grabbed the elbow and lifted it. This stopped to
roll. By pulling back on the screwdriver I got it level again. I then took
out the shoe laces from my shoes and laced the screwdriver and the broken
stick together.This produced another roll over and dive but it was now
much easier to control. This was a day which was sunny, no wind, no bumps.
Just a perfect day. No traffic around our small airport. I reduced speed
to 65 mph and tried gentle turns. It was good in
roll but sloppy in pitch. A long 5 mile approach was made .A gentle
decent rate was controlled by throttle.The approach took us over the tree
tops , over a bay, over the far shore , over the fence and onto the grass
runway for a painted on landing. Cut the throttle, turn off to my parking
spot and stop. I sure was glad to get down in one piece. In 3 days the
controls had been fixed and the plane inspected for poor welds. I took it
up and it flew like an angel. I think that there was one riding on my
shoulder that eventful day.
The moral of this tale seems to be: 1) get good welds . 2) install a trim
tab that works over all speed ranges. 3) ensure that the plane will fly
level without touching the stick at normal glide speed. 4) get a guardian
angel and always fly with her. Sorry that this got so long winded.
Harold Woods
Orillia,ON. Can.
harold wo...@rogers.com
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