would adding a BRS to a trainer KR add a margin of safety against the CG issue when slow flight training (at altitude of course) ?
(remember the solo pilot who spun his all the way down and never recovered, all caught on gopro) On Mon, May 10, 2021 at 5:05 AM MS <propbala...@att.net> wrote: > I very much agree with the idea of not stuffing two people in a KR for > training purposes. My previous standard KR was WAY out of CG with just two > normal-sized people in it and my KR wasn't badly built - an engineer with > McDonnell Douglas built it - built three of them in fact - and had the > added weight of the Maloof prop out front but was still very tail heavy > with two people. Most early KR's tended to go tail heavy with two people. > Trying to develop familiarity with a plane that has such a tendency toward > aft CG doesn't sound like a good idea. Not to mention, two people each > with heads canted toward the center because the canopy had such poor > headroom made for an unpleasant ride for both pilot and passenger, quite > aside from trying to do any flight familiarization. > > With the many improvements that have been made to the standard design - > wider cockpits, longer fuselages, problems the original design had with two > up have been eliminated of course but still . . . with two people and > marginal horsepower seems asking for trouble. It's never been a two-place > plane . . . really. It's a very cool one person plane. Long runway to > eliminate concern of running off the end, either with an abort or with a > long landing, plus no controller distracting things . . . if a person has > any skill at all at flying, the KR is not quirky or difficult. 90% of > newbie problems are simply from trying to touch down while the plane still > wants to fly. That ends up with bent nosewheel struts and broken props . . > . happens all the time, not just with KR's. Speed control is so important > and finding that comfortable spot with a new plane is always a bit > nervewracking. It takes a lot of self-discipline those first few flights > while getting a feel for where the approach speed should be. This isn't > just with KR's. I think everyone, flying a new plane for the first time, > has a hard time keeping their approach speed down. > > Slow flight with a few stalls is a great thing to do on that first > flight. Neither of my KR's did anything in the stall except mush. It's a > gentle wing (if built correctly and nothing is out of whack) with no bad > habits. Generations of KR builders/flyers have gone through this and > gained the benefit of true stick and rudder skills with this forgiving > airplane. There's no need to treat the KR like it requires some special > training. It's about as honest an airplane as any of us will ever fly. > Just slow down before the wheels. If you have to wait for it to slow down, > just wait. That's exactly the reason to use an extra long runway while in > the familiarization phase. > > Putting two people in a KR for training purposes seems a recipe for an > unpleasant experience . . . although, come to think of it. familiarization > flying with Jim Morehead was not uncomfortable at all . . . so I'm all > wet. Depends on the plane I guess. Jim's tri-gear plane was just as > comfortable with the two of us in it as a Piper Cherokee 140. > I sure had some unpleasant experiences with my first (standard design) KR > when I had another person in the cockpit though. With such an aft CG, if > one doesn't die first, one learns to become a pretty good pilot. > > MikeKSEE > ________________________________ > -Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html > -Change list delivery options at > https://list.krnet.org/list/krnet.list.krnet.org/ Affinity List Info Board > -Search recent KRnet Archives at > https://list.krnet.org/empathy/list/krnet.list.krnet.org/ > -Search <https://list.krnet.org/empathy/list/krnet.list.krnet.org/-Search> > John Boyea's decades of archive at > https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/ ________________________________ -Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html -Change list delivery options at https://list.krnet.org/list/krnet.list.krnet.org/ Affinity List Info Board -Search recent KRnet Archives at https://list.krnet.org/empathy/list/krnet.list.krnet.org/ -Search John Boyea's decades of archive at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/
