I guess I'll throw in my 2 cents worth on this. When I was getting
ready to fly N56ML for the first time, I did a LOT of high speed taxi
tests at a nearby airport with a 6500' runway, 100' wide, KMDQ. I
trailered the plane there from home and kept it under a "plane-port"
that was only $70 a month. I knew I wouldn't need to be there for
long....less than the month.
That big runway gave me plenty of room to get the tail up, feel out the
controls and learn how to maneuver the plane on the ground.....something
handy to know for a first flight, for example. Full throttle, tail up,
track straight down the centerline to about halfway down the runway,
then back off the throttle to practice letting the tail down gently.
If I'd lost it, I had plenty of room to catch it before I'd hit the
runway lights way off to the side. Fortunately, I never lost it, at
least not bad enough that I remember. I did a crazy number of these
high speed taxi runs, something like sixty of them, in crosswinds and
other conditions. Toward the end, I was keeping up with how many feet
it took get it stopped, from chopping the throttle to full stop, just
for the data points. With that much runway, I never had to use much
brakes, although I also practiced braking with the tail up. If there
was no traffic there, I'd do a high speed test in one direction and then
go back the other way doing the same antics. I didn't have wheel pants
installed at the time, not because of the threat of fire (I don't think
that was on my radar at the time), but to save the brake pads from
excessive wear.
When I felt proficient enough, I flew it to my new "home" airport (M38)
a few miles away, to land on the 2600' long, 40' wide runway....with a
displaced threshold and tall trees at one end, and a plowed field on the
other. Runway lights are only 20' off the edge of the runway. I know,
because I've knocked a few down over the years.....there's a reason
I've been maintaining those lights and the beacon every since, even
though I'm not dumb enough to fly at night! I still find it challenging
to land the KR2 on that narrow runway, mainly because I have to have the
nose way up to slow down quickly enough to get it stopped by the far
end, so I never know exactly where I'm going to touch down on the
runway, since it's so narrow I can't even see it or the edges once flared.
My point is that high speed taxi testing has a very useful purpose, and
may save your newly minted plane from untimely destruction before you
ever get to experience the joy of flying it. But yes, don't do a huge
amount of hard braking with wheel pants on the plane (with 20/20
hindsight). And I always carry a small aircraft fire extinguisher. It
saved my plane once when I burned a hole through an oil line, lost all
my oil 12 miles from the airport. When I landed there was oil all over
the engine and exhaust, and it was on fire! So a Phillips screwdriver
to remove cowling screws is also very handy to keep in the plane. This
story is also a reminder that a VDO "low oil pressure switch" from a VW
or similar. Without that "ultra bright" red flashing LED in front of my
face and the pulsing beeper, I'd probably not have noticed the oil
pressure gauge was reading zero until the prop stopped, which it did
during rollout!
Mark Langford
m...@n56ml.com
http://www.n56ml.com
Huntsville, AL
--
KRnet mailing list
KRnet@list.krnet.org
https://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet
