Arnold
Cleared for Takeoff
I finally got the chance to fly the Tecnam in some interesting winds. Three times around the patch, all full stop. I was blown a bit off course on my first departure. After that I managed to keep it more or less square. Enough for crappy pilot technique what about the ship?
As frequent visitors know I normally fly a Luscombe L8-A but I am no stranger to tricycle gear light aircraft having taught since the late 70's in all manner of training aircraft. Including the C-150/152, PA-38-112 and AA-1 A/B/C.
First off I must say I truly like the P2008.
It is roomy, good looking and reasonably fast at about 105 KIAS cruise, and has no ugly handling qualities. This example is equipped with dual G3X displays and an autopilot. The nosewheel makes landings considerably less intense than in the Luscombe, but as I learned from one squealing touchdown a couple of months back it still requires attention and technique. It never pays to get complacent.
Until this past Friday my question was - how does it handle in strong winds? On 05MAR21 Winds were roughly 270 v 310 @ 15 G 23, so variable in both direction and speed. This made for an interesting test on KLOM runway 24. As one would expect in any aircraft control responsiveness deteriorates as speed decreases. In the P2008 this is more pronounced than the PA-28-140 and -151 which were my most recent part 23 aircraft flights, both in the past month or so.
The first of my three approaches and landings was with half flaps (approach and take-off setting). It is a very good short field performer and home drome's 3700' runway was more than long enough for reduced flap landings. I bumped the final approach speed 10 KIAS to 75 and settled in for a bumpy ride down final knowing that there is a strong wind shear with a loss of about 10 kts roughly 200' on final when tracking the PAPI in these wind conditions. I rolled out on final with the PAPI showing me on glidepath and I was ready with throttle when I hit the wind shear. There was more than adequate power to stay on the PAPI through the downdraft. The extra speed resulted in a touch down about 1/3 of the way down the runway and I easily made the 2800' turn off at Bravo.
For my next approach I simulated a short field landing with full flaps staying high on the PAPI and crossing the approach end at about 50 feet and 75 KIAS. This time I made the taxiway Charlie turn-off 1200 feet from the threshold with some light braking. My final approach was a normal landing, full flaps, 75 KIAS aiming for the third runway stripe. As in the previous attempts I hit the wind shear and rode through it with a blip of throttle.
For all three approaches and landings there was more than sufficient control authority to keep the nose straight and land on the centerline. The aircraft has well harmonized pitch and roll controls at normal cruise and pattern speeds. When slowing for landing the pitch and roll become very mushy and large control movements are need to effect corrections, but the harmonization remains good. The rudder on the other hand stays quite responsive and I never felt like I was running out of rudder as the speed slowed and the winds gusted. I can also say the same for pitch and roll, aside from the large control inputs the controls were effective throughout the landing and I never felt I was nearing aircraft control limits.
Conclusion. A fine handling aircraft. Relatively light aileron and pitch controls with a heavier more positive rudder feel. At landing and take off speeds be prepared for larger control movements on the tops and relatively small and constant control inputs on the bottom.
As frequent visitors know I normally fly a Luscombe L8-A but I am no stranger to tricycle gear light aircraft having taught since the late 70's in all manner of training aircraft. Including the C-150/152, PA-38-112 and AA-1 A/B/C.
First off I must say I truly like the P2008.
It is roomy, good looking and reasonably fast at about 105 KIAS cruise, and has no ugly handling qualities. This example is equipped with dual G3X displays and an autopilot. The nosewheel makes landings considerably less intense than in the Luscombe, but as I learned from one squealing touchdown a couple of months back it still requires attention and technique. It never pays to get complacent.
Until this past Friday my question was - how does it handle in strong winds? On 05MAR21 Winds were roughly 270 v 310 @ 15 G 23, so variable in both direction and speed. This made for an interesting test on KLOM runway 24. As one would expect in any aircraft control responsiveness deteriorates as speed decreases. In the P2008 this is more pronounced than the PA-28-140 and -151 which were my most recent part 23 aircraft flights, both in the past month or so.
The first of my three approaches and landings was with half flaps (approach and take-off setting). It is a very good short field performer and home drome's 3700' runway was more than long enough for reduced flap landings. I bumped the final approach speed 10 KIAS to 75 and settled in for a bumpy ride down final knowing that there is a strong wind shear with a loss of about 10 kts roughly 200' on final when tracking the PAPI in these wind conditions. I rolled out on final with the PAPI showing me on glidepath and I was ready with throttle when I hit the wind shear. There was more than adequate power to stay on the PAPI through the downdraft. The extra speed resulted in a touch down about 1/3 of the way down the runway and I easily made the 2800' turn off at Bravo.
For my next approach I simulated a short field landing with full flaps staying high on the PAPI and crossing the approach end at about 50 feet and 75 KIAS. This time I made the taxiway Charlie turn-off 1200 feet from the threshold with some light braking. My final approach was a normal landing, full flaps, 75 KIAS aiming for the third runway stripe. As in the previous attempts I hit the wind shear and rode through it with a blip of throttle.
For all three approaches and landings there was more than sufficient control authority to keep the nose straight and land on the centerline. The aircraft has well harmonized pitch and roll controls at normal cruise and pattern speeds. When slowing for landing the pitch and roll become very mushy and large control movements are need to effect corrections, but the harmonization remains good. The rudder on the other hand stays quite responsive and I never felt like I was running out of rudder as the speed slowed and the winds gusted. I can also say the same for pitch and roll, aside from the large control inputs the controls were effective throughout the landing and I never felt I was nearing aircraft control limits.
Conclusion. A fine handling aircraft. Relatively light aileron and pitch controls with a heavier more positive rudder feel. At landing and take off speeds be prepared for larger control movements on the tops and relatively small and constant control inputs on the bottom.
