Cpt_Kirk
En-Route
No, not that type of spin.
Went out for an hour to run through some maneuvers and other things with the airplane. It's hard enough to find airworthy 337's. It's even harder to find someone who can instruct in one.
Flew out to the practice area and ran through the various types of stalls, slow flight, steep turns, lazy eights, chandelles, etc. Found some things I thought were peculiar. With the flaps up, power on and off stalls were traditional with a moderate drop of the nose regardless of bank angle. However, any set of stalls with the flaps down resulted in a dramatic nose and wing drop with a roll to the left. It didn't matter the flap setting, power setting, trim setting, aileron position, or coordination. It always dropped and rolled to the left.
Slow flight was pretty standard except for the fact that the airplane didn't seem to want to hold a heading. It would twist to the right about the vertical axis at a rate of roughly one degree per second. The ball was centered the entire time and I maintained roughly 70mph (approx. 61kts). I have a feeling it has to do with the placement of the engines and the airflow over the props at certain AoA. I didn't retest this with the flaps up like I should have. I guess I just overlooked it. I wish there was a program that could show me the aerodynamics regarding a 337 in different phases of flight. I think it'd be awesome to see.
Steep turns, lazy eights, and chandelles were all pretty normal. I also briefly tested the natural stability of the aircraft. It displayed what I believed the be positive static and dynamic traits after a quick pull on the yoke after unaccelerated straight and level flight had been established. So, after that was all done, I flew back to the airport for some takeoff and landings.
The weather was pretty good. Blue skies, few clouds, but the winds were 20 gusting 25+ kts right down the runway. Perfect. Everything was a stop-n-go. By the third landing, I was able to get it down and stopped, reconfigure, and get the wheels up before I crossed the 1,000 foot markers. My landing weight was roughly 3,500 pounds. I don't know about you, but I think those numbers and pretty impressive for that airplane, even with the winds. I wish my camera was charged so I would have some proof to my claims.
The last two landings were short approaches. A small lake on short final and the wind made judging the approach pretty interesting. The first one was a flop. I came up pretty short. The second landing was right on the numbers. The Piper Arrow sure did teach me to judge a steep approach accurately.
Does anyone else like to go out and really get to know their airplane? I'm not there yet and won't be for some time, but I believe I have started. People rely on me, I want to be able to perform when I need to.
Went out for an hour to run through some maneuvers and other things with the airplane. It's hard enough to find airworthy 337's. It's even harder to find someone who can instruct in one.
Flew out to the practice area and ran through the various types of stalls, slow flight, steep turns, lazy eights, chandelles, etc. Found some things I thought were peculiar. With the flaps up, power on and off stalls were traditional with a moderate drop of the nose regardless of bank angle. However, any set of stalls with the flaps down resulted in a dramatic nose and wing drop with a roll to the left. It didn't matter the flap setting, power setting, trim setting, aileron position, or coordination. It always dropped and rolled to the left.
Slow flight was pretty standard except for the fact that the airplane didn't seem to want to hold a heading. It would twist to the right about the vertical axis at a rate of roughly one degree per second. The ball was centered the entire time and I maintained roughly 70mph (approx. 61kts). I have a feeling it has to do with the placement of the engines and the airflow over the props at certain AoA. I didn't retest this with the flaps up like I should have. I guess I just overlooked it. I wish there was a program that could show me the aerodynamics regarding a 337 in different phases of flight. I think it'd be awesome to see.
Steep turns, lazy eights, and chandelles were all pretty normal. I also briefly tested the natural stability of the aircraft. It displayed what I believed the be positive static and dynamic traits after a quick pull on the yoke after unaccelerated straight and level flight had been established. So, after that was all done, I flew back to the airport for some takeoff and landings.
The weather was pretty good. Blue skies, few clouds, but the winds were 20 gusting 25+ kts right down the runway. Perfect. Everything was a stop-n-go. By the third landing, I was able to get it down and stopped, reconfigure, and get the wheels up before I crossed the 1,000 foot markers. My landing weight was roughly 3,500 pounds. I don't know about you, but I think those numbers and pretty impressive for that airplane, even with the winds. I wish my camera was charged so I would have some proof to my claims.
The last two landings were short approaches. A small lake on short final and the wind made judging the approach pretty interesting. The first one was a flop. I came up pretty short. The second landing was right on the numbers. The Piper Arrow sure did teach me to judge a steep approach accurately.
Does anyone else like to go out and really get to know their airplane? I'm not there yet and won't be for some time, but I believe I have started. People rely on me, I want to be able to perform when I need to.
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