Dumb Canard Question.

In article ,
John Ousterhout wrote:
On Tue, 7 Oct 2003 08:44:24 -0700, "Steven Johansen"
wrote:

Why are many Canard designs (Cozy , Eze's etc)
parked with their noses resting on the ground?

Is it simply to reduce wear on the Nose gear or
for a more esoteric reason?

They are all pointed towards Mojave and bowing to worship Burt Rutan.

- J.O.-


AHA! When they're on the ground, they're Occident prone?

Steven

I heard many years ago that the nose on the ground put the cockpit
rail down where you could just step into the cockpit and then crank
the nose gear down to take off position.

Without this you would need some type of a boarding ladder to get in
and out of the cockpit.

Anyone support my memory?

Big John


On Tue, 7 Oct 2003 08:44:24 -0700, "Steven Johansen"
wrote:

Why are many Canard designs (Cozy , Eze's etc)
parked with their noses resting on the ground?

Is it simply to reduce wear on the Nose gear or
for a more esoteric reason?

Cheers

Steven

In article ,
Big John wrote:

Steven

I heard many years ago that the nose on the ground put the cockpit
rail down where you could just step into the cockpit and then crank
the nose gear down to take off position.

Without this you would need some type of a boarding ladder to get in
and out of the cockpit.

Anyone support my memory?

Big John


On Tue, 7 Oct 2003 08:44:24 -0700, "Steven Johansen"
wrote:

Why are many Canard designs (Cozy , Eze's etc)
parked with their noses resting on the ground?

Is it simply to reduce wear on the Nose gear or
for a more esoteric reason?


IIRC, the Rutan canards are a bit tail heavy with ethe gear down and
nobody in them. They are stable with the NG retracted and nobody in them.

Big John wrote:

I heard many years ago that the nose on the ground put the cockpit
rail down where you could just step into the cockpit and then crank
the nose gear down to take off position.

I've been in a Berkut where the owner did this (electrically
actuated gear) but I can't imagine doing it with manual EZ gear.
Of course I couldn't imagine doing it in the Berkut either, but
he insisted.

Dave 'kneel' Hyde

Big John wrote:

Steven

I heard many years ago that the nose on the ground put the cockpit
rail down where you could just step into the cockpit and then crank
the nose gear down to take off position.

Without this you would need some type of a boarding ladder to get in
and out of the cockpit.

Anyone support my memory?

Big John

No ladder necessary for most folks. EZs have a step that facilitates
cockpit entry with the nose gear extended. It's sort of like mounting
a horse by putting your foot in the stirrup.

Here is a picture of my plane and the step,

http://www.airplanezone.com/Oshkosh/...SC00517bSM.JPG

Left foot on the step, left hand on the longeron, right leg up, over,
and in. As for rear seat passengers, entry is no problem for the
young and agile but sometimes problematic for older folks.

The nose down parking position is sometimes referred to as the
"grazing position", which is especially appropriate when parked on
grass.

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

"David O" wrote
No ladder necessary for most folks. EZs have a step that facilitates
cockpit entry with the nose gear extended. It's sort of like mounting
a horse by putting your foot in the stirrup.

Here is a picture of my plane and the step,

http://www.airplanezone.com/Oshkosh/...SC00517bSM.JPG


David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

So that's a step! All this time, I was thinking nose dragger - literally,
and those were handles to get the plane pointed the right way! vbg
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote:

So that's a step! All this time, I was thinking nose dragger - literally,
and those were handles to get the plane pointed the right way! vbg
--
Jim in NC

Glad to have cleared up *that* misconception!

Thanks for your nice comments over in r.a.p.

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

David

Beautiful bird. You do good work G And take good pictures.

See the step but don't remember ever seeing on the original
plan/birds????? which I looked at years ago for possibility of
building. May have missed that minor detail.

The EZ had a carnard/rain problem. Is that fixed now or do you have to
fly around the problem?

Have seen lots of figures. What's your HONEST cruise at say 8K?

Have a nice day

Big John


On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 21:08:26 -0400, David O
wrote:

Big John wrote:

Steven

I heard many years ago that the nose on the ground put the cockpit
rail down where you could just step into the cockpit and then crank
the nose gear down to take off position.

Without this you would need some type of a boarding ladder to get in
and out of the cockpit.

Anyone support my memory?

Big John

No ladder necessary for most folks. EZs have a step that facilitates
cockpit entry with the nose gear extended. It's sort of like mounting
a horse by putting your foot in the stirrup.

Here is a picture of my plane and the step,

http://www.airplanezone.com/Oshkosh/...SC00517bSM.JPG

Left foot on the step, left hand on the longeron, right leg up, over,
and in. As for rear seat passengers, entry is no problem for the
young and agile but sometimes problematic for older folks.

The nose down parking position is sometimes referred to as the
"grazing position", which is especially appropriate when parked on
grass.

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

Big John wrote:

See the step but don't remember ever seeing on the original
plan/birds????? which I looked at years ago for possibility of
building. May have missed that minor detail.

The step on my Long EZ is per plans. I don't know what kind of step
the Varieze plans called for, if any. Maybe someone with a Varieze
could chime in. I'd like to know.

The EZ had a carnard/rain problem. Is that fixed now or do you have to
fly around the problem?

Well, it's not fixed on my airplane. If I want to fix it, I have to
build a new canard. The effect can be trimmed out. Variable rain
requires frequent re-trimming, of course. I largely avoid flying in
the rain because of my wood prop. Interestingly, the canard will let
me know it's raining even when the rain is so light that I can't see
it. It's my drizzle/virga detection system. g On several occasions
it has clued me in to virga that I would have been oblivious to
otherwise.

Have seen lots of figures. What's your HONEST cruise at say 8K?

I get 162 kt TAS at 8,500 full throttle leaned for best power. The
engine is a 150 hp O-320. I have wheel pants in the hangar that would
give me another 5 kt or so if I would only install them. g Plus
there are a number of other things I could do to clean it up
aerodynamically. Interestingly, the boarding step alone knocks close
to 1 kt off the top end.

Regards,

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

Have seen lots of figures. What's your HONEST cruise at say 8K?

I get 162 kt TAS at 8,500 full throttle leaned for best power. The
engine is a 150 hp O-320. I have wheel pants in the hangar that would
give me another 5 kt or so if I would only install them. g Plus
there are a number of other things I could do to clean it up
aerodynamically. Interestingly, the boarding step alone knocks close
to 1 kt off the top end.

Regards,

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fascinating, Dave.
Not the TAS, but your naked honesty. ;-)

P.S.
Would be fun getting next to your EZ. for a shootout.
Best you PUT YOUR PANTS ON on first, tho.


Barnyard BOb -- fully clothed RV3 driver