Which taildragger

I was thinking about putting the brakes on the right side in my"future"
Luscombe, just so the CFI I have checking me out in doesn't get the
"pucker" factor to much! From my understanding of the 337 it's not to
hard of a project to undertake, still looking for the JATO 337 on it
though!

Patrick,

If I ever give one word of sound advice about flying Luscombes, it's this.
Never, ever as long as you live use those brakes during the landing roll.
Luscombe brakes are for ground maneuvering only. If a CFI tells you
different, open the door and ask him to get out. The last person I told this
to flipped his Luscombe on the landing roll. He let it get away from him,
then added brake to correct himself. The airplane immediately flipped. He
was injured, and the beautifully restored bird was totaled. (see
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...15X01817&key=1)

I've landed in 25 knot crosswinds without touching the brakes. Luscombes are
wonderful airplanes to fly. They react exactly as they are directed. Land
straight with the direction of travel and you'll not have any problem. If
that means landing on one wheel, do so. (I've stayed on one wheel nearly to
the tiedown ;-)) But don't think that braking will help. Go around or add a
blast of power. If all else fails, in a Luscombe, it's better to ground loop
if things have progressed too far than to flip.

BTW, there is a jet Luscombe. It's called the Speedbird. See
http://ronkilber.tripod.com/luscombe/luscombe.htm and all 337s can be found
at http://www.luscombeassoc.org/.

Deb
--
1946 Luscombe 8A (his)
1948 Luscombe 8E (hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (ours)

"Gig 601XL Builder" wr.giacona@coxDOTnet wrote in message
news:8asMe.1814$7f5.1310@okepread01...
Doesn't that make you go in circles?

Yes, and there's nothing more annoying than chasing my own tail! :-).

Deb

--
1946 Luscombe 8A (his)
1948 Luscombe 8E (hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (ours)

"Dylan Smith" wrote

However, it has a free
castoring tailwheel.

Dylan,

I don't have any trouble with mine, but my tail is heavier than many fabric
airplanes and my rudder is effective on the ground.

However, it's not just that they are heel brakes (which makes depressing
the rudder pedal fully and applying braking more difficult) but the fact
they are connected to cable operated drum brakes whose effectiveness
varies from minute to minute.

My Cleveland wheels and brakes are every effective and consistent. With the
pedal set-up in my airplane, I find depressing the brake and rudder easy,
but I have smaller feet that most male pilots and that could be key.
However, I don't like to fly bare footed and never in sandals or flops.

Deb

--
1946 Luscombe 8A (his)
1948 Luscombe 8E (hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (ours)

Great Advice,
And definitely what I am being told by my CFI's, I only use the brakes
to break the tailwheel lose. The Champs I have been flying you could almost
stop using the Flintstones breaking method if you had to! I'm doing good
in them and hope to solo soon, and I really can not wait to try a Luscombe.
Finding they are harder to get ahold to than a Champ for training! That's
saying something since I drive 5 hours to fly the Champ! I think the
taildragger flying is alot more fun..or should we say the landings and
takeoffs It's a hoot! Going back to Ohio on the 27th I'll let ya know how
I did.
Was the plane you were talking about the one that was for sale in GA for
awhile, white with blue trim if I remember correct. Think he wanted 8 grand
for it, don't know what he actually got for it. The vertical had a "nice"
crush going on. OUCH!

Patrick

"Deborah McFarland" wrote in message
...
I was thinking about putting the brakes on the right side in
my"future" Luscombe, just so the CFI I have checking me out in doesn't
get the "pucker" factor to much! From my understanding of the 337 it's
not to hard of a project to undertake, still looking for the JATO 337 on
it though!

Patrick,

If I ever give one word of sound advice about flying Luscombes, it's this.
Never, ever as long as you live use those brakes during the landing roll.
Luscombe brakes are for ground maneuvering only. If a CFI tells you
different, open the door and ask him to get out. The last person I told
this to flipped his Luscombe on the landing roll. He let it get away from
him, then added brake to correct himself. The airplane immediately
flipped. He was injured, and the beautifully restored bird was totaled.
(see http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...15X01817&key=1)

I've landed in 25 knot crosswinds without touching the brakes. Luscombes
are wonderful airplanes to fly. They react exactly as they are directed.
Land straight with the direction of travel and you'll not have any
problem. If that means landing on one wheel, do so. (I've stayed on one
wheel nearly to the tiedown ;-)) But don't think that braking will help.
Go around or add a blast of power. If all else fails, in a Luscombe, it's
better to ground loop if things have progressed too far than to flip.

BTW, there is a jet Luscombe. It's called the Speedbird. See
http://ronkilber.tripod.com/luscombe/luscombe.htm and all 337s can be
found at http://www.luscombeassoc.org/.

Deb
--
1946 Luscombe 8A (his)
1948 Luscombe 8E (hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (ours)

"Deborah McFarland" wrote in message
...

If I ever give one word of sound advice about flying Luscombes, it's this.
Never, ever as long as you live use those brakes during the landing roll.
Luscombe brakes are for ground maneuvering only. If a CFI tells you
different, open the door and ask him to get out.

The proper use of aircraft brakes is a much misunderstood issue
unfortunately and could easily use it's own thread.
I agree completely with your statement concerning the Luscombe. The rudder
on this airplane is responsive enough to handle landings without touching
the brakes.......and this holds true for many other aircraft also. Proper
planning even while taxiing should keep brake application to a minimum and
indeed, taxiing without braking, or at least minimum braking should be the
goal of every pilot.
But it's not a completely black and white issue, and pilots are well advised
to learn how and when to use their brakes PROPERLY.
I used to kid my trainees by telling them the brakes were on the airplane
for holding it during the runup and little else. For some airplanes this is
true.
From the gitgo, I'd have my pilots planning ground operations to reflect as
little brake use as possible. Many pilots are surprised to learn how well
you can thread a needle with an airplane between two parked airplanes if you
just PLAN a little ahead!
But there's another side to the brake issue, and you find it in higher
performance airplanes, especially in higher performance; bigger, and heavier
tailwheel aircraft. You will also find it in close coupled light aircraft
like a Pitts for example.
The problem can arise in the late stages of the landing roll as dynamic
energy decreases on the rudder and you get angular drift on the runway.
There will be times in these airplanes when a touch of brake might very well
be necessary, although most of the time, you can handle even these aircraft
using no brakes and that is the recommended procedure.
The thing with brakes on an airplane is to learn right off the bat where and
when to use them properly, and then HOW to use them properly. All good
pilots, especially tail wheel pilots, should be capable of extremely
careful, delicate rudder and brake application, and know through proper
training when to use brake and how much can be used without losing the
airplane.
As a CFI, I like the goal of using as little brake as possible, especially
on landings, but I also want to stress that not all airplanes are alike, and
keeping that in mind, a thorough indoctrination into the proper use of
aircraft brakes, and especially the brakes on a specific airplane should be
part and parcel of every CFI's tool kit!
Dudley Henriques

Michael wrote:


If at all possible, pick the one that allows you to solo. If you have
a choice, choose the one that allows solo with the most reasonable
minimums.
Michael

Good point. I will see if any of them allows solo rental. It could turn
out that they will all be like the sea plane operations: get the rating
and that's the end, not the beginning.

I'm surprised at how heavy and persistent the marine layer has been
since
I've arrived here. It seems the first thing will be learning to
actually
use my instrument ticket to get in and out of the valley.

Was the plane you were talking about the one that was for sale in GA
for awhile, white with blue trim if I remember correct. Think he wanted 8
grand for it, don't know what he actually got for it. The vertical had a
"nice" crush going on. OUCH!

Patrick

Yep. He put it on ebay and some fool bought it for $9000! We offered him
$1200. There were some structural issues. A good metalsmith will be able to
bring it back.

Deb
--
1946 Luscombe 8A (his)
1948 Luscombe 8E (hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (ours)

Hee Hee,
I made him an offer as well, because I knew I could fix it. But for
someone having to pay for it to be done they would have to have a lot of
cash in the old wallet! Ya know I never could get him to give me a stright
answer about a prop strike. And you are very correct, only a fool would have
given that much money for a badly damaged plane. You can find nice project
planes that need a whole lot less in the 3-6 G range. If I could find one
the owner would carry a note on I'd be in high cotton!

Patrick

"Deborah McFarland" wrote in message
...
Was the plane you were talking about the one that was for sale in GA
for awhile, white with blue trim if I remember correct. Think he wanted 8
grand for it, don't know what he actually got for it. The vertical had a
"nice" crush going on. OUCH!

Patrick

Yep. He put it on ebay and some fool bought it for $9000! We offered him
$1200. There were some structural issues. A good metalsmith will be able
to bring it back.

Deb
--
1946 Luscombe 8A (his)
1948 Luscombe 8E (hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (ours)

Patrick, do I remove only the word "spam" from your email to send you a
message?

Take out the 1's and spam .

Patrick

"john smith" wrote in message
. ..
Patrick, do I remove only the word "spam" from your email to send you a
message?