Main Landing Gear Modification Finished
We have finished the modifications to the main landing gear to incorporate the larger 6 inch wheels and tires.
We also moved the landing gear aft. We were able to get another hours test flight on the aircraft using this landing gear system.
Aircraft handles so much better now. The tail comes up almost instantaneously after applying power.
We decided to go ahead and put an extra wide stance on to the landing gear.
Brake pedal modifications
A close-up of the brake cable adapter for attaching the brake cable to the structure.
A close-up of the right main landing gear and the cable routing to the Avid brake and disc.
The left side brake is mounted on the opposite side to allow the brake cable to exit vertically.
Another view of the brake pedal attachment.
Main Landing Gear Construction
We also begin the manufacturing process for the new landing gear legs. Nearly identical to the production prototype tail dragger configuration but we will be moving the axle location back by about 3 inches.
Off with the old and on with the new. We use a motorcycle jack to get the aircraft up in the air so that we can remove the landing gear easily. This is gonna be a long day because of the location of the aircraft has to be positioned with one wing outside of the hanger so that we get close enough to the TIG welder to be able to weld while the airplane is on the Jack. This means we can’t move the airplane around until we get the new landing gear back on to the airplane.
Since we elected to use the disc brakes from the EMG-5 we needed to manufacture an adapter from the hanger wheels to the disk.
The adapter is a little bit heavy but will have to do for now as were under some time constraints.
The adapter shown sitting on the Hagar wheel and new tire that we will be using.
Landing Gear Test Video
This is the raw video and audio footage of the landing gear test. There have been multiple landing gear configurations that we’ve used on the aircraft. This is the 2nd modification to the tail dragger configuration. On the initial tail dragger gear configuration The landing gear was positioned a little bit too far forward. And in this test it looks like the gear is a little bit too far aft. If you’ll notice at the end of the video taxing aircraft in with the tail in the air once the aircraft center of gravity is directly over the main gear the pitch sensitivity is noticeable. Keep in mind that we are taxiing without brakes and at very low speed. This is difficult to keep the tail in the air on any aircraft at these speeds. Also another interesting point is watching the control inputs during the one wheel side to side maneuver. The crosswind is strong enough that the rudder inputs during this process are more affected by the crosswind than the necessity for ground control. Watch the rudder during this maneuver. In addition a request was made to publish a video with no audio narration or music to enable evaluation of the noise level of the Polini 250 two-stroke engine.