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Pitot tube cover & tricky brake steering

JerryG150

Well Known Member
I'm having a hard time finding a pitot tube cover for my -12. I have a Remove Before Flight keychain banner but haven't found a cover to attach to it to keep foreign objects and dirt out of pitot while on the ground ... manufactured covers are too large. Any ideas?

Also my take off run is a bit tricky to keep craft heading straight down runway with my brake steering. Is it just me or do I have a mechanical problem? It seems to be getting worse instead of better. Maybe I just need a lighter brake touch and a few more take offs under my belt. Any suggestions?

I would like to thank all of you who were able to vote for my grandson at the restaurant web site I mentioned in a previous post ... he won the Ipad2! Thanks again.
 
There are many plastic "tubing covers" used to seal tubing from crawling critters during shipping. This is what I use. Just punch a hole sideways through the closed end and thread your "key chain" through that with the remove before flight flag attached.

As far as braking during take-off, you shouldn't need any. The rudder should be effective due to the prop blast. If you cannot control direction with rudder, you might have a dragging brake.
 
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I'm having a hard time finding a pitot tube cover for my -12. I have a Remove Before Flight keychain banner but haven't found a cover to attach to it to keep foreign objects and dirt out of pitot while on the ground ... manufactured covers are too large. Any ideas?

Also my take off run is a bit tricky to keep craft heading straight down runway with my brake steering. Is it just me or do I have a mechanical problem? It seems to be getting worse instead of better. Maybe I just need a lighter brake touch and a few more take offs under my belt. Any suggestions?

I would like to thank all of you who were able to vote for my grandson at the restaurant web site I mentioned in a previous post ... he won the Ipad2! Thanks again.

We had to tilt back our brake pedals so that would not happen. Tilting back required new brake pedals and drilling the hole in the new pedals. I think it was about $ 20 each. It was a minor fix.
 
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Also my take off run is a bit tricky to keep craft heading straight down runway with my brake steering. Is it just me or do I have a mechanical problem? It seems to be getting worse instead of better. Maybe I just need a lighter brake touch and a few more take offs under my belt. Any suggestions?

When taxiing or flying any trigear RV, brakes should only be used to help steer, when full rudder input is not enough to do the job.
During the take-off roll in an RV-12, the only time you should ever have to use any brake input to steer is with a very strong left crosswind. Even then, it is only during the first 50 feet or so, until you get some airspeed (rudder effectiveness).
 
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Jerry, I agree with all on use rudder, not brakes on t.off.
On the pitot I used a red plastic tubing cover that slips over the pitot, and attached an orange wire tie to it as a flag. The wire tie puts tension on the cover to keep it on, and also makes it easy to see and remember it's there.
Dick Seiders
 
A vinyl tube cap that is a tight fit on the pitot tube can pressurize the air in the tube. If the D-180 is then turned on, there will be errors. The unit should not be powered on with airspeed applied.
Joe Gores
 
My pitot cover is a 2" piece of silicone tubing with a zip tye and a red flag in the middle - Works great.
 
A gradual application of power till you get rolling and gain some rudder authority works for me. As soon as you have the rudder authority, full power.

Have always taken off with full aft stick, relaxing it to hold the nosewheel off the ground until 50 knots.

Have not tried near full right rudder and full aft stick. Will have to give that a try.
 
Also my take off run is a bit tricky to keep craft heading straight down runway with my brake steering. Is it just me or do I have a mechanical problem? It seems to be getting worse instead of better. Maybe I just need a lighter brake touch and a few more take offs under my belt. Any suggestions?

Jerry,

One other possibility is that you have too much tension on the nosewheel swivel. I had that problem at first, and it was hard to make turns on the ground - the nose wheel did not want to move. Try loosening the big nut slightly until steering is easier. Then use the technique described by Marty above. Get the plane started straight down the center line and bring up the power gradually until you get rudder authority. You should not have to use brakes at all, as Scott points out above. Let us know how it goes.

John
 
Takeoff technique

Notwithstanding the expert pilot view that full aft elevator should be used during the takeoff sequence, I would urge caution unless the new RV-12 pilot has had transition training and/or is fully familiar with all aspects of handling the aircraft.

The POH states "raise the nose to takeoff attitude" after the throttle has been smoothly applied.

Things happen fast, and full elevator in ground effect would be a bit unnerving :eek:.

.02 worth.

Tony
 
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Tony, good point!! You do have to release aft elevator as soon as the nosewheel lifts, and continue to release back pressure as the plane accelerates to keep the nosewheel just off of the ground. The plane will fly off the ground on its own in this attitude, just over 50 knots. It does take practice. I would tend to agree, do not try it on your first takeoff unless you have had the dual or a few number of hours.
 
thanks for all the suggestions ...

Thanks to all of you who made suggestions to cure my ills. I'll check at Home Depot and Lowes for a tube cap they might have received during packaging and shipping and I'll search their products for the perfect little cap "thingamajig" and hang my key chain on it. I'll also be sure to remove it during my preflight!

After reading all the ideas and suggestions for my "take-off" difficulty, I've decided I could be inadvertantly applying the left brake and therefore need a little right brake to straighten out. Rather then rework the brake pedals as described as a minor fix (no such thing as a minor fix in my book ... remember 3 1/2 year build with help at the end), I'll be sure to bend my ankles inward and just touch the bottom portion of the pedal to be 100% sure I'm not accidently applying any brakes.

Also, while turning during normal taxiing, I've noticed it turns slowly and then turns a bit quickly, then slower on it's own without changing brake pressure which leads me to believe my torque on the free castering wheel may be too tight as suggested on this thread. I don't have the Builder's Manual here at home but if I remember correctly it was suppose to take 26lbs. of force to turn the wheel. I used a fisherman's scale to determine that weight force necessary to turn the free castering wheel , the accuracy of which I never determined.

I believe bending my ankles away from the brake pedal and loosing the castering torque a bit might just be my answer. I'll let you know when the weather improves here at KSRQ. Thanks for all your suggestions ... greatly appreciated.
 
Inadvertent brake application

The stock RV-12 footwell is deep and roomy. With heels on the floor there is probably little chance of inadvertently dragging a brake.
520853838_HJNVY-M.jpg

However, the interior kit carpets have a foam backing which raises the floor about 1". This is enough to perhaps cause a pilot with large feet to ride the brakes. I would temporarily take out the carpet and see if that was a cause.

Tony
 
could be ...

All you RVators are really a bunch of detectives.

It could well be the carpet and padding which might be giving me my problem ... As I recall, I didn't experience this problem till after the interior kit was installed ... coincidence, I'm not sure. But I will certainly remove at least the thick padding before my next flight. If that's it ... I never would have figured that out on my own. Thanks.

I will let you know the results as soon as KSRQ weather improves.

One last question for you guys. Was Oswald a lone gunman or was there a conspiracy?
 
castering nosewheel

Jerry:

I actually found that the breakaway force specified in the build manual was a bit too much. This was corroborated by a multiple RV builder (who also runs a builders assistance center). We found it very difficult to get it to track straight while taxiing. I dropped mine back a bit and it has been much easier to control since that time.

On takeoff, I initially had some problems as well, coming from a Skyhawk with a steerable nosewheel. I found that with slow, steady advancement of the throttle, sometimes just a tap on the brake to get it tracking straight, and then right rudder, I can now do it smoothly. However, mine takes a lot of right rudder until it nearly reaches rotation speeds- then I can let up a bit.

Jeff
 
solved ...

As suggested, I backed off the large nut on the nose wheel a bit and begin my takeoff run with a big helping of right rudder ... almost from the beginning of the takeoff roll ... more right rudder to go right a bit more and less right rudder to go a bit left ... seems to be working for me. It's a bit like SLOW flight making 360's. Thank for the tips. :)
 
Brake Steering

Jerry I have the same problem. I shortened the rudder cables a little and that was costly and not effective but shortened the pedals which was good. The problem seems to be the tension on the nose wheel. I tried that last week and it improved. Ron Russ

I'm having a hard time finding a pitot tube cover for my -12. I have a Remove Before Flight keychain banner but haven't found a cover to attach to it to keep foreign objects and dirt out of pitot while on the ground ... manufactured covers are too large. Any ideas?

Also my take off run is a bit tricky to keep craft heading straight down runway with my brake steering. Is it just me or do I have a mechanical problem? It seems to be getting worse instead of better. Maybe I just need a lighter brake touch and a few more take offs under my belt. Any suggestions?

I would like to thank all of you who were able to vote for my grandson at the restaurant web site I mentioned in a previous post ... he won the Ipad2! Thanks again.
 
Jerry, just thought I'd let you know I took the plastic cap off the pitot and replaced it with a pc of red shrink wrap tubing about 10" lg and 1/2" wide (in the flat form). Placed it on the pitot and shrunk it until a snug fit. Much more obvious (and cool looking) making it less likely to be overlooked. Did likewise for the AOA where I used a metal valve cap (on Joe Gore's volly ball fitting) and attached the same red shrink wrap tubing to it.
Dick Seiders
 
PITOT COVER

I used a stock Cessna pitot cover and inserted a predrilled plastic wine cork.
The cork fits perfect into the cover and drilling the cork to slightly smaller dia. than the pitot tube works perfect.
Didn't come off during 40 kt. winds in Santa Fe back in May.

Gary
 
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