Quote:
Originally Posted by mspenc45
I need some advice on our RV-8, which seems to be pretty squirrelly on the ground. I talked with a few RV8ers at a recent fly in and received several comments about tire pressure, wheel alignment and tail wheel linkage. Basically, zero to a slight toe out is better than toe in? Tire pressures as low as 28 or 30PSI, and a relatively loose tail wheel linkage are all things to try. I checked our wheel alignment, and it is about 1.5 degrees toe in on both sides. I have been running around 35PSI, and am concerned about dropping this too low as a tire could rotate on the rim and sheer the valve stem. On the tail wheel chains, they allow about an inch of travel in the pedals, moving the rudder only, before acting on the tail wheel. Camber is also very positive as the outside of our tires where much faster than the center.
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I personally believe that toe-out is more stabilizing than toe-in. As for tire pressure, I have no evidence that does much at all. I have mine at 40-42 primarily for ground clearance on the wheel pants crossing the hangar door lip. They were 30 -35 before pants went on... didn't change my lousy landings one bit.
I have tried loose chains and tighter chains and think it does not make much difference, other than what you get used too. You could make the argument that looser chains would reduce this, and some might argue that it can make it worse.
You didn't mention how much tail wheel experience you have. Mine was very limited, and with experience I'm getting better. My biggest problem seemed to be after the tail comes down after a wheel landing. As I slowed, I'd start getting more and more squirrely. I called it PIRO, or pilot-induced rudder oscillations. I'd start swinging back and forth and the best way to stop it (at slow speeds) was brake application.
Much of it is technique... I read several descriptions and the best I saw explained that I was a victim of inertia. Scenario: Nose drifts right, apply left rudder, nose comes back to the left, inertia keeps the CG going to the right, nose overshoots and goes left, cycle repeats.
As I get better I am anticipating this. Scenario: Nose drifts right, apply left rudder, correction begins, rudder neutralized, repeat as necessary. Also, my perception of when the nose starts to drift is getting better so I'm anticipating the drift, applying corrections earlier, and thus the corrections are smaller.
Forgive me if your experience level is well beyond this point. I'd fix the toe-in condition and then experiment/practice. As for me, I am still learning. I am an instructor with a bunch of hours, but taming the tail dragon has been a humbling experience and I freely admit it. I understand the process of learning.
As with any low time pilot, we have not yet gained the ability to perceive small changes. As we gain experience, we see the intended point of touchdown drift, we see the ground path and ground speed change, we "sense" the .95 Gs as the aircraft begins to settle in the flare. As our kinesthesia improves, so do we.
Don
Camber Adjustment
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Linear Mode
