Originally Posted by
Art ARRO
John,
My statement on the use of the HS speed brake/air brake in turns stems from Steve Elias' suggestion several years ago. As per his advice I plaqn to actuate the brake from a servo linked to the left slider on the tranny. Steve recommendation was NOT to deploy it during turns. Anyone's direct experience on this would be appreciated. Thanks.
Rgds,
Art ARRO
Art, that's exactly the way I set it up. left side slider - air brake, right slider - wheel brakes... I tried a bunch of different setups, and came to that's my favorite. Left hand is only really monitoring the throttle in flight, so its not much extra work to handle the air brake. On touchdown, the left hand is doing all the work with cross-wind / steering it down the runway, so the right is free to mess with the wheel brakes. Its all about personal preference of course...
I deployed it to the 1/2 way click on the slider on the down wind leg, turned on final, went to full. The odd time I did a go around or full circuit with the brake 1/2 up, the plane really flew different. This plane is kinda neat in how smooth it flies when clean, almost like its flying itself for you. Gear down and brakes up, and its not particularly difficult but the pilot definitely needs to 'fly' it with the throttle stick and be conscious of energy management. Flying at 1/2 deployed speed brake, I never noticed any issues relating to yaw stability though. With throttle, I think it needed a bit more nose up elevator but it might have been just my imagination... Suppose my preference using a 1/2 way point is based on trying to make the transition of flight characteristics a little less dramatic, not critical though...
K