ORIGINAL: ROGER RUSSELL
A fellow flyer just converted a trike to a til drager.......
Question?
Where should the front mains be placed for a good rotation point and ground handeling.
Right now, both are hard to achieve.
It is very squirley/touchy ground handeling which may cause the take offs being squirley.
As I see on the LT 40, the wheels are just ahead of the leading edge............I think the plane we are talking about needs the gear farther forward.
Is there a RULE OF THUMB to to try?
Thanks
Roger
The location of the landing gear in that picture of the converted LT-40 is a good rule of thumb, right at the leading edge of the wing. Move it farther forward and it will never nose over but will ground loop more easily. Move it farther back and it will be less likely to ground loop but will nose over if you don't land just perfectly or even if you give it too much power on takeoff before you have enough airspeed for the elevator to become effective.
I also find that the soft spongy "lite" wheels make gound handling less squirrelly. Their high rolling resistance couples with the plane's natural tendency to transfer its weight to the wheel outside the turn to act like automatic wheel brakes that fight the turn, a stabilizing form of feedback.