DAVE KEPHART

My Feedback: (13)

I SET IT UP AS PER INSTRUCTIONS ,BUT I RUN OUT OF ELEVATOR ON LANDING ,IT THEN STALLS AND LANDS HARD THEN FLIPS .OTHER THAN THAT ITS A BALL TO FLY.

ANY HELP?
DAVE IN OREGON

Pjtg0707

Dude,
You need a GeeBee landing trainer, like a Pitts Special, to brush up on your landings!

jzinckgra

My Feedback: (11)

Maybe it is too nose heavy.

ICE_MAN

Sounds like ur way slow..... Leave a couple clicks above Idle or what ever throttle setting your at... Keep the speed up until You've made the runway... Cut throttle hold it 2-3 inches from runways and it will lose enough speed and land..

RevGQ

Greetings Oregon Dave:
I attended a college in La Grande OR during my undergrad days. But anywho, your plane is tail heavy for sure. As you approach and slow for landing you find that you are giving the plane maximum up-elevator at the stick, right? This indeed is a tail heavy condition. Recheck your cg as per plans.
Having flown scratch built Gee Bee's, I would first fly with a cg of about 20% of the wing cord. After that I would move cg back 3-5% at a time to get a feel on landings. Good luck

jaka

Hi!
I have flown my GP GEE BEE R-2 (powered by a MVVS 15cc engine with 14x6 APC prop) and it flyes really good. weight is 5kg (11lbs)
It is very important that the CG is right. The instructions say 70mm from the leading edge and this is the what it should be.
Firts I flew the plane with the CG at 85mm ...and it was slightly tailheavy and rather hard to land , moved it to 75mm and it was better..... moved it still furter forward to 70mm and landing was much easier pretty much like any other low winged airplane.
This is a ship that requiers to be balanced like the instruction says....and dont forget to balance it in axial level as well! And do keep it light!
I have Dremeled away all unnecessary glassfibre surfaces and taken up holes in the rear part of the fuselage where the siderudder is and moved every thing as far forward as possible...no lead used.

Regards!
Jan K
Sweden

PlaneDoc

RevGQ's post doesn't make sense. A tail heavy condition would require down elevator. Since the Gee Bee is a ball to fly,I would say you might be pretty good on the cg.I would try a little more speed until just ready to flare or even a bit more elevator with some expo dialed in.

fairplay

My Feedback: (4)

What would be a good gas engine for the geebee? Iplan on assembling mine soon.

hattend

My Feedback: (20)

Okay, I'll bite, why would a tail heavy airplane run out of elevator?

Don

Oregon Craig

Yes, it seemed backwards to me, but I don't know much! Always willing to learn.

jzinckgra

My Feedback: (11)

Like I said above, maybe it is too nose heavy. Nose heavy planes will I believe require more up elev. to bring the nose back to almost a level attitude prior to flare.

jaka

Hi!

Nose heavy planes could run out of elevator when landing...Tail heavy planes will not run out of elevator when landing...there is often too much "elevator" then.

There is very few suitable gas engines made for the GP GEE BEE R-2 .
Remember you have to keep this model light .....


Regards!
Jan K
Sweden

RevGQ

Greetings Hattend:
Sorry for the long delay, but I was out of town for awhile. About the plane running out of elevator on a tail-heavy airplane. I probably did not give enough background for my hunch to make sense. What I have experienced is this. While on maiden flight with a Cap 232, the plane was not balanced prior to flight (I had intended to check the cg the night before, but getting on in age, the big 50 coming Jan., I plum forgot). The plane climbed like a home-sick angel and I had to feed in nearly all the down trim at the stick to achieve level flight. On landing, I made adjustments at the linkage, but still had not checked the cg. The plane flew level the next flight but upon landing I noticed that I was out of elevator stick some 25 feet above ground. My investigation upon landing revealed my cg mistake. That is why I suggested that the plane could be tail-heavy.

LMProd

Could be to slow. The slower the airspeed the less effective the control surface is. Mushy controls requiring more back pressure.

britbrat

A tail heavy plane can run out of down elevator as the speed drops in the landing approach. [&o] This is not a good thing.

jucava

You're stalling the plane. Plane simple, it's not a trainer nor and aerobatic plane that you glide in, land it like you're landing a warbird or a bipe, keep up the speed, do not go to idle unless you're about to touch down.

BBW Walt

My Feedback: (11)

You might try doing exactly what you have been doing, just try doing it closer to the runway. It does sound like a stalled condition or something like a flair too high up. Let the plane stall as the mains touch. A little work on timing would be my guess. Walt

adolf

I used an OS 120 in my GP Gee Bee R2 and it required tail weight to get correct balance. Anyone encounter this? Flies OK though but still working on the landings.

sseward

My Feedback: (1)

Adolf,
I'm using the OS120 w/pump and mine required about 1/4 oz in the tail. I'm using a Ram glow driver and it's up all the way to the firewall. My total weight is just over 12 lbs.

I think this is just the nature of the beast. I flew mine the first time and got it down ok, but on the second flight I flipped it on landing just as others have.

Good Luck!

Steve

Tony Pacini

Hey, it's a Gee Bee......................basically a flying tree stump; getting it on and off the ground will always be a challenge. My buddy test-flew his last weekend and by the time I got there it had already been flipped a number of times (once just while taxiing). I landed it 3 times myself and 2 of the 3 were pretty ugly. It's definitely a humbling experience. Gotta carry a bit of power and try to plant it on the mains (a full-stall 3-pointer would be pretty tough).

Consider, too, that Robart markets a special set of Robostruts for this monster that cost half as much as the plane. SOMEBODY out there knows that it's not the easiest thing to get on the ground!

I totally dig the stubby beast and just brought one home for myself today. Got the Robarts to go with it because I already know it's going to be a handful. I'm looking forward to it!

sseward

My Feedback: (1)

Forgot to mention that I have the robarts on mine. I had no problems on takeoffs and with ground handling. Just keep the up elevator cranked in until moving at a good clip. I found it easier to handle on the ground than my cub (no ground loops!).

Just one pointer on the Robarts. I thought they were a bit stiff, so following the advice of others I "softened" them by cutting about 1/4" off of the springs. On my second landing I have no doubt that this contributed to my flip. The Robarts compressed and the wheel pants grabbed the turf. I now have new full rate springs in mine.

Good luck!

Steve

Tony Pacini

Flew mine Saturday and had a perfect 3-point landing on the second flight: top of the cowl, top of the rudder, and top of a wing tip!

Robostruts make it much easier to land. Better to just power up and go around after the first bounce than to try and salvage an already bad landing. After the mains are planted it's time to start dancing on the rudder as the tail comes down because it will try to swap ends. My "flop" wasn't during the landing but near the end of the rollout! (Swerve, swerve, drag tip, touch cowl, over she goes!)

She's not so purty any more but she sure is a blast to fly. This is truly a plane of character.

I would certainly get another one

Carlos Murphy

My Feedback: (72)

Land it on it's mains with a couple of clicks of throttle, at the very moment the wheels touch the runway get off the elevator, pull the throttle back and let her roll out, steering with rudder, very pretty.

volkan

Just like the full size. tut tut tut.

volkan

i hope you know the story aabout the full size one!?
All the built ones.....crashed. I think 7 of these where built, and
unfortunatly 7 piolts died.