Sport Pilot Talk

saintlfd · Joined: 17 Jul 2009 Posts: 47 Location: ARGYLE, TEXAS

I finally figured out that I can hold the centerline on takeoff much better at full throttle than at lower power settings. I have had a number of takeoffs where I wandered around the runway as I hesitated to apply full power until I found just the right amount of rudder to get centered. Now I find it's the really the other way around! Apply full power and it's easy to hold the centerline.

Is that normal? I am training in a PiperSport, 20 dual hours in the logbook and should solo soon.

3Dreaming · Joined: 10 Jan 2010 Posts: 301 Location: noble, IL USA

If power is changing then the amount of rudder pressure is changing. It also changes as speed changes. Also in that 20 hours of dual instruction you have learned how much rudder to apply, which why it now seems easier. Tom

bryancobb · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:21 pm Post subject: Spiraling

"Spiraling Slipstream" That's what the prop creates to blow on one side of the tail. That slipstream changes in strength when you move the throttle.
If you don't keep changing the throttle, the slipstream stays constant and you can counteract it with the right amount of rudder.

saintlfd · Joined: 17 Jul 2009 Posts: 47 Location: ARGYLE, TEXAS

Thanks for your insight! Flight training is a wonderful learning experience.

I have added a new criterion for recruiting new employees in my ground-based life--"pilot, yes or no". A pilot's ability to master technical skills, critical decision-making, situational awareness, reality-based judgments and prompt actions are skills that are sorely lacking in most job candidates.
I wish all my employees were pilots. But absenteeism might be awfully high on CAVU days!

drseti · Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 1387 Location: Lock Haven PA

saintlfd wrote: I wish all my employees were pilots. But absenteeism might be awfully high on CAVU days!

Back in a previous life, I ran a Silicon Valley startup. I was an Equal Opportunity Employer: my employees could be either Student Pilots, Private Pilots, or Commercial Pilots! (If the Sport Pilot rating had existed back then, I might have considered those as employees as well. :wink: )

designrs · Joined: 23 Sep 2009 Posts: 144

As student pilot in PiperSport as well I had the same issue of rudder control on T/O roll.
Same in all LSA planes that flew, not unique to PiperSport of course.
I would would wiggle down the runway slowly advancing throttle while trying to find the center line.

Eventurally what I found is to advance the throttle moderately at first,
to avoid the big yaw, realizing that more rudder is required at slower speed.
Then once you are rolling and under good rudder authority it is more about
pressure on the right rudder to match the fairly rapid throttle advance.

The PiperSport has a lot of throttle travel, and you reach 45 kts rotate very quickly.
You have got to advance the throttle pretty quickly otherwise you are either not at full power on T/O
or you are going way too fast at 70+ kts on the ground.

The feel is not about "steering" but about the correct pressure on the right rudder.

Helen · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 119 Location: Maryland

Yes, in a plane without nosewheel steering like the Piper Sport. Think about it. When you are taking off the only steering you have is the rudder. If there ain't no wind on the rudder, there ain't no steering.

Helen

drseti · Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 1387 Location: Lock Haven PA

Helen wrote: Yes, in a plane without nosewheel steering like the Piper Sport.

I'll go a step further, Helen. In a plane with nosewheel steering, the minute you raise the nosewheel off the ground, you're in the same situation -- you need wind across the rudder to steer. And since it's good practice to raise the nosewheel off the ground as soon as possible... (This is especially true in planes like the SportStar, that have hyper-sensitive nosewheel steering. If you don't raise the nosewheel right away, you'll oversteer and use the whole width of the runway -- and, sometimes, then some!)