Stewart Wingtip Install/ wing overhaul.

[Armstrong]

Thanks Gilbert, I wouldn’t have thought to use the wikipedia link to explain. A great age of information!

[Armstrong]

Hi Jason,

It’s been some time since we all witnessed your masterful installation of the Stewart tips. Now that you’ve been flying the mod for awhile do you have any more impressions to share. Would mean more to me now, as I’ve accumulated some 150 hours in my Pacer since. I have just the vgs right now and consistently stall at 5,500 ft, 20 deg C, at 45 mph ias at about 1800 lbs.

Anyone else with Stewart tips that have anything to share would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

John

[JPerkins]

Well, I was out today and I can note that on takeoff 120’ elevation and 15c/59f and 1750lbs if i pop the flaps at 40mph indicated it’ll leap off the ground and about 75’ into the air where i then push the nose over and start bleeding flaps as the airspeed increases.
I’ve never tried an accelerated or aggravated stall cause last time the nose was so high I was afraid it was going to tail slide. Normal stalls just develop into a totally controllable mush forward.
60-65 mph over the fence gives a nice tail low wheel landing. I’m usually wheel landing to keep the tail out of whatever stupid I’m landing on/in. Three pointers are a little slower but i soon run out of elevator authority and if I’m to slow cant flare proper. I keep meaning to put a five gallon bucket of water in the baggage and see how that helps.
Sorry I don’t have better numbers, not much of a test pilot. But if you ever wind up around KOLD climb in, I’ll jump in the right seat and you can be the judge.


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[akflyer]

Well, I was out today and I can note that on takeoff 120’ elevation and 15c/59f and 1750lbs if i pop the flaps at 40mph indicated it’ll leap off the ground and about 75’ into the air where i then push the nose over and start bleeding flaps as the airspeed increases.
I’ve never tried an accelerated or aggravated stall cause last time the nose was so high I was afraid it was going to tail slide. Normal stalls just develop into a totally controllable mush forward.
60-65 mph over the fence gives a nice tail low wheel landing. I’m usually wheel landing to keep the tail out of whatever stupid I’m landing on/in. Three pointers are a little slower but i soon run out of elevator authority and if I’m to slow cant flare proper. I keep meaning to put a five gallon bucket of water in the baggage and see how that helps.
Sorry I don’t have better numbers, not much of a test pilot. But if you ever wind up around KOLD climb in, I’ll jump in the right seat and you can be the judge.


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Do you have 18 tail feathers?

[Armstrong]

Jason that sounds like a worthwhile improvement! Right now when light I can pop the flaps like that at about 45 and get airborne but have to stay in ground effect and accelerate a bit. And thanks for the offer for the ride -could happen!

Oh and the CC gap seals on the tail sure help! Thanks for that advice.

[JPerkins]

Do you have 18 tail feathers?

No, I put fresh feathers on before I did the gear conversion so I can’t quite justify swapping them out. Yet.

I’m sure that’d resolve my woes


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[Steve Pierce]

No, I put fresh feathers on before I did the gear conversion so I can’t quite justify swapping them out. Yet.

I’m sure that’d resolve my woes


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It just takes cubic dollars.

[akflyer]

No, I put fresh feathers on before I did the gear conversion so I can’t quite justify swapping them out. Yet.

I’m sure that’d resolve my woes


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Power and getting weight off the nose are the two biggest things to flare when slow (and using the hell outta your trim). I love the 18 tail feathers, where they really shine is when heavy and slow. Are they an absolute "need", no, but so far I have had a few times especially in the snow where they made a HUGE difference over the stock ones.

[Armstrong]

Jason, for nice slow 3 pointers I like to “over trim” nose up a little on short final so I have to maintain significant forward pressure to maintain my approach speed. This, combined with the gap seals gives me ample authority in the flare and I’m contacting tailwheel first, and plunking the mains down. Done flying. That includes loaded light, and no back seat in.

BIG caveat is overshoot requires management of that trimmed condition. I read this suggestion somewhere in an older post and went out and practiced increasing the over trim in increments. Works out really well and I’ve come to regard that trim as another active flight control -for example (and this was through careful experimentation) I Waay overtrim nose down for light, short, solo take offs. I can then raise the tail, and if directional control is working out, my hand immediately goes to trim and about 3 gentle turns nose up, and then hand to flap lever and it’s time to pop.

So far that’s given me my best results with just 150 hp, vgs, and cc gap seals. I’m only 165lbs that helps too. Lots of elevator authority doing this, but that trim has to be carefully and actively managed for every phase of flight. I apologize in advance, for you probably already know this!

[PACERGUY]

My first response to "I can't get my plane to land 3 point" is where is the trim. Unless it is at full nose up trim you are giving away downward force on the tail. Remember a Pacer has a movable stabilizer. The old wives tale of needing to put weight in the back of the plane to 3 point a pacer is pretty much BS if you have a correctly rigged plane. Gap seals and VG's will also help. Full nose up trim in a Pacer, PA 18, Cessna 180 all require no extra weight in the back for a 3 point or tail first landing just proper trim and yoke back pressure. Go up to altitude (5,000 AGL) and set the plane up for landing 1600 -1800 RPM, full flaps and start rolling in the trim until you reach your touchdown airspeed. In a Pacer you will find the tail will be lower than the mains (even with Bushwheels) when you get into the low 40's. Once you find the speed/atitude you want note the setting. On final set the plane up and as Armstrong said it will require forward yoke pressure on final this takes getting used to and will freak out a lot of pilots that have not seen it done or practiced it (just not natural they all say). When you are ready to flare simply let the yoke back and the plane will settle right at the airspeed you want, in the attitude you want!! Now we are talking a Pacer so you may need to add power to arrest the sink, but even a tail wheel low is easy with the proper trim. It takes some practice to keep from ham fisting the yoke, just trust the plane and use power for altitude. You will have to adjust if you add a big burst of power so try to be smooth and ahead of the plane. If you want to save you plane from abuse set the trim for a tail wheel low landing, (note tail low not tail first landing) This will require some more back pressure in the flare as you bring the tailwheel below the mains. Now right before you touch down release some back pressure the tail will come up a bit and you will have a perfect smoooooth tailwheel low landing. This is the MAF technique that works great in Cessna's. It will give you the same landing speed as a tail low without the abuse to the aircraft. Lots of stuff in this post to try, the key is to got to altitude so if you plane has a quirk you have time to recover. DENNY