First flight on my SkyRaider with skis

[Bandit 286]

Installed my skis on the SkyRaider tonight. Easy installation. Looks like I will have to be real careful taxing, the gear twists back and forth real easy. Still should be fun though.

[akflyer 1427]

Looks good.  Do you still have the Bandit?  Is the gear twisting at the fuse or at the axle? 
Long ski's are hard on weak axles / gear

 

What do you think of that wing with the separate flaps / ailerons?  do they use the same basic undercamber that Avid Kitfox uses?

 

[EDMO 1078]

Looks good.  Do you still have the Bandit?  Is the gear twisting at the fuse or at the axle? 

Long ski's are hard on weak axles / gear

 

What do you think of that wing with the separate flaps / ailerons?  do they use the same basic undercamber that Avid Kitfox uses?

 

Can you post the Wingspan, length and width of flaps and ailerons? Any idea about how the flaps and ailerons are constructed? Are they fabric or metal?

EDMO

Edited 28 Dec 2014 by Ed In Missouri

[Bandit 286]

Still have my Bandit Leni. Not sure if I would ever sell it. The gear twists at the axles real bad. It is a pretty weak gear for skis. I'll just have to baby it I guess. I do have another set of gear legs that are the tall gear, I will have to measure them to see if they are heavier. I really do like the flaps and ailerons separate. Full flaps gives you a steep glide angle and really slows you down. The undercamber must be the same as my Bandit because those are the same tanks I inserted inside my crap fiberglass tanks. The length of the ailerons is 72", width 11'', flaps are 70", width 11".

  Flew this morning until I looked to the northwest and saw this fog bank coming in. Needless to say I made a mad dash back to the airport. Man it was right to the ground. No scud running that one. The SkyRaider is a great airplane to enjoy a nice morning or evening flight. It is built really light, I wouldn't think it would be a real good off airport airplane. The Avid is built much stronger I think.

[akflyer 1427]

I take it the tube becomes the pivot / mount for the flaps and ailerons?  I would love to see a wing opened up.  I'm thinking a KF IV airfoil with the conventional flap and ailerons would be a pretty sweet combo.  Maybe widen the cord a few inches to make up for the lack of cord including the flaperon.... too many wants, too many projects, not enough time

 

[EDMO 1078]

Leni,

The SkyRaider may have piano hinges???

I saw one plane that only had a sheet of aluminum used for the aileron hinge - I thought that was a BAD IDEA - wondered how many cycles before it broke!!

Just make sure that your ailerons are about 10% of your total wing area for better control - that was one of the faults with the Compair planes - not enough aileron for an x-wind.

Planning my ailerons at 72" x 14 to 15" chord - flaps are about 78" but that don't matter for roll control, but increased all of my tailfeather sections by 6" chord and a foot taller for both roll and pitch control.

EdMO

Edited 29 Dec 2014 by Ed In Missouri

[Bandit 286]

I have a set of opened wings also.I will get pictures of them to. There are alumimun hinge plates on each side of the tail of the rib, but I do not remember how the fitting works on the flap. I will get pictures.

Edited 29 Dec 2014 by Bandit

[akflyer 1427]

Awesome! Thank you sir.

[Luked 71]

I saw one plane that only had a sheet of aluminum used for the aileron hinge - I thought that was a BAD IDEA - wondered how many cycles before it broke!!

 

That was the Zodiac designed by Chris Heintz. Interesting idea that should work fine in theory, but I'd be a little nervous to use it on flight controls. I think Zodiac owners eventually replaced them with piano hinges because they produced unwanted resistance in the control system.

 

http://zenithair.com/kit-data/ht-aileron.html

[Av8r3400 1178]

... And failures resulting in inflight breakups and violent death. The worst idea in aircraft design, hands down. Heinz is very, very lucky he is not in prison.

[akflyer 1427]

I thought it was improper rigging and tension of the aileron cables that led to the flutter and inflight break ups... I know it was a bad bad deal.. lost some high time good pilots due to it. 

[Luked 71]

From what I remember reading, there were about 4 factors listed in the end, but no single cause could be linked to all of the accidents. If I remember correctly, one of the big ones was that the lift for the aircraft at gross weight was improperly calculated leading to a wing design that was too weak for those loads.

 

To stay with the thread topic a little though, good job Bandit! Looks like a lot of fun.

[akflyer 1427]

your right, I just skimmed back over the 40 page final report from the FAA.. never could pinpoint 1 thing but there were a tleast 4 causal factors.

 

[EDMO 1078]

I never found out why the 601 had some wing designs condemned, but as soon as I saw a sheet of aluminum used as an aileron/flap hinge, I said it was a bad design, and I would not build that way. There are some drawbacks on his tail designs too, IMO.

EDMO

[SuberAvid 617]

Looks good Mark! 

 

Man, I wish we could get some snow that would stay around for a while.  I just got done doing some reinforcement repairs to my ski tubing  that I noticed as I was getting ready to put them on my plane.  Running them on that rough ice and rock hard snow drifts really puts a beating on them.

[Bandit 286]

The only snow left is on a local lake now. Installed a Matco tailwheel today. I am going to put the taller and heavier gear on tomorrow if things work out.

[akflyer 1427]

You have more snow that we do here... Last report I had a couple days ago, my plane was sitting in 2" of standing water on the lake and no snow.

[EDMO 1078]

Nice looking little bird Jim - Looks like a balanced elevator like mine - what engine?  How does it compare to the 503 and bigger bird?
EdMO

Edited 19 Jan 2015 by Ed In Missouri

[Bandit 286]

Just got home from the airport. Got the gear switched over today to the heavier and taller gear. Now with the Matco tailwheel and the new gear it looks more like a real airplane. Did not have the right size allen wrench to finish the brakes. I did try taxing it around, but on the way back to the hanger I could not slow it down so I had to shut the engine down and push it back to the hanger. Those mechanical breaks do not seem like they do much until you do not have them. So I will wait until I finish the brakes before I fly. The little taxing I did seemed like I was not dragging my ass in the grass. It is more like my Bandit now. Only bad thing is now my skis will not work. I'll work on that this fall.

[akflyer 1427]

Looking good.  I like the taller gear much better.  That was one thing about the fisher koala that drove me nuts.  It looked like it was one pebble away from a prop strike with that stubby gear

 

I am in the opposite boat as you.  I modified my ski's so I could use the 1.25" axles, now I have to buy wheels so I can run them on the plane as the snow seems to have vanished in Alaska.

 

[Bandit 286]

Ya, I love the looks of this setup. Much nicer looking for sure!

[SuberAvid 617]

Just got home from the airport. Got the gear switched over today to the heavier and taller gear. Now with the Matco tailwheel and the new gear it looks more like a real airplane. Did not have the right size allen wrench to finish the brakes. I did try taxing it around, but on the way back to the hanger I could not slow it down so I had to shut the engine down and push it back to the hanger. Those mechanical breaks do not seem like they do much until you do not have them. So I will wait until I finish the brakes before I fly. The little taxing I did seemed like I was not dragging my ass in the grass. It is more like my Bandit now. Only bad thing is now my skis will not work. I'll work on that this fall.

Now that definately makes it look better and I am sure it will land better too.  I would have been afraid to do a wheel landing on that stock gear.