We have all been there, don’t criticize that landing.....

My instructor liked it when I screwed up to see how I corrected the situation. Many times he had me landing at 70 -75 kts just to get the bouncing experience.

Rgs

Patrick

Only one rule: keep it straight. Sometimes it happens with the help of full power. He did what was necessary.

Indeed Mark - my first boss, who employed me to fly a C185, said “doesn’t matter if you bounce, just bounce in a straight line”

Then there was the VERY senior F28 (he still sim checks and trains on the F100 for Air Niugini) check and training captain at Air Niugini - Skippy Hartnet - an absolute gentleman. He earned the nic name when a junior Talair pilot flying the mighty C185 and is still (respectfully) called Skippy now

Well, I sold my Pitts and this thread needs some more people posting Skywagon mods and videos!

If anybody knows of an off market C-185 that might be for sale, please let me know. I am familiar with what is for sale online, Barnstormers, Trade-a-plane, Controller, Alaska List, etc, but am looking at all options.

Brent

I picked up the Psycho Billy Skywagon yesterday from Del's. He had eye balled the rigging and it flew straight and level first time. There were a myriad of structural repairs/improvements with a complete straightening and re-skinning of all control surfaces as the start. He even re-installed the rudder trim that had been removed during a previous, undocumented "repair".

After all the improvements, Del took it to the paint shop next door to his hangar, and they did an almost perfect job.

Coming home at 5,500 and 65% power, she trued 157 mph. The latch on the cowl flaps had failed and I forgot to tell Del to fix it. Holding the cowl flaps fully closed added about three mph.

I have an IA at my hangar "as we speak" putting a new engine on the 195. My biggest decision now is choosing which airplane to take on cross country flights.

Jg

Love it. Livin' Right.

As for "flying the Skywagon".

Del found some issues with the rudder cabling beginning with the fact that this airplane originally had rudder trim. In the previous "rebuild", almost totally undocumented, when the airplane was barely out of the factory, the rudder cabling was jury rigged and the trim left completely off. Del had to search high and low for the parts, but he found them at a "reasonable" cost and fabricated a couple of items that were just priced unreasonably. Still, the parts alone for the rudder trim were in the 5 grand range. It is hard to believe that the airplane flew in the previous configuration/condition for over 40 years.

The difference in ground handling is striking. Where before, I simply lacked enough rudder deflection for a smooth takeoff run under power, it is now a piece of cake. The rudder was 7 degrees out of trim and lacked that much right deflection.

I thought the airplane flew nicely before, but now, wow. As he and I were making the first "test flight", I couldn't help but comment that the 180 is so easy to fly that it is almost cheating.

I'm going to give up an absolute truth. Much of the difficulty in flying tail draggers is because the gear and controls are not set up correctly. On a lot of TD's you just don't notice. The 195 focused my attention on the issue. An improperly set up 195 is an accident waiting to happen. Get the toe in/toe out wrong and you simply cannot keep the airplane straight.

If I had it to do over, knowing what I know now, I would find the right candidate 180/185 and take it to Del to literally rebuild as he is currently doing with two 170's. Out the door with paint, interior, panel and engine, I figure just over 300,000. For essentially a new airplane, it seems cheap.

My close friend, Wayne Roberts, had a gear failure on his 195. Being an A&P and perfectionists, he was going to rebuild it himself. After visiting Del's shop with me and seeing the airplanes being brought back to new structurally, he took Del the wings. After seeing the quality of the wings, he's getting ready to ditch his plans to build a jig and do the fuselage himself and take that to Del also.

My thanks to Del will never be sufficiently expressed.

Jg

Perfect.

I’m not sure I ever get to see wheel pants on them up here. Looks good.

Well done on the panel design.

Congratulations. That is so beautiful, it hurts just to see it.

TN

I always find PIO's fun to watch, particularly if you are not the one engaged in the actual maneuver, or even worse, sitting next to the person engaged in the maneuver. Before I bought my 180 a friend offered me the opportunity to fly his and bravely sat through a few airshow quality events. On one, after a go around he said, "Good decision on the go around but I would have probably done it on the 2nd bounce".

Performed my four way speed check yesterday. Just me and full fuel at 6.000', top of green for both: 2400/23".

144 knots. That is about 7 knots faster than before fairings and wheel pants.

jg

Seven free knots via drag reduction is awesome. More speed and more range and better MPG. That will pay dividends forever.

Checking the rigging:

In classic Internet fashion, I've been told that only a very few experts can be trusted to examine and adjust the flight and ground rigging of a Skywagon.

I know of Del, but he's 500 miles from Indianapolis, in a hard-to-get-to place to boot. Who else is there who'll put the thing on grease plates, etc.?

Cross-posted to BCP, which I know is somewhat tacky.

Any thoughts on damping tailwheel shimmy?

Mark,

Steve Pierce who posts on Supercub.org has some thoughts on tailwheel shimmy. He says it is mostly a geometry issue where the vertical tailwheel swivel bolt is "tilted forward" relative to vertical rather than back. It usually gets worse with a load.

I think the solution is to shim the tailwheel spring or re-bend them. Please understand that I am probably wrong on the fix (and probably the problem).

Ed