Thread: Flight Design Question

Hi all,

I recently saw a CTLS at the Wings Over Houston airshow and was impressed by the design. I also saw that Flight Design is adding the MC model to their fleet of products. I am new to the group and haven't had a chance to look through all of the posts. Do you know if there has been any discussion/consideration about adding a tailwheel option for any of these Flight Design aircraft? One of the potential missions I anticipate is landing on an unimproved field/runway (dirt/small rocks/grass) which is probably better suited to a tailwheel type aircraft. The strut braced MC may be a better option for the type of flying I am considering.

I'd appreciate any feedback on others experience in operating the Flight Design aircraft in and out of short, unimproved landing fields.

Thanks,
Maury

Maury,

first thought is to consider the roots of the flight design design. the european microlight short, rough, turf fields.

what i am trying to say here is 2 things

1) the flight design models perform quite well on short rough fields with tricycle gear
2) the flight design models with tricycle gear are challenging enough, come to think of it they are not prone to be in a good energy state if in a taildragger 3 point attitude, that is something to be avoided if you are more then a few inches above the ground.

Thanks for the reply. It sounds like the tricycle gear is designed for this kind of off field flying. From the little bit I've read it sounds like the aircraft is a challenge in the landing phase. Are there many reports of the horizontal stab. getting dings from pebbles, etc. kicked up by the prop or gear in this kind of flying? How difficult is it to repair ding's on the composite surfaces and in the case of the horizontal stabilizer does it require re-balancing after the repair? Thanks again for your response.

Regards,
Maury

Your initial post said one of the potential missions is to land on unimproved strips. How often, and what condition?

The CT will do fine in going into some places, but if you are talking rough places, often, it might not be the best plane. A Sport Cub, Champ, or Zenith 701/750 STOL might serve that mission better, if you are confined to LSA or Sport Pilot flyable aircraft.

Before you decide on any airplane, define your mission. Then, find the airplane that meets the criteria.

I did some very quick and dirty weight and balance calculations that assumed you removed the nose gear (-10 lbs) and installed tail gear (+10 lbs). Doing that would change the CG enough that the limiting weight issue would *always* be CG rather than gross weight. I don't think it would work.

The mission is approx. 210 nm one way trip with departure from a paved runway and landing at an improvised dirt/grass runway approx. 800 ft. long. I like the range, cruise speed and efficiency of the CTLS. I have also been looking at the Sport Cub but with any kind of a headwind I could probably get there faster in my car (definitely not as fun, but less expensive). I have also considered the Aviat Husky and like it's short field capability and cruise speed however the acquisition and operating expenses are higher than I'm willing to pay at this time. Thanks for the guidance. I'm still interested in the Flight Design aircraft and will continue researching the mission to determine what's the best compromise.

Hello, I have been flying my CTLS since June when I recieved. Now I have done 90 hrs on it. Here in Spain we have a lot of mountains and durt runways with lots of them with less than your 800ft requirements. I have found that the 35º landings in the CTLS is more than impresive , making app`s at 45kts not a hard thing. Even if the wind is strog enough ( more than 30kts) and using 15º you wont have much problem to stop or tkoff in more 550ft to 600ft. Ask a dealer for a demostration flight and try or make some one show you what I just said, You will have a big for a few days.

Angel