Thread: Ok, if I buy this thing...

As I've mentioned before, I'm getting close to pulling the trigger on one of these CT's. I'm concerned the most about landings. I live in Lubbock, TX which should be called, "The Windy City" instead of Chicago. On any normal day, winds are from 15-20 varying 45 degrees off of the runways. I know I can learn how to get it down without worrying, but I'm concerned what happens after landing while taxiing back to the hangar. Since it is SO LIGHT, do you really have to pay close attention to keep the plane from tipping over? I don't know why with over 500 hrs, but this landing thing is about the only part left on the CT which has me worried.

John

i find taxiing in 15-20 is pretty easy.

Originally Posted by CharlieTango

i find taxiing in 15-20 is pretty easy.

Back in my youth I when I first learned to ski, I was at Brice with long lift lines so I asked someone how was it from the top (I always got off halfway and skied the beginners slope). He told me it was easy so I decided the wait in line would be less of a problem if I used the longer run from the top. On the trip down I encountered a mogul field with the moguls about 3 feet apart. I could only snow plow and with 7' 2" skies I looked like the old "Laugh in Routine" with the guy tipping over in his tricycle. After about 10 falls, I took off my skies and walked down the mountain.

Since then I no longer ask for difficulty judgments from someone else. I suggest you find a rental place, get an instructor, and practice in strong winds to see of you think you can consistently manage it. The alternative is to accept that you are flying just for fun and only fly on calm days. No matter what you fly you are always at the mercy of the weather. I fly out of the NE, and even with an IFR rating I could not fly most of the winter except in clear weather (I did not have a plane certified for known icing and in the NE any clouds were likely to represent known icing conditions). Even the big boys have days they can’t fly.

Patrnflyr,

i was thinking along the same lines as art so i looked and saw that lubbock is over 300nm from tulsa. certainly i would recommend flying a ctsw in lubbock and seeing 1st hand.

flight design west brought a ctsw to my hangar for a local guy to demo in local conditions, ( he bought it on the spot ) and that's the way to go if you can.

when i said taxiing 15-20 is easy it comes from experience taxiing 25-35 as well. the negative flaps can keep you on the ground in a higher wind.

you said you were confident about learning to land with 15-20 @ 45 degrees cross being the norm but concerned about taxiing. perhaps the approach/landing/rollout are the more demanding tasks but certainly doable in those winds.

i had similar concerns, and 250 hours later i think the ctsw is limited by winds similarly to my old 180hp cessna skyhawk. some of the reason is the ctsw demanded that i increase my skill level. when i first got the ctsw we departed in the mornings before local winds came up and were careful about timing our returns as well. we (my girlfriend and i) built our tolerance over time. for a long time we canceled flights due forecast weather and upon driving regretted that we didn't fly. after the 1st year we started realizing where our limits are and have done a few flights that were less than comfortable.

another big consideration is alternates, we have a 3 runway field 27 miles away. i have landed there instead of home 3 times in 250 hours.

Hi John,

The plane won't be the limiting factor in the winds you describe, it will be the pilot. The CT can handle those winds anytime, but some pilots do a better job than others in the winds. Train with someone who teaches good basics right out of the book. A CFI that that ignores the basics and does it his way isn't doing you any favors. There is a reason for learning good basic techniques, these get you through tough times, and fancy stuff can get you deeper in trouble. If you are learning to fly get the King video DVD on landings and takeoffs. If you are an experienced pilot you should know most of this and just getting back to good basic handling will be good.
I have been in worse winds and I always review the video and good basic technique before I land in my head.
Get your CT, you won't regret it. Everyone on this forum loves their CT and fly in all kinds of conditions around the world.

I agree with Charlie Tango. It took about 50 serious x-wind landings to get a feel for it. You will find that the slipping ability of the CT can get you lined up with the runway with a strong x-wind component, but the amount of bank needed can be unnerving.

If you're ever in Dallas, you should fly with Doug or myself.

Scott

Originally Posted by opticsguy

If you're ever in Dallas, you should fly with Doug or myself.

Scott

Scott and I have hangars at ADS. One of us should be around if you want a ride.

As for the CT being easy vs hard to land in crosswinds (or any wind for that matter), I think Art has a good point - what's easy for some is hard for others. I tend to do Ok in gusty / high winds, but not great. I have go-arounds now and then, but that beats a botched or hard landing. The CT has SO much power a go-around is anything but very high DA is fine.

I would say that handling on landing is (IMHO) the weakest point of the CT. However, there are ways to work around it. One way is to keep the airplane as heavy as possible (within MGTW). It lands much better heavy and at aft CG.

Doug

I MAY be in ADS this Friday! Going to the OU-Tex game/state fair on Saturday. My calendar might be a little bit stacked this weekend, but I go into ADS about every 6 weeks or so. PM me and give me your cell #. Thanks again for the offer. John

Originally Posted by Patrnflyr

I MAY be in ADS this Friday! Going to the OU-Tex game/state fair on Saturday. My calendar might be a little bit stacked this weekend, but I go into ADS about every 6 weeks or so. PM me and give me your cell #. Thanks again for the offer. John

This is exactly why I may be out of town this weekend - The Texas-Oklahoma game turns Dallas into a nuthouse (my apologies for all who are attending ) I suspect it will be worse than usual this year with both teams and fan bases in a sour mood from loosing to non-rated teams last week.

One wrinkle to this is that our CT is still in Montana with my father and the weather doesn't look good for him getting here before the weekend. Scott might be available....

Doug

I'll be here and the wx looks excellent.