gyromike
09-15-2004, 11:52 AM
First Dominator Flight
At the Bastrop Fly-In on 9/11/04, Chuck Irby offered to let me take up his 618-powered Dominator. So Sunday morning I went for my first Dominator ride.
To begin with, it's a long-legged bird, so I couldn't just plop into the seat like my Bensen, but Chuck showed me how to climb in with minimal effort, and I'm only 5' 8" tall. Entering from the right side of the machine, I put my left hand on the right side of the seat, and my right hand on the dash. Placing my right foot on the heel plate under the rudders, I was able to just hop up into the seat without a problem. So, it turns out that you don't have to be an acrobat to get in.
The 12-gallon seat was form-fitting and very comfortable, and I was able to easily reach all of the controls, but the control stick was a little far away for me (more on that later). Chuck explained what all the switches and controls were for, including the EIS Engine Instumentation System, which is compact and user-friendly.
After a thumbs-up, Chuck pulled the rope and she came to life. Being equipped with a clutch on the gearbox, the engine just idled as I sat there not moving. I advanced the throttle to around 2600 RPM's, and the prop started turning, and I was able to then engage the prerotator and start rolling out to the taxiway. I wasn't used to steering with heel brakes as my Bensen has unitized steering, so I found myself pushing the rudder pedals and wondering why the machine wasn't turning. Then I would remember the heel brakes. I'm sure that anyone watching me taxi out was wondering why the rudder was flapping all over the place!
The suspension on the machine was not too soft, but I remember overhearing Ernie at Bensen Days saying that "It ain't a go-kart! Taxi at walking speeds!". I did, and had no feeling of body roll.
Once lined up on the runway, I locked the brakes, and spooled up the blades to around 170 RRPM before beginning the takeoff roll. The blades came up to speed quickly and the machine rocked back on it's tailwheel. I got it balanced on the mains as I applied power, and it lifted off. I mentioned before that the stick was a little far away, but it may be also that I am used to my pump handle on the Bensen. The Dominator came off the runway with the nose a little high, and I had to push more than I was used to to drop the nose some. Anyway, I got used to it pretty quickly. With the 618 at full power, I climbed a a pretty brisk rate. It has plenty of power.
(Edit: Also on takeoff, there was no tendency to yaw. It just goes straight with no dancing on the pedals.)
I climbed up to around 500 feet before trying any maneuvers other than gentle turns. The wind was blowing around 5 mph at that altitude, and there was some turbulence coming off of the treeline on the east side of the runway. As I flew through this turbulence, the gyro was rock steady. Absolutely no pitching, rolling, or yawing. I was pretty comfortable right off the bat, and found myself looking for turbulence to fly through.
I put the machine into steeper and steeper banks, and it just went where I pointed it. No overshoot or lag in the controls.
In level flight I glanced down at the ASI, and realized that I was zipping along at 70 MPH. It didn't feel like I was going that fast, maybe because of the pod. It was stable at all speeds even at 90 MPH with me "stirring the pot".
I had flown in a modified Bensen once that had a tall-tail and immersed flat-plate stab, but I didn't like the feel of it. The tail wasn't mass balanced and had no anti-servo tab, so there wasn't much feedback in the pedals. That Bensen also had a Sportcopter cab on it, and the rudder didn't really have enough authority for that much area ahead of the CG. You couldn't take your feet off of the pedals.
Not so on the Dominator. I could have left my feet on the floor for all the good they were doing me. I would jab the left rudder and release, and the gyro would just recenter itself with little or no oscillation. Same to the right. I did it several times and the result was always the same.
After this I decided to try an approach to landing. I set up an approach and started down to the runway pulling the power back enough for a shallow descent and flew it down to the surface. I was a little leery of misjudging my height, so I just leveled off right above the runway and held it off until the tailwheel touched before reduucing power and pulling back on the stick. Worked pretty good, so I took off and did it again. This time I pulled back the power far enough that the prop clutch disengaged, and immediately felt the drag of the windmilling prop and a quickly steepening descent. So I added power to re-engage the clutch and shallow out my descent, and flew it on again.
Later, I flew again with Rod Reed following on my Bensen, and I kept cutting across his rotor wash to feel the turbulence, and again no surprises. I just went through with no corrections required. On my last landing, I plopped it on a little harder than the previous times, but the gear just soaked it up like it was nothing. I hadn't worked up the nerve for a Stop-N-Drop yet! :)
Taxiing back to the ramp was more of the same rudder dancing until I remembered to use the heel brakes.
The machine performed better than I had expected, even though I expected it to perform as advertised. I really like the tail, and it's changed my mind about tall tails. I had considered making a tall tail for my Bensen, but with a seperate vertical and rudder. This configuration certainly seems to be the best route though. Light and effective.
Also the airfoil shaped stab in the propwash was rock-solid. No oscillations in pitch.
I would have to give the Dominator 2 thumbs up!
http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4805
At the Bastrop Fly-In on 9/11/04, Chuck Irby offered to let me take up his 618-powered Dominator. So Sunday morning I went for my first Dominator ride.
To begin with, it's a long-legged bird, so I couldn't just plop into the seat like my Bensen, but Chuck showed me how to climb in with minimal effort, and I'm only 5' 8" tall. Entering from the right side of the machine, I put my left hand on the right side of the seat, and my right hand on the dash. Placing my right foot on the heel plate under the rudders, I was able to just hop up into the seat without a problem. So, it turns out that you don't have to be an acrobat to get in.
The 12-gallon seat was form-fitting and very comfortable, and I was able to easily reach all of the controls, but the control stick was a little far away for me (more on that later). Chuck explained what all the switches and controls were for, including the EIS Engine Instumentation System, which is compact and user-friendly.
After a thumbs-up, Chuck pulled the rope and she came to life. Being equipped with a clutch on the gearbox, the engine just idled as I sat there not moving. I advanced the throttle to around 2600 RPM's, and the prop started turning, and I was able to then engage the prerotator and start rolling out to the taxiway. I wasn't used to steering with heel brakes as my Bensen has unitized steering, so I found myself pushing the rudder pedals and wondering why the machine wasn't turning. Then I would remember the heel brakes. I'm sure that anyone watching me taxi out was wondering why the rudder was flapping all over the place!
The suspension on the machine was not too soft, but I remember overhearing Ernie at Bensen Days saying that "It ain't a go-kart! Taxi at walking speeds!". I did, and had no feeling of body roll.
Once lined up on the runway, I locked the brakes, and spooled up the blades to around 170 RRPM before beginning the takeoff roll. The blades came up to speed quickly and the machine rocked back on it's tailwheel. I got it balanced on the mains as I applied power, and it lifted off. I mentioned before that the stick was a little far away, but it may be also that I am used to my pump handle on the Bensen. The Dominator came off the runway with the nose a little high, and I had to push more than I was used to to drop the nose some. Anyway, I got used to it pretty quickly. With the 618 at full power, I climbed a a pretty brisk rate. It has plenty of power.
(Edit: Also on takeoff, there was no tendency to yaw. It just goes straight with no dancing on the pedals.)
I climbed up to around 500 feet before trying any maneuvers other than gentle turns. The wind was blowing around 5 mph at that altitude, and there was some turbulence coming off of the treeline on the east side of the runway. As I flew through this turbulence, the gyro was rock steady. Absolutely no pitching, rolling, or yawing. I was pretty comfortable right off the bat, and found myself looking for turbulence to fly through.
I put the machine into steeper and steeper banks, and it just went where I pointed it. No overshoot or lag in the controls.
In level flight I glanced down at the ASI, and realized that I was zipping along at 70 MPH. It didn't feel like I was going that fast, maybe because of the pod. It was stable at all speeds even at 90 MPH with me "stirring the pot".
I had flown in a modified Bensen once that had a tall-tail and immersed flat-plate stab, but I didn't like the feel of it. The tail wasn't mass balanced and had no anti-servo tab, so there wasn't much feedback in the pedals. That Bensen also had a Sportcopter cab on it, and the rudder didn't really have enough authority for that much area ahead of the CG. You couldn't take your feet off of the pedals.
Not so on the Dominator. I could have left my feet on the floor for all the good they were doing me. I would jab the left rudder and release, and the gyro would just recenter itself with little or no oscillation. Same to the right. I did it several times and the result was always the same.
After this I decided to try an approach to landing. I set up an approach and started down to the runway pulling the power back enough for a shallow descent and flew it down to the surface. I was a little leery of misjudging my height, so I just leveled off right above the runway and held it off until the tailwheel touched before reduucing power and pulling back on the stick. Worked pretty good, so I took off and did it again. This time I pulled back the power far enough that the prop clutch disengaged, and immediately felt the drag of the windmilling prop and a quickly steepening descent. So I added power to re-engage the clutch and shallow out my descent, and flew it on again.
Later, I flew again with Rod Reed following on my Bensen, and I kept cutting across his rotor wash to feel the turbulence, and again no surprises. I just went through with no corrections required. On my last landing, I plopped it on a little harder than the previous times, but the gear just soaked it up like it was nothing. I hadn't worked up the nerve for a Stop-N-Drop yet! :)
Taxiing back to the ramp was more of the same rudder dancing until I remembered to use the heel brakes.
The machine performed better than I had expected, even though I expected it to perform as advertised. I really like the tail, and it's changed my mind about tall tails. I had considered making a tall tail for my Bensen, but with a seperate vertical and rudder. This configuration certainly seems to be the best route though. Light and effective.
Also the airfoil shaped stab in the propwash was rock-solid. No oscillations in pitch.
I would have to give the Dominator 2 thumbs up!
http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4805