Musketeer - rudder/aileron interlock?

Matthew

Matthew

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
18,694
Location
kojc, kixd, k34
Display Name
Display name:
Matthew
This weekend I was climbing around in a new-to-me Musketeer. It's just getting ready to go onto the rental fleet, so I had to spend a few minutes sitting inside and making airplane noises.

I pushed on the rudder pedals and noticed the control yoke moving the ailerons in a coordinated motion. Left rudder caused the yoke to add slight left aileron, right rudder caused the yoke to add a slight right aileron.

Also, I noticed a 'return to center' feature on the yoke. Turn left or right, let go, and ailerons return to neutral.

This is the first Beech that I've played with, and I haven't seen this on the Pipers, Cessnas, and Grummans that I've flown. Is this something that's unique to the Musketeer? Beech? Any others?
 
The Mousketeer like the Navion and some others have spring connections between the rudder and the aileron. You won't have any problems with it. The "return to center" behavior you're observing is because the rudder is also spring connected to the nose gear. Boingy boingy.
 
flyingron said:
The Mousketeer like the Navion and some others have spring connections between the rudder and the aileron. You won't have any problems with it. The "return to center" behavior you're observing is because the rudder is also spring connected to the nose gear. Boingy boingy.
Click to expand...

Interesting.

Yeah, sitting on the ground wouldn't let the nose gear turn, so the springs returned to center after I let go of the ailerons.

They must have had a good reason for all this, other than to add extra parts.
 
Matthew said:
Interesting.

Yeah, sitting on the ground wouldn't let the nose gear turn, so the springs returned to center after I let go of the ailerons.

They must have had a good reason for all this, other than to add extra parts.
Click to expand...

Automatic coordination. Mostly. Sort of. At least that was the reason for the interconnect. It made it a little more difficult to slip on final because you have to overcome the springs. It's not to bad, just different.

My experience was a checkout in a C-23 Sundowner (later version of the Muskateer).

John
 
Matthew said:
Also, I noticed a 'return to center' feature on the yoke. Turn left or right, let go, and ailerons return to neutral.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that the airflow acts as a centering force on most airplanes, so in the air the difference isn't extremely noticeable. I've flown a Warrior (151) equipped with springs, and it was not noticeably different than without centering springs.

I've only got a few hours in the Musketeer (a 200); and the most noticeable things for me were:

1) Flat sided fuselage is a bit more sensitive to wind than a PA28

2) The cabin is big and draggy for the installed horsepower, expect it to be a bit more sluggish than a 172 or PA28 with the same installed power. The 200hp Musketeer felt about as "peppy" as a PA28-161.

3) It sits high. I've flown much bigger aircraft so it wasn't hard to deal with the slightly different sight picture, but it was noticeable compared to other single pistons I've flown. Personally I liked it.
 
Rudder/aileron interconnects are common in floatplane conversions. They add yaw stability; the floats add some forward keel area that can reduce that stability. The interconnect was found in the Piper Tripacer and many Mooneys, too. Cirrus has it, and they use, for all that money you pay, a length of rubber bungee similar to what you'd use to clamp something on your bicycle rack.

Dan
 
Bonanza has it as well.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Rudder/aileron interconnects are common in floatplane conversions. They add yaw stability; the floats add some forward keel area that can reduce that stability. The interconnect was found in the Piper Tripacer and many Mooneys, too. Cirrus has it, and they use, for all that money you pay, a length of rubber bungee similar to what you'd use to clamp something on your bicycle rack.

Dan
Click to expand...

Starting with the G3, the Cirrus no longer has the R-A interconnect. Instead the wing was recharged slightly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top