Starduster Too?

Jeanie

Jeanie

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Jeanie
Anyone know about or have an opinion of these airplanes? The pic I saw looked they have a fixed pitch prop.
 
Heard they easy to groundloop but no personal experience so I may just be :goofy:
 
It's related to the Acroduster Two, which I can say was a fun airplane to fly. I know someone groundlooped a Starduster really close by some months ago, but don't know that it has any extraordinary tendencies towards that problem.

Ryan
 
bnt83 said:
Heard they easy to groundloop but no personal experience so I may just be :goofy:
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Well, the Starduster Too I used to own is the only airplane I ever ground looped so you might be on to something. Then again the broken springs connecting the tailwheel to the rudder and the 14Kt quartering tailwind (wind shifted while I was on short final) might have played a part. Fortunately it didn't go all the way around until after I had lost most of my speed and the damage (besides my ego) was just a scratch in the paint on the wingtip.
 
Jeanie said:
Anyone know about or have an opinion of these airplanes? The pic I saw looked they have a fixed pitch prop.
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They are commonly powered by a 180 HP O360 Lyc with a fixed prop but I've seen some with bigger engines and many with C/S props. The one I owned had a fixed prop and that created some problems (overspeed) during steep descents so I'd recommend finding one with a C/S prop or converting to one.

The airplane is fairly typical of E-AB semi-aerobatic biplanes. The view from the rear cockpit (primary control seat) is pretty limited, especially during landing. I recall a choice between coming down at 90 mph and being able to see the runway but floating a ways or using 80 mph on final and losing sight of the entire runway long before touchdown. The standard gear setup is pretty stiff and the 3 point attitude is below the critical AoA so any vertical speed at touchdown pretty much guarantees a bounce. The rudder, steerable tailwheel, and brakes are fairly sensitive which means the airplane can be rather dicey during rollout if you fail to maintain proper focus. This airplane wasn't designed for serious acro but there are some mods (particularly a strut on the horizontal stab) that help. The 180 HP engine is a bit weak as well.

But it was one of the most fun airplane's I've had the opportunity to enjoy.
 
Jeanie said:
Well, it was just a notion, Nevermind:D
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Not a bad notion either

I spent a fair amount of time in this one about 8 years ago. O480 & CS prop.

A real hot dog.

Fun airplane.
 

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bnt83 said:
Heard they easy to groundloop but no personal experience so I may just be :goofy:
Click to expand...

The original Starduster Too design had the main gear located such that there was a lot of weight on the tail, which could cause ground handling issues if you weren't careful with the momentum. There was a later mod that most builders adopted that moved the main gear aft a few inches to take some weight off the tailwheel and make it handle more normally. Nothing unusual about a properly setup Starduster. Regarding landing visibility, etc., it's normal biplane stuff. Has better vis than a Pitts.

Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Don't know about ground loops, but they do tend to run into RC airplanes.

http://youtu.be/lOEnn3VL8c0
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Or Acrodusters, anyway. :)
 
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the plans evolved over the years shifting the main gear legs and extending the engine mount to shift the CG foraward. Airplanes built to earlier plans can indeed be a handful. Building an engine mount and gear legs to approximate the later drawings will improve the older planes dramatically.
 
Jeanie...

Contact this guy out near Quinlan, TX. He's had one or two and will talk your ear off about them if you let him.

Walt Meziere, walt@t14airport.com 214-906-7264
 
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