Ovation3 Questions - gear, rudder trim

[carusoam]

Great follow-up, Dale!

Thanks for sharing the details...

Best regards,

-a-

[Niko182]

On 3/16/2019 at 9:25 PM, Dale said:

Thanks for the reply.  Corbin Halloran is my Mooney transition instructor.  My Ovation3 has two placards at the gear knob.  One says 140 knots maximum airspeed for the gear down and another placard that says 106 knots maximum gear up speed.  Am I one of the only Ovation owners that has a placard for maximum gear up speed of 106 knots?  

Also, Is it common for pilots flying behind the 550 engine to commonly use right rudder on take off due to the added power or do most just push the right rudder pedal on take off.

140 to put it down. 106 to put it up. And fastest extended speed is 165..

[triple8s]

In regard to the use of rudder trim. There is a small white wedge shaped box on the rudder trim indicator, elevator trim indicator and flap position indicator,  showing where the function is supposed to be in order to be properly configured for take off. In using the rudder trim I was told to position the rudder trim as close to the take off position while on final as I was comfortable with yes this means I might have to hold pressure in on the left rudder, not a lot of pressure but a little in order to keep the ball centered while in the on final. This "rudder trim" is only a spring connected to the rudder push rods by means of a cable and actuated by a small round drum which is turned by a tiny electric motor n gearbox to help hold pressure one way or the other to "trim" the rudder. The reason to trim some right rudder in on final is so when a go around is needed the trim is almost where it needs to be for a go around and thus saving adjusting the rudder trim in the busy time when transitioning from approach (low power setting) to full take off power. When on approach the ele trim is way nose up especially when full flaps are out so there are several things to change when its time to go around not counting the throttle, prop and gear. Personally on approach I have take off position flaps out, rudder trim nearly in the take off position and land just a tiny bit faster (because of the flaps in T.O. position). This config. means less nose high pitch attitude and much less shock when full power is applied for go around. If I have to land on a short runway, I use full flaps of course but operating out of a 3500 ft strip I have no problem landing with plenty of room to spare. Also when landing in crosswinds less flaps out and a slightly higher approach speed makes crosswind landing no sweat most of the time. As for the gear unless it is very hot, high AD and I'm heavy on landing I dont worry about the gear. An Ovation has enough power to fly just fine no matter where the gear is, just mind the gear retraction speed, the bird will still climb. I owned and flew a "C" model for 6 yr and had the ovation since 2012 and I swear I have much less trouble with crosswinds in the Ovation than I did with the lighter "C" model. The Ovation IMHO is just about the perfect 4 place single hard to beat (speed, efficiency, payload, comfort) it unless you wanna land on grass or rough strips. Love the "O" Flame away!

[LANCECASPER]

1 hour ago, triple8s said:

In regard to the use of rudder trim. There is a small white wedge shaped box on the rudder trim indicator, elevator trim indicator and flap position indicator,  showing where the function is supposed to be in order to be properly configured for take off. In using the rudder trim I was told to position the rudder trim as close to the take off position while on final as I was comfortable with yes this means I might have to hold pressure in on the left rudder, not a lot of pressure but a little in order to keep the ball centered while in the on final. This "rudder trim" is only a spring connected to the rudder push rods by means of a cable and actuated by a small round drum which is turned by a tiny electric motor n gearbox to help hold pressure one way or the other to "trim" the rudder. The reason to trim some right rudder in on final is so when a go around is needed the trim is almost where it needs to be for a go around and thus saving adjusting the rudder trim in the busy time when transitioning from approach (low power setting) to full take off power. When on approach the ele trim is way nose up especially when full flaps are out so there are several things to change when its time to go around not counting the throttle, prop and gear. Personally on approach I have take off position flaps out, rudder trim nearly in the take off position and land just a tiny bit faster (because of the flaps in T.O. position). This config. means less nose high pitch attitude and much less shock when full power is applied for go around. If I have to land on a short runway, I use full flaps of course but operating out of a 3500 ft strip I have no problem landing with plenty of room to spare. Also when landing in crosswinds less flaps out and a slightly higher approach speed makes crosswind landing no sweat most of the time. As for the gear unless it is very hot, high AD and I'm heavy on landing I dont worry about the gear. An Ovation has enough power to fly just fine no matter where the gear is, just mind the gear retraction speed, the bird will still climb. I owned and flew a "C" model for 6 yr and had the ovation since 2012 and I swear I have much less trouble with crosswinds in the Ovation than I did with the lighter "C" model. The Ovation IMHO is just about the perfect 4 place single hard to beat (speed, efficiency, payload, comfort) it unless you wanna land on grass or rough strips. Love the "O" Flame away!

The rudder trim is mainly for "P Factor" on take-off and climb and is nice to keep the ball centered in cruise flight. It really helps on the 6 cylinder Mooneys.

However, I keep the rudder trim neutral on final approach. My first landing in a brand new long body in 1996 on a demo ride I had rudder trim on T/O position. Upon touchdown it wanted to head off the runway to the right, just like I had the right rudder down. I think being brand new the spring was very tight, but from that point on I added "Rudder Trim - Neutral" to my landing checklist. 

[ilovecornfields]

7 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

However,  Upon touchdown it wanted to head off the runway to the right, just like I had the right rudder down. I think being brand new the spring was very tight, but from that point on I added "Rudder Trim - Neutral" to my landing checklist. 

Exactly my experience. I also added it to my pre-landing checklist.

[flyingcheesehead]

1 hour ago, LANCECASPER said:

The rudder trim is mainly for "P Factor" on take-off and climb and is nice to keep the ball centered in cruise flight. It really helps on the 6 cylinder Mooneys.

However, I keep the rudder trim neutral on final approach. My first landing in a brand new long body in 1996 on a demo ride I had rudder trim on T/O position. Upon touchdown it wanted to head off the runway to the right, just like I had the right rudder down. I think being brand new the spring was very tight, but from that point on I added "Rudder Trim - Neutral" to my landing checklist. 

Not to mention, trimming for the go-around should be done on the go-around IMO. Rudder trim especially, it's not like your feet have anything else to do but stomp on the right pedal during the go-around, so you can save the trim for after your hands are done doing more important things.

[StevenL757]

7 hours ago, triple8s said:

The Ovation IMHO is just about the perfect 4 place single hard to beat (speed, efficiency, payload, comfort) it unless you wanna land on grass or rough strips. Love the "O" Flame away!

Couldn't have said that any better.  :-)

[flyingcheesehead]

11 hours ago, triple8s said:

The Ovation IMHO is just about the perfect 4 place single hard to beat (speed, efficiency, payload, comfort) it unless you wanna land on grass or rough strips. Love the "O" Flame away!

I don't think you even need the caveat. I land my O on grass (provided it's of sufficient length). As far as "rough" strips, I don't think there's any nice traveling birds that are really meant for that sort of thing. Maybe a C185, but it's going to be a fair bit slower than the O. 

But yes, the M20R is a damn-near-perfect airplane. Per mile cost is about the same as a 172, but you obviously have far superior performance. Going any faster than the R in any airplane is going to get expensive in a hurry. It gets nearly the same overall gas mileage as a ground-pounding family hauler, but gets places 4x as fast. 

Love my Ovation... I sometimes wish it was de-iced and had two fans and a couple extra seats and was pressurized for the same cost per mile, but physics sadly dictates otherwise!