These pages are a collection of the ideas and impressions of the
Cardinal pilots who frequent this site. This information is anecdotal
and informal, and may not be completely accurate.
As always, the Cessna operations and flight manual, and the advice
of a certified flight instructor, should be your primary source of
information regarding the safe operation of your aircraft.
Contents:
Normal & Rough Field taxi
Nose Wheel shimmy
Nose Wheel clunk
RG Nose Wheel locking
Main Gear wobble
Normal Taxi operations
For the most part the Cardinal will taxi like any other Cessna. The
nose wheel is attached to the rudder pedals with springs, so the
steering is slightly indirect. Comanche pilots will be lost for a
few minutes, but the rest of us will find it normal.
Your engine will appreciate it if you lean a little during a taxi
of any length. Set it low enough that you have a little room for
throttle changes, but not so high that you'll forget it for takeoff.
Although the Cardinal does not routinely foul plugs, a little leaning
can only help the combustion chamber stay clean and deposit free.
You may choose not to do this if you're taxiing on grass, soft ground
or some other rough terrain. Most likely you'll need more power to taxi
well and don't need the extra distraction.
The Cardinal is quite capable of operations off of fairly rough
fields. Both the FG and the RG are at home on grass and can handle
a fairly bumpy runway. There are no issues with leaking gas
tanks or such side effects with grass field operations, as is true
in some aircraft.
Over the years, many Cardinal owners have told stories of operation
out of unimproved strips without difficulty. The RG has slightly smaller
tires than the FG (the wheels are the same but the RG uses a lower profile tire for retraction clearange) so the FG probably has some edge in operation
on very rough fields.
Many new Cardinal owners are surprised at some point by the aircraft's refusal to turn when exiting the runway. This is caused by some combination of an over-pressurized nose strut and a load resulting in a rearward center of gravity.
You see, the nosegear has a centering mechanism that engages at full extension, seeming to lock the steering. The solution is to get on the brakes a little harder or suddenly. This will rock the airplane foward against the strut and retract it so it is allowed to turn.
FG Nose Wheel shimmy
One failure mode of the Fixed Gear is a shimmy on landing or
rollout. High speed taxi can also bring forth this demon, especially
if a pavement joint or bump causes a side force on the nosewheel.
This problem is caused by inadequate fluid in the shimmy damper,
a problem shared by most Cessnas. But the Cardinal has a slightly
different shimmy damper, requiring knowledge of a few details to
properly service.
Do not turn a mechanic loose on your Fixed Gear shimmy dampner! The Cardinal dampner is different from the 172 and must be serviced differently. An improperly serviced dampner will literally fly apart in flight, destroying an extremely expensive part. Visit this page for detailed information on this situation.
FG Nose Wheel clunk
Another failure mode of the FG is a solid sounding clunk coming from
the nose gear.
This is caused by an excess of space between two parts of the nose
gear strut. It is not dangerous, but certainly can be annoying. It
can be fixed by the insertion of the correct shims into the strut.
There is not yet a page on this web site covering this item, but
when one is created a link will be made to it here.
RG Nose Wheel locking
The RG has a system which will align the nose wheel in a straight
line as soon as it is fully extended. This allows the wheel to be
retracted properly into it's wheel well. But if you are loaded to
a rather rearward CG and try to move the airplane empty, you may
find that it will not steer.
The best way to resolve this problem while moving the RG by hand is to put your foot on the
tire and pull forward and down on the prop. The nose gear strut
will compress, unlocking the nose wheel. Usually when you and your
front seat passenger get in the CG will move forward enough to compress
the nose strut to the proper position.
At times this effect will be noticed shortly after landing.. the
thing just won't turn off the runway. Best solution is to stear
straight foreward for a moment and hit the brakes hard. That should
compress the nose gear and let you turn properly.
You may need to turn promptly after this trick to 'catch' the strut
compressed and get it turned. If your strut is this far overinflated
it really needs some attention.
Don't let any mechanic tear down the nose gear for this proplem until
you have dramatically dropped the strut and proved that there really is
an internal problem. There have been rusty bearings inside the strut, but
99% of the people with this issue have a too-tall strut.
RG Main Gear Wobble
On rough fields RG pilots may be amazed to see the wheels dancing
forward and backward as they taxi. This is because the RG has a
tapered gear leg, which is as free to move front to rear as up and
down.
This is not a problem as long as you understand why it's
doing it!
There is a maintenance item related to gear leg wobble. If your
gear legs have play in them while up on jacks, for instance while
getting a tire changed, there is a service item you should review.
You can get further information on this
page.
Copyright Keith Peterson 1999
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