SonexBuilders.net

Hi all,
just caught this off http://www.kathrynsreport.com. dated today 18 jan 22, incident 16 jan,
waiex b minor damage KABI. abilene tx
high speed taxi down rwy , exited rwy hit twy sign.

chris paegelow

no injuries.

maybe initial taxi tests?

hopefully can repair easily, and get back to flying it!

best!

WaiexN143NM
Michael.

Yeah that was me.

I was doing a high speed run down the runway trying to make sure the engine was behaving. It was apparently windier than I thought and as best I can tell I just caught a gusty crosswind that weathervaned me right off the side of the runway. The ATIS was calling steady 10 knot wind, 30 degrees off of the runway heading, but after talking to the tower on the phone afterwards, they told me there were occasional 20 knot gusts, 90 degrees off. If I had known that I probably wouldn't have even driven to the airport that day!

I think the speed I was going at the time was just right for the rudder to not be very effective yet, but too fast for the tailwheel to overcome the wind on its own. If I had just taken off I would've accelerated right through that speed and taken off pretty quickly I think. However, when I taxied back I found a pretty big oil leak so who knows how that flight would've gone anyway.

Anyhow, I went off the side of the runway, not especially fast, like 20mph probably, and the left wing hit a taxiway sign. Initially it looked like just the leading edge skin was damaged, but it also put a fairly big dent in the bottom of the main spar. So I am going to just replace the whole left wing. Thankfully I waited until I had insurance before doing this, so I'm doing an insurance claim and just ordering a quick-build wing from Sonex. I'm going to have to figure out how to rig the new wing to my existing right wing and spar tunnel, but if I can make that work then the rest of the project won't be too bad I think.

While I wait for the new wing I think I'm going to put in some sort of differential brake setup too after this experience.

I'm gone all of this month on a work trip so I am mostly just not thinking about it!!!

As I can relate to your episode, I can comment on the differential brakes you want to add. Yes, they are differential but the pucks do not have much power on the brake disc. At landing speed, I could not tell I had the brake on. If I had that much brake applied with Cleveland brakes, I would have picked up the tail. The Aeroconversion hydraulic brakes work mediocre for taxi speeds and a low power run up, but that is it. At least that is how mine are. I am thinking I will be changing to another type of hydraulic brake puck and disc. Not sure what is available that works.

Rick Caldwell
Xenos 0057 26 hrs

I am replacing the crappy Onex gear that bends permanently upon use, even mild use, and that was defective from the start with gear from OKeefe Aircraft because Sonex will not replace my defective gear. The new gear is thicker, better material and, upon my request, 2 inches longer. I am also adding differential hydraulic brakes from Okeefe I will report how well the system works.

When building my A Sonex TD back in 2010-12 it was a similar experience with my old Luscombe 8A that prompted me to put in differential hydraulic disk toe brakes. Used the OKeefe (then known as Great Plains) and my own toe brake design, (posted on Sonex Foundation, mods to #1327) At the time Sonex was saying anything more than their mechanical brakes would stand the plane on its nose. Have found the OKeefe brakes very easy to control, and have had no problems with short pad life that has been mentioned with the Sonex disk brakes.

David A.

I learned the same lesson with my Waiex (Jab3300). My port side crosswind limit was 10mph until I put differential brakes on it. Anything more than 10mph on takeoff (with only myself in the plane) and the tailwheel would just skid and off I would head over to mow the the green stuff off the left side of the runway. I found that if I had a passenger however, I had enough weight on the tailwheel and it would provide adequate control all the way to liftoff. At 270 hours on the tach, I finally welded up and installed a differential brake setup for my hydraulic Matco brakes for safety and more usability of the plane. I live in Iowa, if you can't fly with a 10mph crosswind, you literally don't fly 250 days a year... I really, really, really, really... wish I would have done this originally. I've since incrementally increased my x-wind take off limits until I found my absolute limit. After 2 years of slow incremental testing, I got up to 18kt direct 90 degree port side winds. It was on a 100ft wide runway and I had a 80lb bag of watersoftener salt strapped in the passenger seat. I used a parabolic takeoff path (started off pointed to the right side of the runway) with the stick all the way back and a moderate throttle setting until I got enough speed to get the tail up and had full rudder authority. Climb was pretty exhilarating. It was an interesting experience but I'll absolutely never do it again. However, I did benchmark my absolute limit and am comfortable in the ability of the plane to handle higher than 10mph crosswinds now.
Lorin
N81YX