Steve Pierce
BENEFACTOR
Graham, TX
I have recently been playing with Dakota Cub's new slotted wing Pacer. This is an experimental research and development project to see if this is a viable modification to pursue. The wing has almost the same wingspan as a stock winged Pacer but squared off and with the wing tips it is actually 2" longer. The ailerons were moved outboard to the tip and lengthened to 74" vs. 72" and the flaps were lengthened from 52" to 74". The aileron moved out to the tip gives the Pacer the much needed aileron authority in a crosswind and with 42% more flap you can really slow her down without a terrible sink rate. The leading edge slot that Piper originally used on the L14 and that is certified via STC on the Super Cub and on the Type Certified Super 18 is really amazing to me in several flight regimes.
Take-off is very quick using one notch of flaps, then pulling full flaps when she is ready to fly and once in the air dumping them and climbing out at a very high angle of attack. This was kind of un-nerving at first until I went up high and flew the airplane at these attitudes. Pulling the power of at nose high attitudes simply made the nose come level and the airplane descended about 500 fpm in a level attitude with full control. I left the right rudder in that I was using to keep her straight when I had full power and didn't understand at first why I was rotating to the right in a flat attitude. I finally realized it and let off the rudder pedal and the nose stayed straight. The high angle of attack and climb really shines for getting over an obstacle in short order. With some 17 kt. winds last weekend I climbed to 1000' in about a 1000' of runway and actually ended up flying backwards. It was pretty amazing to me.
My landings have been as short or shorter than my landings were in Bill Tracy's 39Y the previous day however I had 10 kts. more wind the day I flew the Super 20. I am not flying a real steep approach but keeping her pretty flat and allowing my rate of decent to put air through the slot. A burst of power works real well right before touch down to arrest the rate of decent and land really short. I tried this with the Sensenich 7458 prop but it did not work as well as the 8243 Borer I borrowed from Bill. The Sensenich gives 115-120 mph cruise and respectable short field take-offs the Borer gives 102-105 mph cruise and some really short field take-offs and landings. Will be testing with an 8244 next week to see what kind of short field and cruise I get.
I have really had a lot of fun with this project and though the Pacer is not near as fun to fly as a Super Cub it does have an 800 lb or more useful load and a decent cruise speed with lots of room for people and stuff and is a lot more in my budget than a Super Cub right now. I have uploaded several videos to YouTube http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhw4 and there is a long discussion with some good data from Dakota Cub on the history and performance of the slot as well as some comparison between the slot and VGs on http://www.shortwingpipers.org/forum/showthread.php?5598-Super-20-Flies if anyone wants to know more about the Super 20. Cathy and I will continue to do some performance testing here and will have the airplane at Sun & Fun in a few weeks as well.
Take-off is very quick using one notch of flaps, then pulling full flaps when she is ready to fly and once in the air dumping them and climbing out at a very high angle of attack. This was kind of un-nerving at first until I went up high and flew the airplane at these attitudes. Pulling the power of at nose high attitudes simply made the nose come level and the airplane descended about 500 fpm in a level attitude with full control. I left the right rudder in that I was using to keep her straight when I had full power and didn't understand at first why I was rotating to the right in a flat attitude. I finally realized it and let off the rudder pedal and the nose stayed straight. The high angle of attack and climb really shines for getting over an obstacle in short order. With some 17 kt. winds last weekend I climbed to 1000' in about a 1000' of runway and actually ended up flying backwards. It was pretty amazing to me.
My landings have been as short or shorter than my landings were in Bill Tracy's 39Y the previous day however I had 10 kts. more wind the day I flew the Super 20. I am not flying a real steep approach but keeping her pretty flat and allowing my rate of decent to put air through the slot. A burst of power works real well right before touch down to arrest the rate of decent and land really short. I tried this with the Sensenich 7458 prop but it did not work as well as the 8243 Borer I borrowed from Bill. The Sensenich gives 115-120 mph cruise and respectable short field take-offs the Borer gives 102-105 mph cruise and some really short field take-offs and landings. Will be testing with an 8244 next week to see what kind of short field and cruise I get.
I have really had a lot of fun with this project and though the Pacer is not near as fun to fly as a Super Cub it does have an 800 lb or more useful load and a decent cruise speed with lots of room for people and stuff and is a lot more in my budget than a Super Cub right now. I have uploaded several videos to YouTube http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhw4 and there is a long discussion with some good data from Dakota Cub on the history and performance of the slot as well as some comparison between the slot and VGs on http://www.shortwingpipers.org/forum/showthread.php?5598-Super-20-Flies if anyone wants to know more about the Super 20. Cathy and I will continue to do some performance testing here and will have the airplane at Sun & Fun in a few weeks as well.
