What did you do with your triple tail today?

The 14-19-2 is 1756/2700. It takes off in about the same distance as the Cruisair, and is a little better at clearing a 50ft obstacle. Once you get it up to speed it will climb out at 1400fpm dropping off to 800 when you get to 7000 or so. The Cruismaster has a heavier feel than the Cruisair. My gear cranking skills are definitely getting rusty and unused.
 
My crate is 1833/2700. I weighed it when I rebuilt it. Like all of us older people the crate gained weight. I get about the same performance. The published figures are an out right lie. Lynn
 
Went to pick up my rods for the build Monday, I had not noticed when I dropped them off that two where different Forgings, well those two where 50 grams heavier than the others. I did not want to tear down the original engine on the plane but I needed a good set, two days later I have them. I thought the original would store in tacked a whole lot better if it stayed together. I am glad I did tear it down and opened it up, the logs said it had 400 hours on this engine, some one had lied on that one! I am glad the crank shaft stopped me from flying it since the engine had a bunch of hours on it and two rusty cylinders from setting with an open intake for years. At least now I will know every inch of this aircraft as it really should be!
 
Just another flying session last weekend.
It went 1400-1450 FPM up with full fuel and 3 persons aboard.
Beautiful 165 mph indicated just on the edge of green and yellow sectors on ASI at 1000', 23"/2300RPM

 
After reading the Jan 2019 B-C contact article about weak kickdown springs and noting the fact that my gear will not freefall and lock on the jacks on my 14-19-2.....I pulled the springs and sure enough they are much weaker than Dave Pasuale's limits. Are the Cruismaster springs the same on as for the S. Viking.?
 
Bones, the kickdown spring in p/n 18203-4 which was $65 back in 05. I bought mine from AAC that year. I should check those bad boys next time I have the crate on jacks. Lynn
 
Thanks Lynn :Do you remember back in 05 if your springs had plugs/ spacers/ blocks on each end? My springs were/are touching directly on the top mount. They have a plug in the bottom end that presses on the through spacer. That doesn't seem right.......my kingdom for a nice Illustrated parts catalog!!!! thanks Ken
 
Ken, no plugs or anything that would increase pressure. Bellanca sucks when it comes to manuals or support. There are not many Triple Tails out there flying----for good reasons. Look at the Viking manual and it really is poor compared to a Piper or Cessna parts manual,but it is better than what is available for -2. Lynn
 
Ken, my opinion (which is really not worth much) is that GM Bellanca was a very natural genius in the field of aerodynamics, but not so much with mechanical engineering. He surrounded himself with craftsmen; every Bellanca was hand built. I digress. Sadly, deficiencies with the landing gear system is probably responsible for the attrition of our fleet more than any other root cause. There are two weak links in the design of the main gear: the strut and actuator attach brackets; and the kick down springs. In the case of the attach brackets the problem was with the gauge of the metal (design related: not strong enough) and with the finishing (fabrication related: the existence of stress risers). Both of these conditions have resulted in failures after many hundreds of hour in service and the associated landing cycles.

The kick-down spring concept is a classic example of a design that seems eloquently simple yet adequate given the very low force required to hold the struts in the over center position. Actually the design is good except for the failure to consider the effect of the operating environment and the fact that compression springs do relax over time for various reasons. Fortunately mitigating potential failures from these weaknesses is rather easy. First of all make sure the landing gear will operate smoothly without the actuator or springs attached. This will insure that no extra force will be required should you need to depend on a free-fall extension. Second remove the kick-down springs from the tube assembly and ensure that the tubes will telescope in and out freely. Because they are of very thin-wall construction they can easily be distorted and bind up. With simple inspections and maintenance this should give you a lot of peace of mind.
 
Well I die check the crank case to day for cracks and we have good cases!!!! Now to clean the die out of it. Waiting to get the rods back to start assembly of the shortblock.
 
Rob58 said:
Ken, my opinion (which is really not worth much) is that GM Bellanca was a very natural genius in the field of aerodynamics, but not so much with mechanical engineering.
Click to expand...

Your opinion is worth a great deal, Rob; especially since it coincides exactly with mine. :)

Your gear inspection sequence is spot on as well. It will be a good reminder as I do the gear in the next few weeks.

I remember thinking that the stock spring may not be optimized. I have a Kidwell gear, but I think the holddown spring assembly is the same. I will make some measurements and see if any improvements are feasible. Spring companies will make anything. Just give them the specs. Is there any min/max number for the extended download force ? OK, I'll look in the dash 2. Yeah.

Also, this reminds me that our small community needs at least some guidance data for this airplane. Maybe a wiki for operation and maintenance would help organize the info that is dribbled out in posts and periodicals.

Ron
 
^+1.
I have slowly come to know several things I need to look really closely at when doing a preflight or annual. There must be things that others have seen that I am clueless about. a space to organize this information would be valuable as we deal with older and higher time airframes. It could also be a good resource to help new owners to avoid hurting their new toy while they get up to speed. I don’t have a clue how to organize the information but having access to what some of our long-time members know would help me.
 
Sounds like we are all facing the same challenges and thinking on the same frequency. For the past couple of years I have been thinking about the best way to organize and share information. So, a few months ago I set up website for the very purpose of collecting and sharing information about the 14-19 series aircraft. I have done nothing to populate data thus far, but the framework is there. Since there seems to be at least a small group of us pursuing this same goal, maybe my idea will gain some traction now. I would ask you to send me your ideas and contribute content - I will load it and make it available either to view or download as appropriate. I wasn't going to share this with anybody until I was further along but since this issue has now come up I might as well ask for help in developing this resource. You can check out my basic layout here: www.bellanca14.com

Please understand that I value Robert's website and forum that we are working in now and I respect the effort he has undertaken to keep the club active. Not my intention to dilute his work. Frank's Viking forum is also very valuable however it is very much focused on the later model Bellancas. My thinking is to have a dedicated place for information of interest to the Cruisemaster crowd. Feedback and suggestions are very much appreciated!
 
Rob, if you need any help with the site - just give me a note.
I was going to make the same thing for other cruisemaster owners as I'm collecting more and more data and hints on owning and maintaining a Cruisemaster.
Surely - making this with a common effort in a single place is a good thing to do.
 
Ivan, I appreciate your offer and I would certainly welcome your collaboration. As you probably understand the hard part is not the technical aspect of building or managing the website, but rather the compilation and organization of the data. Basically for everyone that wants to participate in adding content to this site, please send me your articles, photos, drawings, stories, links, and suggestions for how we can make this a valuable resource. Again, I don't want to compete with or compromise the value of the club website and forum. Nor do I want to violate any copyrights or proprietary data. Here is a list of the structure that I have planned:
--A photo gallery and history of the Cruisemaster fleet, and identification of the active surviving aircraft
--Stories about the adventures flying the Cruisemaster from current and past owners
--Any information that we enhance the safety of operating our aircraft
--A summary of accident reports from the NTSB and other sources
--An evolving body of technical and maintenance information that extends the knowledge base supported by the AAC factory
--A repository of public information from FAA records: 337s, ADs, etc.
--A "for sale" showcase to help friends sell their aircraft
--Links to supplier sites and other resources of general interest
We Cruisemaster owners are somewhat orphaned (and certainly misunderstood) in the aviation online community. Robert Szego has done us a great service by hosting this forum. However beyond this forum there is really no place to go where a comprehensive body of information is available, and searchable, in one place. That's my mission.
 
Re collecting aircraft maintenance and operations data. A popular mechanism in the internet realm for collaboration is the "wiki" . Access can be limited or open. Something along that line is worth looking into. All could contribute directly. Topical information placed there might be of interest to the editors of B-C Contact, as well, to flesh out with the author and use in the magazine. But, it would be mainly a compendium, a readily available organized detailed information source. I did a wiki years ago using PBworks for a VOIP topic. There are many wiki hosts available, or the app can be installed and maintained on ones own site.

Rob, I looked at your bellanca14 site. Looks good. A wiki might be a good fit. A sub domain, say, wiki.bellanca14.com where uploading, open editing could take place and your read only main site that you would edit selected wiki material into. A thought.
Ron
BTW, there are other Bellanca 14's that are not -19's
 
Hey Ron, your idea is good... appreciate the feedback. Now that I passed along the URL I feel some pressure to get this site moving - all good! And yes, I don't want to exclude the 14-13 folks, it's just that my experience is with the 14-19-2 & -3 so that was the logical starting point. If some of the Cruisair owners want to send me information I will certainly add it to the site. --Rob
 
I knew we would be hearing from you! Any chance you will be making it to Columbia this year?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top