I have a question about the placement of tail handles (the handles which typically appear on the lower longeron just forward of the empennage on many taildraggers): Why are they on the lower longeron?
Any time I have to move the Champ (which has this type of handle), I nearly break my back bending way over and then attempting to apply any movement pressure to the handles, and usually end up pushing on the leading edge of the horizontal stab as well (right at the root, of course). It's too heavy to reasonably lift and move, though the dynamics of it would be easier to manage.
If the handle were on the upper longeron, it would be noticeably more useful for actually moving the plane, just from a body mechanics point of view.
The main reason I can think of is aerodynamics. We try very hard to avoid putting drag-inducing stuff on the top of flying surfaces to avoid breaking up the laminar airflow, and presumably this falls into that category as well (though as I recall, the tail generally provides a bit of negative lift at cruise, so it may be that the lower surface is more important to keep turbulence-free).
Does anyone know?
Any time I have to move the Champ (which has this type of handle), I nearly break my back bending way over and then attempting to apply any movement pressure to the handles, and usually end up pushing on the leading edge of the horizontal stab as well (right at the root, of course). It's too heavy to reasonably lift and move, though the dynamics of it would be easier to manage.
If the handle were on the upper longeron, it would be noticeably more useful for actually moving the plane, just from a body mechanics point of view.
The main reason I can think of is aerodynamics. We try very hard to avoid putting drag-inducing stuff on the top of flying surfaces to avoid breaking up the laminar airflow, and presumably this falls into that category as well (though as I recall, the tail generally provides a bit of negative lift at cruise, so it may be that the lower surface is more important to keep turbulence-free).
Does anyone know?
