Yesterday was one of the worst days in my short flying Hobie. It started out early, about 8:15 AM, I took off solo, and flew to a non-towered airport about 15 miles away to take in the clear day and practice landings. The first hour of both wheel and three-point were un-eventful. I was having a bast, and my old instructor how taught me to fly was in the pattern in a 172 with a student, it felt good to be able to show him how I had progressed, he has no tail wheel time and complemented me how I was able to handle my little Banana as hecalled it.
I guess I made twenty to twenty-five landings and then flew back to my home base, No problems but I did feel in a few of the landings the tail wheel shimmy a little, I just eased up on the backpressure and it went away or was so minor I didn't think too much of it.
I landed, drove home for lunch, my son was home and I ask if he would like to take his first flight and be my first passenger in my Biplane, he has flown many times before with me but that was in the 172's that I rented.
I had left the plane out of the hanger, hoping for an afternoon flight, I completed my preflight, nothing looked out of the normal. The winds were light but it was very hot, we took off and flew to the same airport I was practicing earlier, I was going to land there and refuel because the 100LL was $3.60 per gallon. I landed the touch down was a nice 3-point, I kept the pressure off the tail wheel by putting in a little forward stick until I was at a slow taxi. I felt a little shimmy but nothing that caused me alarm.
We fueled up and took off to got back home. The take off was great with no issues, I checked the ATIS about 10 miles out, winds were 080 @ 6, and I was going to land on runway 13, slight crosswind but nothing I haven't practiced before. I got to the airport and was on finial, all was good, airspeed, hight, and heading down the center of the runway, over the numbers I was about 20' off the ground,and everything was as good as I could make it. I touched down on the 3-point and the plane was tracking straight down the runway,after about 50' the tail wheel started to shimmy badly, I pushed forward to get pressure of the wheel but I had slowed down to about 40 knots and the stick was almost all the way forward. The shimmy was makingit hard to keep the track straight and I was fish tailing some but still near the center of the runway. I got on the brakes to get slowed down more andator about thesame time I felt the tailof the plane drop as the tail wheeland thecompleteunit broke away from the mounting bracket.
At this pointI had no directional control and my son and I were along for the ride, I was onthe brakes as hard as possible as we make a right turn for the grass, the plane left the runway about 15 feet and came to rest. After I ask my son if he wasOK and made sure that neither of ushad soiled our pants, I shut everything down., The wings had not touched and the prop had not made contact with anything, how Lucky we were, the fire/rescue trucks were on their way, the American flight that was on hold to take off, was stuck untilthe rescue crew got my plane an additional 20 yards away from the runway.
The tower called the FBO where I hanger my plane and they sent a tow to get my plane back to the hanger, my son and I got to ride in the McAllen PDcar back to the hanger a well. I couldnot ask for more help andcare that I was given by the Airport rescue and McAllen policedepartment. They acted very professional and took safety very seriously.
Has anyone had this experience before? I know that I posted a topic before about my Maule Tail wheel problems, At the time I was having issues with my tail wheel, I didn't have a shimmy, but there were parts that didn't fit too tight and I replaced almost the complete unit. I have logged more than 60 landings since I replaced the parts and this only started yesterday.
Anyway, looks like I'm grounded for some time, I have to fix a small bend in the bottom of the rudder, replace the tail wheel mounting assembly and the control horns to the tail wheel.
I know it could have been a lot worse, I got out as good as I could have.
Don
Edited by: dcrowe1
I guess I made twenty to twenty-five landings and then flew back to my home base, No problems but I did feel in a few of the landings the tail wheel shimmy a little, I just eased up on the backpressure and it went away or was so minor I didn't think too much of it.
I landed, drove home for lunch, my son was home and I ask if he would like to take his first flight and be my first passenger in my Biplane, he has flown many times before with me but that was in the 172's that I rented.
I had left the plane out of the hanger, hoping for an afternoon flight, I completed my preflight, nothing looked out of the normal. The winds were light but it was very hot, we took off and flew to the same airport I was practicing earlier, I was going to land there and refuel because the 100LL was $3.60 per gallon. I landed the touch down was a nice 3-point, I kept the pressure off the tail wheel by putting in a little forward stick until I was at a slow taxi. I felt a little shimmy but nothing that caused me alarm.
We fueled up and took off to got back home. The take off was great with no issues, I checked the ATIS about 10 miles out, winds were 080 @ 6, and I was going to land on runway 13, slight crosswind but nothing I haven't practiced before. I got to the airport and was on finial, all was good, airspeed, hight, and heading down the center of the runway, over the numbers I was about 20' off the ground,and everything was as good as I could make it. I touched down on the 3-point and the plane was tracking straight down the runway,after about 50' the tail wheel started to shimmy badly, I pushed forward to get pressure of the wheel but I had slowed down to about 40 knots and the stick was almost all the way forward. The shimmy was makingit hard to keep the track straight and I was fish tailing some but still near the center of the runway. I got on the brakes to get slowed down more andator about thesame time I felt the tailof the plane drop as the tail wheeland thecompleteunit broke away from the mounting bracket.
At this pointI had no directional control and my son and I were along for the ride, I was onthe brakes as hard as possible as we make a right turn for the grass, the plane left the runway about 15 feet and came to rest. After I ask my son if he wasOK and made sure that neither of ushad soiled our pants, I shut everything down., The wings had not touched and the prop had not made contact with anything, how Lucky we were, the fire/rescue trucks were on their way, the American flight that was on hold to take off, was stuck untilthe rescue crew got my plane an additional 20 yards away from the runway.
The tower called the FBO where I hanger my plane and they sent a tow to get my plane back to the hanger, my son and I got to ride in the McAllen PDcar back to the hanger a well. I couldnot ask for more help andcare that I was given by the Airport rescue and McAllen policedepartment. They acted very professional and took safety very seriously.
Has anyone had this experience before? I know that I posted a topic before about my Maule Tail wheel problems, At the time I was having issues with my tail wheel, I didn't have a shimmy, but there were parts that didn't fit too tight and I replaced almost the complete unit. I have logged more than 60 landings since I replaced the parts and this only started yesterday.
Anyway, looks like I'm grounded for some time, I have to fix a small bend in the bottom of the rudder, replace the tail wheel mounting assembly and the control horns to the tail wheel.
I know it could have been a lot worse, I got out as good as I could have.
Don
Edited by: dcrowe1
