Comment

Comment by Mike Schlichtman on May 20, 2011 at 3:04pm

Paul,  The only thing that had any damage was the gear.  The cowl had a little damage when the nose dropped to the ground, but I am going to go ahead and replace it with new due to the fact that I did a lot of experimentation with ducts and airflow until I got the cooling figured out.  The fuselage, firewall and everything else held solid.  I did replace the lower bearing due to when the nose gear over twisted, it cut into the nylon just a little.  In reality, I could have reused it, but decided to replace it with new.  So to answer your question, even though the tube failed, everything else pretty much held its integrity.

Comment by Paul on May 20, 2011 at 12:58pm

Mike based on your feelings of the tube, How did the slideing parts on the Firewall hold up. Like 75-F-8-4 (firewall top stiffener), 75-F-9-6 (upper bearing), 75-F-12-5 (lower bearing support), and 75-l-1-7 (bottom bearing)? Did your firewall get bent?

Comment by Mike Schlichtman on May 19, 2011 at 9:31pm

Bob, I would not go to any trouble.  I think it is a better design and maybe stronger, but to me, it would be something I would not change if I did not have to.  The weak link is the tube, not the fork.  I was actually a little surprised that the 10" of snow (it was wet snow) collapsed the front gear.  If I had been in any Piper or Cessna, I believe the nose gear would have stayed intact.  Be careful in the creek beds or sand bars.

Comment by Bob McDonald on May 19, 2011 at 7:58pm

I like it.... but I would need to redo the cable attachment points for the wheel skis. Is it really any stronger? Definately better looking...but good looks and high glide ratio is not what the CH701 / CH750 / CH801 series are know for. :>)