zhoser

Hello After flying 10 hours my new Savannah XL I am very happy with it but I have one concern about the brakes: I have noticed in some sand runways I have skidded to the left and right after I pushed the feet brakes I think not very strong and not very quick (30-40 mph aprox), I was a little concerned about this because I felt I could have gone out of the runway, I suppose these feet brakes are very powerful if you compare with the hand brakes most of the ultralights usually have. I suspect I need to use them more softly, anyway I have always used the brakes hard in all my planes and I have never skidded a plane before. I think the Savannah has to be nearly stopped to push the brakes in a sand runway but I see it a problem in a short runway If I can´t use the brakes from the first moment I am rolling over the runway. I´ve thinking to change the feet brakes to a hand device to brake to both wheels and not differential brakes like the Savannah has. Now I am a little afraid to push the brakes in a sand runway and I try to wait until the plane is nearly stopped but this way to land I don´t like when the runway is short. ¿Do you have some advice?, ¿Am I doing something wrong?, ¿has anybody had the same problem? Regards Carlos

Thank you erd72, This is the proper landing the ICP manual shows, but some pilots didn't recommend it to me because you are very near the limit, they recommended me to use 80 km/h for 1 stage flap and don´t use 2 stage flap. I think before to use these parameters I need to practise with higher speeds and of course take in account the wind, the weight and the altitude density.

Hello I bought a Savannah Xl one month ago and I am very happy with it unless for the nose wheel vibration (I posted it in this forum). I never had a STOL plane before, I flew a Tecnam Sierra for 5 years and a Cirrus SR-20 for 7 years. Now I have to learn to fly slower and sometimes it is not easy, I made 4 hours with an instructor, the speed approach I used it is about 50-55 mph and in the threshold I try to reduce to 45 mph. My instructor landed the plane with the nose very high holding the stick in the chest to settle the nose wheel very slow, this look like a perfect landing but I felt with this way it is very easy to make a balloon in the runway and I can´t even see the runway , I am used to land more plane and not to hold back the stick so aggressively. I noticed too if I approach hight it is not easy to get the correct path with full flaps neither with a slide, I feel the plane float a lot, maybe I am used to a airplane like the Cirrus with very effective flaps and very heavy, and it makes very easy to low descend very quickly. ¿Is this way and the speed I use the best way to land the Savannah? In the manual I saw with full flaps you can approach slower (40 Mph) but I think it is very slow speed and I would feel uncomfortable flying at this speed. Could you tell me what´s the best way to land the Savannah to take advantage its STOL capacity . I think I land quicker than I should and maybe I use a wrong technique because sometimes in sand runways the plane skid when I put the brakes an it could be dangerous. I think I must get used to fly a Stol plane and to practique more the slow flight because when you come from quicker aircrafts it is not easy to fly so slow.

Thank you for the information. I will check all you told me.

Thank you for your quick answers. I am going to check all you told me. ¿What is the correct tire pressure for these tundra tires? ¿ is it possible to get another tundra tires better than these golf cart tires? ¿ Where can I get the upgrade you showed me? Regards Carlos

Hello My name is Carlos and I write from Madrid (Spain). I have just bought a second hand Savannah Xl with a rotax 912 ULS and tundra tires. I am very happy with the plane except for a problem in the nose wheel. When I land the plane the nose wheel vibrates a lot and the noise and vibration are very noticeable. I always try to hold the nose wheel most of the time in the air holding back the stick until its limit to prevent it. When I do it very well it vibrates very little, but if I relax a little and the nose wheel touch the ground with a little speed (with 50 km/h) it starts to vibrate a lot and I think this is not normal. I spoke with Spanish ICP dealer and they told me it is normal, and I don’t have to concern about it, but I spoke with some Savannah Xl owners in Spain and they told me they don´t have this problem, maybe from time to time the nose wheel can vibrate a little if you land very fast but not so much how I described to them. I´ve had different planes in my life but I never had a vibration like this in any plane. And in the other hand landings are not comfortable thinking all time to prevent this vibration. I can´t believe this be a design mistake and I think I have some problem in the nose wheel. I noticed when I move the nose fork it has a big play (left-right) and even the screws touch the nose tire leaving a mark in the tire. Some pilots told me I could reinforce the nose fork to prevent this but I am not sure to do this modification without to know if this is normal or what is the problem. ¿Do you know if this is normal or not?, ¿what should I check? ¿Is there any solution to prevent this situation?. I like very much the plane but this vibration is getting in a problem. I would appreciate a lot your advices. Regards Carlos