View and Sightlines

[Dan Tomlinson]

Having finally sat in my fuselage AND having flown with Kevin F. at OSH (Thanks Kevin again - it was amazing!) I'd like to get an opinion from as many as possible on this.

 

What level are your eyes above the longerons (measurements would be best WL23 is longeron top)?

 

Would visibility be better if higher? or do you prefer the full-wraparound with just your head exposed? This is the sports-car view.

 

I ask because I did another Cessna trip recently, and found the downward visibility better (of course) and I also drive a Jeep, so I sit much higner even in that. I am 5'10"!

 

Is there a compromise necessary, or would just raising the seat (and canopy?) to change the viewpoint be enough to gain added view?

 

Ideas? Opinions? Objections?

(Flames to /dev/null)

[tonyrothwell]

Dan,

 

I have around 500 hours in the -3. The visibility is all you could ask except on final approach. You really do have to take care on an approach with hills or trees around - clearing the nose is always good practice but it becomes a must in the Cozy. I am 5'11" and I do not think any reasonable change of seating position is going to affect this problem. It is an inherent design characteristic of a canard aircraft. You don't have flap to change the fuselage attitude for a given approach speed and the canard is out there blocking the forward and down view when you get a nose high attitude.

 

But hey, with all the great safety characteristics of the type this is not a design fault per se - it just requires you fly according to the characteristic of the aircraft - move the nose around a bit to see where you are going. (And given we have had TWO conventional high wing aircraft collide with other aircraft on final approach in this country this year - a message other pilots need to heed also.)

 

Build it per plans and change the cushions to optimise where your eyes are would be my advise.

 

Cheers, Tony

[Jim Sower]

I've been seriously toying with the idea of mounting the canard AND hte wings BOTH with ONE degree POSITIVE incidence. That would result in the fuselage pointing 1 deg lower in all flight conditions and would increase (most noticably on final approach) forward visibility a good bit. Try flying 5-10 kts faster on final and notice what that does to foreard visibility.

 

I might have to adjust the engine mounts to change the thrust line a bit, and perhaps slope the top nose down a little more than I slope the bottom up, but that might look kind of snarky anyway.

 

Just a theory .... Jim S.

[niceez]

Jim,

 

Since the fuselage does produce lift this would not be a great idea... Well, for me anyway.

 

One other thing gents - Visibility is a weather condition – Field of view has to do with obstructions (or the lack of them) in our view.

[Jim Sower]

Dale,

I agree. That's why I said I might want to reshape the nose a little forward of the bulkheads - droop it down a little. Big as I am, I need lift from the fuselage too. Matter of fact, big as I am, I might even go back to the original canard span (and be very careful about aft CG operations).