Originally Posted by
uxb99
Are these accidents exacerbated by effort invested in the aircraft by the team? The pilot feeling indebted to the team to get the aircraft back in one piece?
This surely played a role in the decision making. Plus the fact that an off airport landing with such a beast would have probably nullified the chances of participating in this year's race.
With these huge propellers a simulated engine failure will be light years off from the 'real thing' especially if the propeller due to dropping oil pressure will go to fine-pitch. That will leave you probably with a glide ratio of 5-ish.
At a weight of 7200lbs and a wing area of 15,4m^2 (In another forum someone counted the ribs of the wing and they were the same as the original, so wing area might be same as original) one would end up with a landing speed around >110kts (assuming workable cl max around 1 -if I interpret
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/at...te2-jpg.115444 right it doesn't even have flaps anymore). At a glide ratio of somewhere around 5 - 7 sink rate would be >2000fpm, maybe 2500fpm. And that would be flying in a straight line. 'A handful' is probably a massive understatement. Between a rock and a hard place springs to mind.