Well, the Cessna Cardinal in which I had hoped to drag the Biscuit through th’insubstantial air is still tango uniform, on account of the landing gear refusing to perform its duty and stow itself away when commanded. It being but a dawdling climber even when the wheels are in the well, and speed restricted with ‘em hanging in the breeze all regardless, the idea of flying her around stiff-legged does not cause the go-fer-it needle to budge from its lower limit.
And Cessna 172s, whatever else their manifest advantages, do not cause the heart to flutter after a time.
But there was that little Liberty sitting there upon the tarmac, all forlorn like. And the club does need 15 hours a month on the Hobbes to make the leasing of it worth the effort. And it does come with a stack of Garmin COM/NAV gear, with the 530 on top and the 430 below. With TCAS and all.
Apart from its clean lines and modern cockpit, the plane’s real distinguishing feature is the two-channel, full authority digital engine control (FADEC), a first for a piston engine design. This allows for both simplicity and economy of operations, since there’s no mucking about with a primer or mixture control on deck, and the FADEC can meter fuel to the engine in flight much more efficiently than can a pilot since it senses the condition of each cylinder head as well as air density, temperature and flight condition. The FADEC allows the pilot who is paying for his own gas – rather than a club operator paying per “wet” hour on the Hobbes meter – to milk the airplane at up to 120 knots indicated at around 5.5 gallons per hour fuel flow – an automobile like 21 miles per gallon, with no stop lights or freeway hassle, depending on the winds. We never got high enough to lean the engine out to those numbers: At 3500 feet traveling up the coast we were limited to around 100 kts by the fixed pitch prop.
While improvements have been made to the initial design in follow-on iterations, our club Liberty remains unmodified, so weight and balance is a real concern. With the awesome grandeur that is Lex in the left seat, and a moderately nourished instructor pilot to his right, we were forced to load the aircraft 13 gallons short of the 28 gallon maximum capacity to remain within gross weight limits – a serious constraint for a non-solo cross-country flight. GPS and TCAS notwithstanding.
For reasons best known only to themselves, Liberty chose to place the brake actuators on levers on the center console. This does pretty much forestall any skidded tires on landing by overactive rudder operators, but it is deeply counter-intuitive to anyone who has several thousand hours doing it the other way. It comes to you in time, I’m sure, but your correspondent found bumping the throttle with the base of his thumb while manipulating the brakes with his first and second fingers a sore trial throughout ground operations. It really does seem like re-inventing the wheel. Apparently Liberty offers a conventional toe brake option in later models.
There’s a bit of a dance at the hold short to ensure that fuel boost pumps and both channels of the FADEC are operating within limits. FADEC Channel A runs off the primary power bus, which includes a battery and an engine-driven alternator. Should the main electrical power play the fool, a back up battery (FADEC B) promises to give you sixty minutes of uninterrupted engine time before the spinner stops entirely, leaving you to your ineluctable fate if you haven’t found a suitable place to put her down by then. The twin magnetos that are everywhere else standard in piston engine singles have their own failure modes, and time will tell if the market is ready for the same kind of electronic fuel control that most cars employ nowadays.
Once on the runway with the power up, the finger brakes become redundant since the rudder has full authority from the get go. Acceleration at seal level is not breathtaking, but a good ten knots below the published 55 kt “lighten the nose” speed the machine is more than ready to take to the air on 20 degrees of flaps. Your real climb begins one you’ve accelerated above 65 kts and can pull the flaps up. At 80-85 kts the Liberty earns an honest 700 feet or so per minute rate of climb on a pleasant day in Southern California.
Over the narrow speed band, the electronic elevator trim (there is no rudder or aileron trim) seems almost redundant. The airplane feels remarkably stable with neutral controls, and only very slight breakout forces engage surprisingly brisk roll rates and only marginally less nimble pitch responses. Turns are entered and exited with equal grace. The novice get the sense that the plane will be a solid IFR flyer, which will prove true at the end of the flight.
Turns at high and low speed are unobjectionable, with a bit more rudder required at slower speeds – and I mean slow, she stalls at under 40 kts – to keep the nose honest. Nose high power-on stalls happen well after the female voice warning system asks if you know what you’re doing, with a pretty good right wing break on stall entry. The challenge is not to overcontrol the recovery, as it turns out – simply ease the back stick out and you’re flying again. Power off stalls are, if anything, more benign.
The landing pattern at Ramona was a charm until the roundout. My first landing was no-flaps, flown at 75-80 kts throughout. With the runway made I eased power to idle and milked the nose to break the rate of descent. Which was when I noticed that, regardless of our proximity to maximum gross weight, that 40 kt band between approach and stall is quite a lot in a relatively slick airframe. I might have been ready to put her down in the first third of the runway, but the XL2 had some flying left to do. We hovered over the runway at highway speeds for what felt like an eternity before impatience got the best of me and a gentle porpoise – it’s my story – put her back on terra firma.
Twenty degrees of flaps slowed our approach to 70-75 knots, and she landed more gracefully than before, although we still spent a fair amount of time in the landing attitude with the runway flashing by beneath us. Thirty flaps made picking a landing spot easier, but required reconfiguring on the go. The flap indicator consists of three LEDs for zero, twenty and thirty flaps. Simpler than a mechanical indicator, and more reliable to be sure. But it’s a bit distracting staring at the lights waiting for the right indicator to illumininate while you’re trundling down the runway, and in any case they’re a little hard to see in bright sunlight.
Which brings me to visibility – it’s absolutely stunning for a low wing aircraft, a full 270 degrees of unobstructed horizontal view. I felt a little like I was flying a bubble-nosed helicopter. In a totally non-ghey way.
A crosswind departure to the south from Ramona to the ILS final at Montgomery. The Liberty flies a stable approach, and your correspondent did not disgrace himself under the IFR glasses. The final landing was in a moderate crosswind requiring a wing-down, top rudder approach. Under such circumstances, the no flap landing felt rushed and awkward, but it was well within “safe standards”, at least according to the instructor. The finger brakes brought the airplane to stop in short order.
The plane was simultaneously stable and manueverable, which is a neat trick. FADEC is hella cool. I love the cockpit – 48 inches from side to side – and the avionics are great for aircraft in the Liberty’s class. I’m not entirely in love with the finger brakes although I’m sure I’d get used to them in time. At the end of the day, the gross weight issue for early production aircraft would be a deal-breaker for me, at least insofar as concerns any plan to bear two passengers and modest baggage over a distance.
It was fun, though.
Liberty is much in use in Oz I’m told – sounds like fun. For the porpoises at ‘seal level’ (sic – para
and many happy landings – go here: http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l261/SpazSinbad/FightingClubSealFORUM.gif
Can’t edit comment above to say (sic – para eight) because otherwise it was
which are a smilie with shades. Sigh. Like ‘eight Numeral)’
What do you think of the 430? I’ve got something of a love/hate relationship with them since that’s what we have in the R-22 instrument trainers. I thought there are way too many bells and whistles, especially in an inherently unstable light helicopter but maybe those features become nice to haves in a fixed wing. They’re nice on the approaches but if you get one on the wrong page at the wrong time it can get confusing. I won’t even get into it thoughtfully putting you on 121.5 if you held the freq selector a tad too long… D’Oh!
Honestly Pogue, I’d need a whole lot more time on the Garmin stack before I felt anything like comfortable with it. Probably need some CBT or a simulator.
You can down load a PC application on Garmin’s site that is a similator for learning how to use it I think….
Lex:
That ain’t Shawn O’s bird is it? I know he told me he was gonna lease it since he decided not to renew his Medical. Fun birds; a little sensitive in pitch trim for my tastes, but fun nonetheless. And with my mighty 0.8 in ‘em, I sympathize on the landings! (Of course trying to learn wheel landings in the Citabria today in gusting crosswinds makes me long for the wheel out front!)
VR,
Comjam
I don’t know who owns it, just that it’s always on the ragged edge of making the number to keep it around. Like I said, in it’s current configuration, it’s fun but not particularly practical.
Lex:
I’ll ask him the next time we talk. The birds were pretty much designed for the trainer market, but IIRC they were built with a more, er, “traditional” male physiology in mind. Not a whole lot of 5’7″ 170# guys out there any more. As for the 430, I’ve been flying with them since the mid-90′s; very nice bit of kit. Several CBT’s available, like T6 says. It’s all in the knobology. If I get out there late August in the SR22, I hope to have time to get you some flight time. An IO-550 makes a big difference!
VR,
Comjam
Did a Cross country in a 172R, retrofit with a diesel engine (Jet-A in a skyhawk) that also had Fadec. Really liked the system but reallly slow rate of climb with the Thielert.
As relates to floppy gear: Had two incidents with a bird that wouldn’t retract after lift off. After fiddling with it for the second time they replaced the actuator. You’ll need the payload if you’re carrying anything at all with the Biscuit so I think the Cardinal may be way to go.
I must admit California is beautiful, especially when viewed through your words.
Then again, you really need to see the South.
There is a tree on the Northeast corner of the U of Alabama Campus that has seen more history than everyone that has read this blog put together (no disrespect meant). That tree is older than anything else on campus.. and it has a lot of near-run competition.
Cali has a lot of natural resources and very few spiritual ones. Refute me, please.
Read some Mike Adams and decide where your most precious things should go.
Then again, I may a slight bit biased.
American by birth. Southern by the grace of God.
Lex,
Have you considered a fitness program? If you keep hitting the mass limits on your civilian birds you should think about an exercise program. Have you ever heard of crossfit?
I could not resist.
Curtis,
Lex isn’t constrained by rocket seat limits anymore so give him a break!
Lex
Go big time and hit the Cessna 400, get 235 knots and full Garmin G1000 glass office. Saw one on a Cessna tour at the fly club and wha hoo – sex on 3 wheels. All you need to do is make us devoted faithful pay a Lincoln a month for the privelege of reading your talent!
You need to freelance out as a subjective review writer on light aircraft for manufacturers, aviation magazines and associations. Being relatively new at it you bring a great perspective. Plus you could x-country here and give me a free ride to my trout fishing.
Have your cake and eat it too (not literally). Remember, nobody (insert own word) a fat man! LOL.
Dontcha love gettin advice from the peanut gallery?
b2
Lex,
Agree with Bad Bob. There is a niche for writers with your talent and skill sets as an Aviator. Not sure you’d make enough to pay for the Biscuit’s tuition but you could make a name for yourself. Join EAA and some of the other GA organizations and plan on hitting Oshkosh and Sun N’ Fun etc. .
Go fer it!
Dust (U NO HOO)
I have to say, this was considerably more interesting and candid than the Liberty review from AOPA of some months back. Probably a bit much macho swagger for those old doctors and lawyers who read those pages, tho.
We’ll eat it up.
Lex, Stephen Coonts, who once upon a time was in the same business as yourself, wrote a damn fine book called, “The Cannibal Queen”, his story about a summer spent flying with his 14 year old son in a genuine Stearman. You sir, are at least as good as he is, and better at descriptive narrative. The only author I know that is close to you is James Lee Burke.
You got the Masters done, you have all that free time now
so get cracking on the book! Just think, you can combine two things you love to do into one: flying and writing!
Stephen Coonts was once a leeching contractor? Wow, I never knew!
Lex: one part Martin Caidin, one part Antoine de St. Exupery and one part Dave Barry. Now there’s a winning combination.
Lex,
How does that IOF-235-bla bla bla engine get your heart to flutter??
In my VERY inexperienced (40+ hours, nearing PPL checkride) opinion, I would not like flying a light Cessna with retracts. They just look to spindley and unreliable. The Skymaster being the exception, it has beefy spring steel retracts. But it also has two fans, so it probably deserves retracts.
Respectfully,
Josh
Actually Josh, when it comes to the article of general aviation (as opposed to fighter aircraft) I much prefer an engine that does not cause my heart to flutter
I like my engines like I like my women: Simple and reliable.
Yah, right.
I like my engines like I like my women: Simple and reliable.
Yah, right.
I’d buy the “reliable” part, but “simple…?” At least honesty won in the end. ROFL!
Never having met a “simple” woman I can’t tell if I’d like one or not…
Comment removed
Simple? You gotta be kidding me, women are a lot of things, but they ain’t simple. Compared to women, particle physics is easy
Compared to women, particle physics is easy
Just imagine how complicated it is being one!
Don’t have to imagine, my wife keeps telling me that all the time
Maybe by VENUVIAN standards they are simple…..
Well,
My wife used to refer to me as her “oldest child”…..
Reminds of a joke …
Guy walking on a beach finds a lamp, brushes sand off, poof! Genie appears.
Genie sez “I will grant you one wish for releasing me from the lamp.”
Guy sez “I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii, but I’m afraid to fly. How about a bridge there?”
Genie: “Whoah! There limits to even my powers. How about something else?”
Guy: “How about granting me perfect understanding of women?”
Genie looks pensive, rubs his chin, then asks “That bridge, how lanes each way did you want?”
I’ll second that! My first experience with carb ice came at night, in the O-200 powered Cessna 150J I’m training in. I was full power on the climb out (very low to the ground) when it hit. It seems there is no warning of impending carb ice when at full power. She just starts missing pretty good and shaking the crap out of the floor boards. “Carb Heat!” says my instructor.
That made my heart flutter!!
There is nothing in Creation more beautiful or attractive than an intelligent mature gentle God Fearing woman and mother in her 30s or 40s.
A close second would be a WWII high performance single seat fighter. And they cost about the same.
Dust,
You’re wrong, my friend. A fighter, well, you can AFFORD the maintenance on a fighter. Wife? Not so much…
Women are like children. No matter how much income you have, they will spend it all
AW1Tim- You are obviously not married to a female engineer. We don’t spend money. We overanalyze our household budget to the point it drives our own husband’s nearly insane.
IRT 13.1, ya like your women like your engines?
Two going at the same time* in case one gives you trouble? Yer a braver man than I am!
*Generally a good idea in naval aviation, but WRT women, it merely seems to quadruple your headaches (h.a. = 2^n = 4 where n=2).
2 problems: not a whole lot of baggage room, and none that I know of for rent, but the ultimate cross country machine, care of Burt Rutan:
http://www.longezairshows.com/new_page_3.htm
Lex discussed the full authority digital engine control (FADEC). We call those engine manglement computers. Back in the old days you had carbs and dual mags and all sorts of very simple, very reliable stuff that didn’t perform particularly well but tended to perform under nearly all circumstances.
Now we’ve a single point of failure, a computer consisting of thousands of transistors that are supposed to manage the noisy end of the bird and give us car-like fuel efficiency.
And when it takes a lightening strike, and the noisy end isn’t so noisy anymore? Or one of the sensors it reads quits and it thinks #3 cylinder is dead or, worse, approaching melting point?
I dislike single points of failure. Part of my job is to design around them, commensurate with the company fisc.
The FADEC is to airplanes what electronic fuel injection and engine management computers are to cars. Remember your ’72 Dodge Dart and how you had to pump the gas pedal prior to starting, how it always ran rough until it warmed up, how you could stall it letting out the clutch? Compare to, say, a 2004 Honda CR-V where the engine management computer adds gas as you dump the clutch to keep from stalling, the engine idles fast until it reaches operating temp then idles down, and the darned thing starts when it’s -20 degrees without fail.
No comparison, the vehicle with an engine management computer is much more easily driven, mostly self-correcting when it comes to problems, and very good about keeping track of what needs to be fixed soon.
It’s still a single point of failure, true, but back in the old days so was the carb, and at 5000 feet nobody was going to cure a vapor lock problem by climbing 0ut and attaching clothespins to the fuel line.
The real danger of this system isn’t that it’s the single point of failure, it’s that it’s so self-correcting when the failure finally does come the pilot is well and truly screwed and has no in-flight ability to rectify the problem.
But then, all aircraft have a single point of failure, and it’s at the controls. Trade one for another, this is a step forward in general aviation.
– Max
Cap’n,
If I look at the artificial horizon dohickey, it seems either the horizon is not exactly straight and level or the plane is in a left bank turn.
With the port side door open.
“I like my engines like I like my women: Simple and reliable.”
Classic!!!!
The Libertys are pretty popular here in Oz, but there have abeen a few written off of late. No one is of the opinion it’s a deficiency of design, more to do with the student pilots lack of skill/experience flying them.
Those approach speeds seem a bit high, I think you agree. Knock 10 knots off them and you would get a better result. I’ve flown Jabiru ultralights with instructors who recommend the same too-high approach speeds – and floated off the end of the runway. They have so little mass the instructors are terrified of a change in headwind, and err on the side of caution for the benefit of their student pilots.