Fournier Pilots Notes

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Fournier Pilots Notes & Aeros

The Fournier has a light but strong wooden airframe. There is not a spare ounce of mass, no fitting is bigger than it needs to be, and each component integrates with the others in innovative and highly efficient
ways. Built of pine and spruce, with Finnish birch plywood and Dacron fabric covering, the structure weighs a mere 628 pounds. The long, 11.2 to one aspect-ratio wings’ laminated pine spar and ply leading-edge
D-box form the trusty and oft-used NACA 23015/23012 aerofoil. This wing section was originally perfected for sailplanes, and its convex under-surface is good for inverted flight, but beware, it has a sharp stall.

There are four wheels, of which you can only rely on two. The bicycle main undercarriage has a single, small, retractable 500 by 5 main wheel with rubber bungee suspension and a steerable solid tailwheel with
compressed rubber suspension. These are supplemented by two skinny under-wing outriggers (roller-blade wheels on nylon rods) to keep the wing-tips off the ground. The aeroplane will rock from one of these
on to the other as you turn on the ground.

The engine is a French Rectimo-modified 1192cc 1960s Volkswagen Beetle car motor with single ignition and no carburettor heat, since the air intake continuously breathes warm air (although carburettor icing
does occasionally occur). Rectimo claimed it produced 39 horsepower in ISA at sea level (or, at least, it might have, 1,000 hours and 36 years ago). Mine mustered 35.1 hp on a dynamometer.

You start the engine by standing ahead of the left wing and flicking the propeller downwards from behind. It usually fires on the second turn after six priming rotations with the throttle closed and full choke, plus
six more turns the other way with full throttle and the coke off. Don’t ask me why, but this seems to be the only sure way of starting it from cold, whatever the weather. Be sure you close the throttle before
switching on the ignition.

Then you climb over the leading-edge into the two-foot-wide, grey-painted cockpit. This is snug, but not tight, with a comfortable, g-resistant, semi-reclined seating position and a proper five-point aerobatic
harness. The side-hinging canopy latches and locks on the left, but can be jettisoned with a lever on the right. Its postcard-sized clear view panel on the left incorporates a scoop for pilot cooling, which is further
enhanced by air vents fed by leading-edge inlets, which discharge into your face from ducting below the panel. You can vary the flow via valves behind your calves. A small baggage compartment behind the seat
holds the radio’s battery, and will also take a soft overnight bag or a one-man tent and sleeping bag.

By your right thigh is the undercarriage lever. To raise the main wheel, you pull a trigger on the forward face of its small locking handle to the right of the wheel cover, and slide that backwards. The wheel
unlocks and swings half way, bringing the long lever upright, so you just pull it down to lie flat beside you. Listen and feel for the locking click. Extension is the opposite – pull the trigger, slide back the latch,
push the main lever forward until it clearly locks home. Then check the locking latch is clicked into position properly. The limit speed for operation is sixty knots, although flight is OK up to Vne with the wheel
down. Two spring-loaded wheel-well doors are pushed out of the way by the extending wheel, snapping shut when it retracts. Under the belly, either side of it, two hardwood runners more or less support the
airframe when I forget to lower the wheel.

There are no flaps, but another lever on your left extends a row of curved spoilers above each wing. A third lever, forward and to the right of the central black plastic main wheel cover operates the recoil starter.
Connected by cable to a small cog that engages with a big one on the propeller’s back-plate, this eases the prop over just one revolution, so it does not work on the ground, but it is perfect for airborne re-
starting.

A small instrument panel holds the usual flight dials in the centre, with engine gauges around its edges. To the left are the red stall light and a yellow one with a buzzer for undercarriage warning, which sounds
with either the throttle closed or the airbrakes extended. There is no green ‘Down and Locked’ light as there was on British examples. Below these are the plunger throttle and lockable brake lever. Over on the
right are choke and fuel cock knobs (forward for take-off as usual). The float-and-bent-wire fuel gauge is in the fuel cap, out on the forward decking, where it is always in your line of sight. An alternative
aerobatic fuel cap incorporating a ball valve prevents fuel trickling out during prolonged inverted flight.

Taxying is easy enough, but sometimes takes a knack, especially in strong winds, because of the long fuselage’s strong weathercocking tendency. The aircraft tilts disconcertingly from side to side on its
monowheel during turns, but you soon get used to this. The brake is deliberately ineffective, and the steerable tailwheel is your only directional control, although, with care, you can apply power against the brake
with some forward stick to blow the tail around. In a really strong wind, you might have to turn through 270 degrees one way the go the other, or even get out and lift the tail around. Visibility is good for a
tailwheeler, despite your low seating position.

The most important pre-take-off check is ensuring the canopy is locked – performance is greatly reduced without it (yes, it has been done; indeed, there have even been open-cockpit ‘cabriolet’ conversions). The
take off is quite straightforward, although acceleration is fairly gradual. All the controls come to life immediately and, thanks to that puny power, there is little need for left rudder (yes, like most European
motors, that VW turns the opposite way to American engines).

In a strong crosswind, it is often best to start at the runway’s downwind edge, holding the tailwheel on the ground for good steering response, although this is easier than a crosswind landing, since the
slipstream helps rudder effectiveness. Taking off with a strong wind from the right is the more difficult case, and you always have to be quick to apply drift once you are airborne, to prevent being blown away
downwind. The manual’s crosswind limit is fifteen knots.

With such a low wing-loading, the aircraft floats into the air at around fifty knots after a run of 300 or 400 metres (unless it is very cool) for a 55-knot initial climb until the wheel is up, after which you can
accelerate to seventy. All the controls are light and responsive, and the elevator in particular is delightfully sensitive. Beware: this can cause some over-correction initially, especially when retracting the wheel,
which requires a change of hands on the stick.

Thanks to the low span-loading, the climb rate is around 500 feet per minute, although the manual quotes 690 fpm in ISA.

The thing that most impressed me on my first Fournier flight was the outstanding visibility from that panoramic Perspex canopy. You can see not only all around, including directly behind you, but also almost
straight down over that skinny wing, both ahead and behind. Glider pilots will be familiar with this, but it is a revelation to many power pilots.

It is also a little strange to be propelled by a tiny Volkswagen’s dugga-dug-dug-dug-dug, rather than a jet’s whoosh or a Lycoming’s thrum. The delightful handling, with light and well-harmonised controls, also
impressed me, although the roll-rate is inevitably fairly leisurely, and some rudder is needed for all turns, as the adverse yaw is quite marked. Control pressures do rise with increasing speed, but only slightly,
and all axes remain pleasantly light at all speeds up to the 135-knot Vne.

The Fournier’s stall is viceless, with or without power or spoilers, although it comes abruptly, and without aerodynamic warning. The aeroplane’s negligible drag means it takes a while to slow down enough to
reach the break, which happens at 41 knots clean, 42 with spoiler, and is preceded by the warning light around five knots higher, an odd, high-pitched organ note from those leading-edge vents and minimal
buffet. It will stall wings-level, provided you have kept the slip ball centred. Recovery merely requires reducing stick backpressure; moving it forward will only cause a greater height loss. Power on, a slight wing
drop sometimes accompanies the stall, but control in all axes remains good right up to the break. The height loss is generally little more than 100 feet, with or without power (the manual says ‘65 feet’).

Steep turns are most enjoyable, and the speed drops off very slowly in banks up to 60 degrees. You can roll to greater angles, but then you lose height, because of the limited power. Nevertheless, it can be
immense fun, twizzling around on the spot at four or five g, and watching the upper wing skin wrinkling under the loads.

The maximum cruise power of 3,300 rpm gives just below 100 knots TAS, at around twelve litres per hour, giving you three hours endurance from the 38-litre tank. Reducing to sixty knots, this frugal motor sips
fuel at just four litres per hour for a near ten-hour endurance, or a 550 nm range.

My Fournier does the most delightful, gentle, elegant aerobatics, although its very basic fuel system (a gravity-fed carburettor) means the engine stops under the slightest negative g, but the airframe is so clean
she only slows a little, and hardly at all if you follow a slightly downward path through each manoeuvre.

Loops, aileron rolls, slow rolls, barrel rolls, quarter-clovers, Cuban eights and reverse Cubans are easy if you start above 100 knots or 110 mph, but stall turns are rather more difficult.

The Fournier spins nicely, and quite quickly and well nose-down, to both the left and right, recovering predictably in three-quarters of a turn. I have only flown eight-turn spins, but South African airshow pilot
Peter Goldin told me: “The most turns I have done is fourteen”.

A quarter vertical upward roll is possible and, with a ‘humpty-bump’ pull over and another quarter roll on the down line, makes a useful turn-around manoeuvre. Another useful Fournier turn-around is the half-
flick to the inverted and pull-through. Inverted flight is easy (although of course the engine stops).

For gliding, you kill the engine by turning off the fuel, and then opening the throttle and reducing speed to just above the stall to stop the propeller. Do not try stopping the engine by switching off the ignition, for
it could become flooded and may not start again. Positioning the propeller horizontal with the hand-start lever minimises the drag, giving a useful quoted 1:20 glide ratio at 54 knots (62 mph), or a sink rate of
1.30 metres per second (256 feet per minute) at 49 knots (57 mph). These manual figures are ‘with 9 litres fuel and minimal equipment/baggage’. Truthfully, at normal weights, the glide angle is nearer 1:16,
but that is still good for a powered aeroplane.
An infinite variety of glide angles can be achieved merely by leaving the engine ticking over, and cracking open the throttle a bit when you can’t find lift. Although its power-on ceiling is 19,685 feet (itself
tremendously impressive on a mere 39hp) an RF4 once held a world-class record by climbing engine-off to 36,800 feet in mountain wave.

Normal descents are made at sixty knots with the gear up and throttled back to just before the warning horn sounds, although the steepest descent is achieved at 95 knots with throttle closed, wheel down and
spoilers extended (sideslipping if necessary, to nearly double the descent rate). There is little yaw or pitch trim change with power or spoilers, but the elevator trimmer, operated by a small lever on the right
coaming, is effective, if a trifle sensitive. Be gentle, it is easily broken, and irreplaceable.

Pattern work is undemanding, visibility could not be bettered, and it is easy to place the aeroplane where you want it, although you must pay attention to height control with those sensitive elevators. The
important thing is to slow below sixty knots, drop the wheel, and check it is locked safely by throttling back to listen for the horn, then pressing the test button to be sure. Your final check? The wheel is down
when the lever is up, (which is far from ergonomic).

The optimal smooth air approach speed is 55 knots, adding five knots for rough air or strong winds. Approaches are usually made glider-like, power-off, with gradually increasing spoiler, and aiming to be
properly positioned with full spoiler at 200 feet. This is not difficult, although the spoilers are quite effective, so your final approach angle is surprisingly steep, and it is important to grasp their lever firmly; they
always seem intent on jumping either out or in, whichever you do not want!

The spoiler lever controls your descent angle just like a throttle – back for steeper, forward for shallower – so very accurate touchdowns can be achieved. If you seem to be landing short, you merely ease the
lever forward, reducing spoiler deflection and extending your landing point without changing speed, power, or trim. If you really muck it up, you retract them, put the lash to those Shetland ponies, and gently go
around. You become so practiced at gliding approaches, a real forced landing ought to be easy.

With spoilers fully extended, the sink rate is quite high, so the flare starts a little earlier than you might expect, and at first that light elevator can lead to over-controlling. An experienced tailwheel pilot might
initially find a smooth touchdown difficult, because the Fournier’s ground angle is considerably less than its stalling angle, so if it is stalled on for a ‘three-point’ landing the tailwheel touches down first, and the
main wheel hits teeth-jarringly hard (ask me how I know this). Nose-wheel pilots should not find this a problem, and a proper touchdown is easily achieved by holding the correct attitude, then lowering the
aircraft to the ground.

With their very slow landing speeds (below forty knots) Fourniers can be inclined to weathercock, so I generally land on the runway’s downwind edge, lowering the spoilers slightly and easing the stick fully aft as
soon as she stops flying, for optimum tailwheel steering. On soft ground, if you let the upwind wing lift a little, the downwind outrigger wheel digs in, helping you keep straight.

Finally, you must hold on to that spoiler lever once you are on the ground. If you let go, they will pop back in, and you pop six feet above the runway with decaying airspeed. The only solution on a short strip is
to open the throttle immediately and go around. If you do that, either leave the wheel down or, if you retract it, do not forget to lower it again. I reckon leaving it down is safest, although the climb is degraded.

Once you are firmly on the ground, the rather poor brake needs plenty of force, even at taxi speeds. However, the mainwheel is so far forward there is little fear of tipping the aeroplane on its nose, so it can be
pulled as hard as you like. Landings rarely use more than 250 metres.

Taxi back with care, the brake is poor.

The normal take off is quite straightforward, rotating at 60 mph, for a 70 mph initial climb, and circuit work is not difficult, although speeds are quite low at 80 mph, as necessitated by the gear limiting speed.
Visibility in the circuit just couldn’t be improved upon in a powered aircraft and it is easy to put the aeroplane where you want it, although height control can be a little difficult with those super-sensitive
elevators.

The technique of taking off in crosswinds involves starting on the downwind side of the runway, although the problem is not quite so difficult as a crosswind landing, because the slipstream helps rudder
effectiveness. The normal swing on take off is to the right, so a take off with a strong crosswind from the right is the most difficult case. Taxying a Fournier in a cross/tail wind has to be attempted to be believed,
but is also possible with practice, although it can involve progressing in a series of 270-degree turns.

Away from the circuit, the stall is viceless, with or without power or spoilers. Clean, the aeroplane tends to take a little time to reach the stall, because of the marked absence of drag, but when it comes, it is
gentle and unmistakeable, preceded by the warning light at around 6mph above stall speed, and with a little light high-pitched buffet, and followed with little loss of height, with or without power. It is not
necessary to use any forward pressure on the stick, and in fact is undesirable, as this only leads to increased loss of height. Power on, the stall occurs at quite a high angle of attack and may be accompanied by a
wing drop, but control in all axes remains good right up to the stall. The RF-4 is a little more sharp in its reactions, but not at all nasty. The height loss in all cases is unlikely to exceed 300 feet.

Steep turns are most enjoyable, and can be executed at very high bank angles with no trouble, although it can be interesting to watch the skin on the upper wing surface wrinkling with the high ‘g’ loads. Very
little up elevator is needed at bank angles up to 45 deg, while speed drops off very slowly at bank angles up to 60 degrees, and only a little extra power is needed. However, it is very necessary to use rudder to
execute all turns, as, despite the current use of differential Frise ailerons the adverse yaw is very marked.

There is very little yaw, and little change of pitch trim with change of power, and the elevator trim, operated by a small lever on the right of the cockpit, Jodel style, is more than adequate, although a little
coarse. Normal descents are made with the gear up and throttled back to just before the gear warning horn sounds, at 68 mph. The steepest descent is achieved at 62 to 93 mph with the throttle closed, gear
down and spoilers extended.

The optimal approach speed in smooth air is 62mph with spoilers retracted, or 68mph with spoilers out. In rough air add 6mph. One point worth noting is the lack of pitch change with application of spoiler,
which, however, does produce a marked change in rate of descent. As a consequence the flare has to be commenced a little earlier than might be expected, although the light elevator can lend to over controlling
here again. The normal approach is executed power off, with gradually increasing spoiler, with a target of full spoiler and 70mph with the field “made” at 200ft. This is not difficult, although the approach angle is
quite steep. The advantage of this system is that if you appear to be landing a little short, you can take off a little spoiler, and extend your landing point without changing speed, power, or trim. With practice
very accurate touchdowns can be achieved, and one can imagine a safe forced landing in this aeroplane to be within the capabilities of any pilot with a few hours Fournier time.

For a forced landing on normal ground it is recommended to land with the gear down and spoilers out, but on rough or marshy ground it is recommended to land with the gear up, touching down very gently.
Ditching is recommended gear up, and touching down nearly stalled, with the stick right back.

The normal touchdown itself can be difficult to achieve smoothly, as the stalling angle is considerably higher than the body angle with the wheels on the ground, leading to a tailwheel landing if the aircraft is
stalled on. This causes the main wheel to pivot round the tailwheel, and hit the ground rather hard. This is not desirable as the gear is not all that strong, and could result in damage. A couple of such accidents
have in fact happened and, as a consequence, the aircraft are now fitted with wooden runners on the underside of the fuselage. These are quite strong, but some doubt exists in the club as to whether or not
they would take the weight of a fully laden RF-5. This pilot, after much trial and error, decided that a touchdown on both wheels at a slightly higher speed was preferable wherever the runway was other than
very short. These aeroplanes do not land in a startlingly short distance, and this can in part be attributed to the rather poor brake on the mainwheel, which needs a great deal of force to use, even at taxi speeds.
However, there is no fear of tipping the aeroplane on its nose, as the mainwheel is so far forward, so it can be applied as hard as you like.

Landing in strong winds deserves some consideration, as these aeroplanes are not easy to handle on the ground in any sort of crosswind, and at the very slow touchdown speeds, they have a very strong
tendency to weathercock, which is not easy to correct with the small rudder. The best technique is to land on the downwind side of the centreline, and hold the stick fully back as soon as flying speed is lost, to
take full advantage of the rather ineffective tailwheel steering. On a soft surface it can be advantageous to allow the natural tendency of the upwind wing to lift a little. This digs the downwind outrigger wheel
into the ground, helping to keep the aircraft straight.

There is little else to say. This is a nice aeroplane, and one which very quickly becomes a part of the pilot, seeming to need little more than will to perform most manoeuvres immediately. Its slightly unusual
facets merely make it the more interesting to fly, and its whole nature encourages the pilot to explore the whole range of its ability, and strive to fly it ever more accurately. Its few vices on the ground are very
quickly forgotten once it is in the air, and once in its natural environment it performs like the thoroughbred it is.

Seems like this guy is sooo enthusiastic, he might become a lifelong Fournier fan!!!!!

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