AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2011 - 80

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I stopped the yaw with rudder and checked the ball to see if just maybe Utermohlen had simulated the failure of an engine; he had, yet there was little change in the flight attitude. Without going into a multiengine aerodynamics explanation, the engines are so close to the fuselage that single-engine operations produce little yaw. “You rotate the aircraft with 15 degrees of flaps around 72 knots, and it will fly off around 78 or 79 knots,” Utermohlen said. “It doesn’t fight you too much getting off the ground. It’s a pretty stable aircraft. Normally when I climb out I am wanting to go somewhere, so I will climb out at 100 to 110 knots—more like a cruise climb.” Best rate of climb is 92 knots. “Downwind you fly at 110 to 115 knots. Usually that is also with 15 degrees of flaps, and as you turn base it is just a decelerating turn to final, maintaining above blue line of 92 knots until you are on short final. You are dropping flaps to a full 30 degrees. At 111 knots you can go to full flaps on the aircraft. On short final you should be at 75 to 78 knots and decelerating as you’re coming across the numbers,” Utermohlen said. There’s no bad news in the way of repetitive airworthiness directives. In 1985 there was an AD calling for inspection of wing spar caps—at the attachment point for the wings—on aircraft built by the former Partenavia company. Now, the spar cap on Vulcanair aircraft is beefier and the AD is gone, at least for newly manufactured aircraft. A requirement for inspection remains for Partenavia aircraft. Are there any problems at all with the Vulcanair? At the time of the interview the alternators weren’t sharing the electrical load, and when sliding the pilot seat a few feet rearward to make entering the aircraft easier, the seat came off the tracks a couple of times— but was easily reattached. FWC pilots consider the Vulcanair as capable as their helicopters when it comes to search and rescue, hunting for marijuana fields on federal or state land, or stalking the deer stalkers, but at a much lower purchase price and operating cost. As for the crack smokers who hide in the forest, whatcha gonna do when the Vulcanair comes for you? E-mail the author at alton.marsh@aopa. org.
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2011

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