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2 problems--first the old toss the toilet paper roll out the canopy trick

donaziza

Well Known Member
Went out today with my 8, (9000 Ft.) to try for the first time ever to toss the toilet paper roll out of the canopy trick. Slowed to 75 Kts, unrolled maybe 14 inches, (of toilet paper-not the canopy) and out it went. Closed the canopy, banked 90* looking for it--couldn't find the darn thing. "Finally ---spotted it at about the 12:30 position just barely in sight to the right of my prop/fuselage. Banked 90* left then 90* right with the nose down figuring it would be pretty much right on the nose. Never saw the darn thing again. (From 9000 Ft., I don't think it had hit the ground yet.) OK, you guys who have done this, is there some trick, short of rocketing it out the front of the plane, to find the darn thing??

2ed question. Not a problem, just a maintenance thing. Don't know if all RV 8's are the same as mine, but there "was" a hard rubber bumper thingy, shaped like a pencil, in my left canopy track fairing that the roller would bump up against when opening one's canopy (on the ground), so as to keep the back tip of the canopy from hitting the vertical stabilizer. Maybe it followed the toilet paper out, but it is now completely gone. Is this something I can jerryrig from HD, or do I have to go thru Vans? I'd post a picture, but I'm VAF picture challenged.:D
 
I think wasting TP is some sort of federal offense right now....

The bumper is just some fuel hose from your favorite auto parts store. OD a bit larger than the rail slot. At least that’s what we use in these parts.
 
I think wasting TP is some sort of federal offense right now....

Ha Ha---That "did" occur to me.:D
 
Decades ago at EAA fly ins with my C-140 we had contests using TP and balloons.

Take a paperclip and secure about 1/4 inch of paper at the cardboard roll to give it some weight so it can unfurl as it descends.

We found not doing so would normally mean the whole roll of TP would fall into someones open arms, perhaps in need of such a gift from heaven.
 
Instead of banking around to look for it, maybe try this...launch the roll, count to 5, then nose up into a wingover, Power to idle, rudder pedal it around so you come right back in the opposite direction. Try to loose a bunch of altitude in the wingover so you get below it. I find that it?s easier to see it with sky behind instead of ground. Banking around like you did seems to make me do circles around it instead of going straight at it.
 
Cheap scratchy stuff unrolls better. Never needed a paperclip, about 3' of tail worked. Always useda glider or Pitts or Luscombe- slower plane, long wings or an acro plane with DRAG available.

If you get it to unroll but miss for too long, after about 2-3 minutes, it may be found as an attractive cloud ball in the sky.

If you find the ball don't fly into it unless you are good on potential airspeed unreliable drills. It might find your pitot.

I hit one once in a glider at the bottom of a loop. Open cockpit 1-26. Released at the top. I'd let 3 rolls go, hit the one that unrolled least.

Was not trying to, I didn't see it til I heard the metallic plunk like a spar snapping.

RVs go pretty quick downhill, challenging platform for the task.
 
Meanwhile somewhere near Atlanta thousands have gathered hoping to catch a glimpse of free toilet paper reported to be falling from Heaven. Hundreds of televangelists have taken credit and stated if people will only dig a little bit deeper and keep those donations coming toilet paper from heaven will become a daily reality!
 
The bumper is just some fuel hose from your favorite auto parts store. OD a bit larger than the rail slot. At least that?s what we use in these parts.

This is what i do also. I have a 3? piece of clear plastic tubing wedged into canopy track/rail. Easy to remove if need be.
 
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Funny part of hitting the roll was it was witnessed from the clubhouse. I was last tow of the day. I taught in the am, then towed up all the private gliders when the thermals popped. By then, I knew where they were as did the private ship owner that flew the early tows.

First towpilot to land their glider then became the PM tow and we'd teach more students.


I managed to collect myself after the big thump and cut up the other 2 rolls, land and rollout to the hangar. As I'm getting out in dead calm air, TP shards are falling between the clubhouse porch and hangar as a few come over to help me put the kite away.

The WWII vet speaks first- "Think you can do that again?" The rest burst out laughing. The vet was the one that took the windscreen from my Pitts and made the 1-26 open cockpit signed-off when I converted My S1 to a full canopy from open cockpit during the previous winter.

One of my top 10 fav flights ever, was only about 10 minutes long and didn't go anywhere or do anything in particular- it was the look in Don's eyes when he asked me the question- back hunched by time, but I could see him at Randloph in the '40s looking up at the planes he had learned to maintain.

I had flown a cush assignment until then and was heading off to C-17s and it was just after 9/11/01. One of the last times I flew in that club, where the soaring was not often good, but the folks were.
 
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Meanwhile somewhere near Atlanta thousands have gathered hoping to catch a glimpse of free toilet paper reported to be falling from Heaven. Hundreds of televangelists have taken credit and stated if people will only dig a little bit deeper and keep those donations coming toilet paper from heaven will become a daily reality!


HA Ha, Laughed myself silly on this one:D
 
Opening canopy in flight

Went out today with my 8, (9000 Ft.) to try for the first time ever to toss the toilet paper roll out of the canopy trick. Slowed to 75 Kts, unrolled maybe 14 inches, (of toilet paper-not the canopy) and out it went. Closed the canopy, banked 90* looking for it--couldn't find the darn thing. "Finally ---spotted it at about the 12:30 position just barely in sight to the right of my prop/fuselage. Banked 90* left then 90* right with the nose down figuring it would be pretty much right on the nose. Never saw the darn thing again. (From 9000 Ft., I don't think it had hit the ground yet.) OK, you guys who have done this, is there some trick, short of rocketing it out the front of the plane, to find the darn thing??

2ed question. Not a problem, just a maintenance thing. Don't know if all RV 8's are the same as mine, but there "was" a hard rubber bumper thingy, shaped like a pencil, in my left canopy track fairing that the roller would bump up against when opening one's canopy (on the ground), so as to keep the back tip of the canopy from hitting the vertical stabilizer. Maybe it followed the toilet paper out, but it is now completely gone. Is this something I can jerryrig from HD, or do I have to go thru Vans? I'd post a picture, but I'm VAF picture challenged.:D

I thought you weren?t supposed to open the canopy in flight?
 
I've been reading here (on VAF) for years, that one "can't" open the canopy in flight, due to the slip stream pressing down on it. That's why I slowed to the 75 Kts first, and then E-e-e-esily cracked it to see if it even would open. Just opened it enough to get the TP out, then immediately closed it. (Even at 75 Kts, it sorta didn't wanna go):rolleyes:
 
Terminal free fall velocity?

If a roll has the same terminal speed as a sky diver you might have a challenge in the RV to catch it.

A 7 or 12 ft strip should be a lot slower.
 
Hundreds of televangelists have taken credit and stated if people will only dig a little bit deeper and keep those donations coming toilet paper from heaven will become a daily reality!

LMAO !!!! :D:D:D:D It would be sad if it weren't so true !!
 
If a roll has the same terminal speed as a sky diver you might have a challenge in the RV to catch it.

A 7 or 12 ft strip should be a lot slower.

A skydiver has a terminal velocity of about 120mph, or 10,000 fpm. A roll of tp is way slower. .even if it doesn't unroll, it's way slower than that. I wouldn't want to hit it though if it doesn't unroll!
 
Double or single roll?

Assuming an average drag coefficient for a cylinder and a rectangular shape due to tumbling is around .8, you have a weight of 8 ounces, 5000' MSL altitude, and a frontal area of 36 square inches (.25 sq. Ft) around 50 feet per second (~34 mph).

Terminal velocity calculator
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/termv.html

TP weight reference
http://web.mit.edu/barryk/Public/MI... of sheets,5lbs) including the cardboard tube.

ROM CD
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_coefficient
 
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Free fall pineapple

Totally unrelated to tp, but a couple of years ago, we were skydiving out over the beach and jumped with a pineapple. It was wobbling a little and was going about 120mph, belly freefall speed. Someone touched it, which stabilized it, and it went rock steady but sped way up like the bottom dropped out! Probably 150mph+. We had to stand or go head down to catch it. It then started to wobble and slowed back down to belly speed where someone grabbed it, pulled the parachute and we ate pineapple on the beach.
 
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