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Originally posted by bigchillcar
what about this grumman yankee? i'm not familiar..only seen the tiger and cheetah. does it have a fast roll rate? large ailerons? something unique about the wng? the control surfaces? on take-off, does it exhibit a greater left-turning tendency, needing more right rudder or just a pig for available climb rate with a magnetic affinity for trees?
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Same wing as a Cheetah and Tiger except each panel is made of two sections instead of three.....short wing, VERY light controls, pretty fast roll rate. They were intially designed by Jim Bede and made by both American Aviation and Grumman. The Cheetah and Tiger were scaled up versions. Originally they were marketed as trainers, but the higher landing speeds and minimal float on landing coupled with very light Yoke pressures resulted in many damaged airplanes. They tend to porpoise/bounced severely when mashed in and the nose gear often would give up the ghost. The early ones, AA1 series (late 60's), had a hotter airfoil, but the later ones (AA1B and AA1C early to mid 70's) had a tamer airfoil. None of them are approved for spins because if allowed to develop, they often would spin in. The AA1 and AA1B's came with a 108 hp Lycoming O-235 and the later C models had a higher compression 235 with 125 hp. They require a bit longer takeoff distance than the average Cessna as the short wing/low hp engine requires higher airspeed to get the job done.
People still seek them out for training "Cessna drivers" prior to transitioning to "hot" experimental aircraft such as Lancairs and Glassairs. I wish I still had mine, but I needed a four seater with a family, so I sold it.
A few years back, you could find them all day long in the 20-30K range. I haven't looked at prices of them recently.