stooge with tri-gear?

[Bill Hummel]

Guys, I have a nice 60-size RSM Hawker Hunter, tri-cycle gear, and often fly with a stooge (Tom Morris type). I also usually fly off grass, and am looking for a good, safe way to hook to the stooge.  Any ideas?

[Perry Rose]

Hi Bill, here's a few pictures of my stooge. A plastic tent peg with aluminum channel and a 3 foot shoe string with the loop sewn so it doesn't bite the finish on it's way by. The extra part of the pull string keeps the pin from flying away from the peg.

[Perry Rose]

Oh well, here's the other one. The round flat top helps when pushing the peg into the ground. Pounding it will break it. I put the shoestring over the left stab. around the fin and back under the right stab. to the channel. The reason for this is to keep the loop away from the elevator horn at release.

[Tim Wescott]

I can't find any pictures but my flying buddy and I both use stooges that use a padded "U" shaped piece that hinges up to capture the horizontal stabilizer.  Pull the string, the "U" falls down, and the plane goes.  His is just made out of PTFE, piano hinge, and string -- mine uses light tubing for the "U", and wire to retain it.  His is more universal, cuz when the "U" is down there's no obstacle to a tail wheel, while the top of my "U" sticks up about an inch or so -- so if I want a really smooth takeoff for a taildragger I need to use my other stooge.

I've found that on grass, my stooge doesn't get pulled around by the plane, but I do have holes so that it can be nailed down with tent stakes.

[Dave_Trible]

My stooge has a spring-loaded bellcrank operating a pull pin as per norm but just keeps the pin from pulling accidentally.  But in re to the trike gear-  on all my ships I install a lead out cable launch wire sewn to the tail wheel mount and exiting the same hole in the fuselage.  For a trike ( like my Formula S) I just make the cable a little longer to reach the stooge at about a 45 degree angle to the ground.  The cable is nearly invisible and just blows straight back in the breeze.  Obviously I've mounted a small piece of ply in the rear fuse for the cable.  Also a natural point from which to the hang the airplane on the wall at home.

Dave