Champion Lancer
The Champion 402 Lancer is a twin-engine trainer produced by Champion Aircraft, a high-wing monoplane based on the tricycle gear Champion 7FC Tri-Traveler, but with wing-mounted Continental O-200-A engines. The Lancer first flew in 1961 and production began in 1963. The Lancer seats two in a tandem configuration with dual flight controls; the pilot in command or student pilot normally occupies the front seat. Design and development The Lancer achieved its goal of being the least expensive American-built twin engine airplane. Other design goals included simplicity, ease of maintenance, low operating costs, and the ability to operate from rough or unimproved strips. The high wing and high engine position give good propeller clearance in achieving that last goal. The Lancer is of metal tube construction with fiberglass covering and has fixed landing gear and propellers. The Lancer was designed specifically for flight schools seeking an inexpensive way to train students for a multi-engine rating, a role in which the craft's modest performance and payload were anticipated to matter little. To increase its appeal to flight schools, the Lancer has a mock landing gear retraction switch that operates green “safe” and red “unsafe” lights in the cockpit, allowing a student pilot to feign operation of retractable landing gear on takeoff and landing during instructional flights (the actual landing gear is permanently fixed). In a peculiar combination, the front seat is equipped with a control yoke, while the rear-seat pilot has a centre stick. Both seats are equipped with engine controls mounted overhead, with solo flight being performed from the front seat. Braking is controlled with a lever on the right-hand side of the front-seat instrument panel; differential braking is not possible, and no brake controls are provided for the rear-seat pilot. Other features included single-slotted wing flaps with 4 adjustment positions, and pilot-adjustable trim tabs for the elevator and rudder; elevator trim is adjusted using a sidewall-mounted lever. The prototype Lancer underwent development between 1961 and the start of production in 1963. The changes included relocating the engine nacelles to their final position above the wing, strengthening the wings to accommodate the engines, and redesigning the empennage to provide for twin-engine control requirements. The Federal Aviation Administration type certificate was approved on 7 March 1963. Flight characteristics The Lancer's performance when flying on a single engine is notably poor; in a column for AOPA Pilot, author Barry Schiff summarized the airplane's single-engine performance by writing that "...it doesn’t have any". Since the Lancer's fixed-pitch propellers cannot be feathered in flight, the failed engine's propeller generally continues to windmill, creating prodigious drag and yaw. With the other engine delivering full power, the Lancer's advertised engine-out ceiling is only at standard temperature and pressure – an altitude below ground level in many geographical areas, particularly once adverse density altitude conditions are taken into account. An engine-out situation typically results in a descent rate of about 250 ft/min (1.3 m/s), and the Lancer's single-engine, best-rate-of-climb speed VYSE–generally a gauge of engine-out climb performance for