REFLECTOR: First Flight!

[cgputney at peoplepc.com]

After 13 years, our Velocity 173RG top door finally flew. A thorough inspection and then lift off from our airpark by expert pilot and mechanic Steve Murphree was quite exciting. 

Only heavy ailerons marred an otherwise fine flying machine. The roll forces have been eased somewhat by reducing the radius to the cable attach point at the "keel" bellcrank but still preclude any easy directional control above pattern speed. 

Question: do all 173 wings have a concave underside at the ailerons? One bit of advice was to fill this modest concavity to reduce these high forces. Has anyone else done this? The roll forces on the Sebastion trainer using apparently the same wing were nothing like mine! The ailerons "float" about 3/8" high at 140 knots, even after converting the aileron torque tubes to steel and carefully removing all lost motion in the roll circuit. The only elements left to deflect under load are the push-pull cable cores under compression. 

The IO540 performed flawlessly and needed only some idle adjustments, but there is a list of squawks in other areas to work on before the next flights.

Thanks to all who contributed to this success, knowingly or not. The Reflector remains a rich source of information.

Gordon Putney
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