REFLECTOR: First Flight!

[Craig and Denise Woolston]

Congratulations!  Having just experience first flight a little more than 3
months ago I know exactly how you feel.  It all pays off in the end!

 

We have an XL (same wings) and had the same aileron "float" that you
described.  We drooped both ailerons to eliminate the turning tendency that
ours exhibited.  It now flies true and the trim system works.  We have a
slight concave lower surface near the trailing edge.

 

Craig

XL-5FG Flying in Palmdale, CA

 

  _____  

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of cgputney at peoplepc.com
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 6:56 PM
To: Reflector -
Subject: REFLECTOR: First Flight!

 

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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