REFLECTOR: Adjustable Canard

[Ann DaSilva]

The tail of the mooney is a balancing surface, the canard is a lifting
surface and therefore a lot more critical.

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]On
Behalf Of Andrew Ellzey
Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2006 6:10 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Adjustable Canard


All this talk of having trim problems, I am seriously considering making my
canard adjustable. I stated this about a week ago to see what kind of
reaction it would get, but now I am truly going to pursue the possibilities
of making it happen .Someone made the comment that this would be a dangerous
option to consider and I disagree. With careful consideration to the pivot
point hinges and placement of a single or double jack screws to distribute
the load, and a good position indicator to know what your angle of attack
was at all times, I believe you would have a valuable addition to an already
sound design. I owned, restored and flew a 1964 M20E for 12 years with the
standard Mooney adjustable tail, and always laughed when I looked at the
elevator trim system on a Piper 180, (not a lot different to the current
design of our Velocities) and thought of how much drag that huge trim tab
must have produced. The tail of a Mooney pivots on two hinges with 5/16
bolts for the hinge pins and the jack screw is only a 1/2 inch acme thread
screw. Mooney also had a safety strap that would limit the distance that the
tail could move if the jack screw were ever to break or strip. The whole
trim system was manually operated with the trim wheel mounted on the floor
next to the pilot seat. The trim indication system was built like a lawn
mower throttle cable moving a pointer on a small indicator which was marked
for take off and landing trim settings, nothing about the system needed any
electrical power.    I know that it would take some additional work to
design a seal system for the dog house, but again well worth the effort.

Andy Ellzey
XLRG