REFLECTOR: Pitch Trim Mystery

John Dibble aminetech at bluefrog.com
Thu Feb 16 13:18:51 CST 2006 

Alex,
Thanks, but when solo, my canard barely stalls, more like a mush.  I'm concerned that
less incidence might put me in the deep stall mode.  Besides, the weight is just a
temporary thing anyway. I'm currently getting 180-182kn with my Franklin/IVO and I
hope to get a few kn more once the trim issue is resolved and I can use full power.

Alex Balic wrote:

> John-
> In lieu of adding the weight- you might think about dropping the canard
> incidence about a degree- will give you more speed too...
>
> Alex
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
> Behalf Of John Dibble
> Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 12:09 PM
> To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
> Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Pitch Trim Mystery
>
> Steve,
> I have one installed.  I need to check, but I believe it wroks against the
> spring, so
> I guess I need to reverse it.  How much work is involved to do that?
>
> Scott B - I believe you mentioned that reversing the strainer could cause
> instability.  How can I flight test for this?
>
> In the meantime, I plan to add 20lb to the nose, so I won't have to use the
> full trim
> adjustment at cruise.
>
> John
>
> steve korney wrote:
>
> > A lite spring and a external trim tab would solve that problem.....  Like
> a
> > sparrow strainer
> >
> > Best... Steve
> >
> > ----Original Message Follows----
> > From: John Dibble <aminetech at bluefrog.com>
> > Reply-To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list <reflector at tvbf.org>
> > To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list <reflector at tvbf.org>
> > Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Pitch Trim Mystery
> > Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 11:28:10 -0600
> >
> > Well, that sounds like a good guess.  For the entire flight either the
> > autopilot or
> > myself was adding a little extra pressure to maintain level flight.  After
> I
> > got out
> > of the plane I pushed down on the elevator a little.  Maybe that is what
> > made it work
> > again.  I'll check it out.  But wouldn't pulling back on the stick also do
> > the same
> > thing?  Or am I not understanding this right?
> >
> > Scott - It took a lot of force and of course the farther I pulled back,
> the
> > stronger
> > the force.  It felt like I might break something.  I suppose you could
> trim
> > your
> > elevator all the way up and feel the force to pull the stick back to
> > neutral.
> >
> > John
> >
> > Alex Balic wrote:
> >
> >  > The pitch trim jack screw has an internal "switch" that turns it off in
> > the
> >  > particular direction of travel that would bottom it out- possibly this
> is
> >  > just slightly out or the contact is burned, hard to tell- not sure if
> you
> >  > could even open it up to check that - you might want to do some
> >  > experimenting- see if you run it all of the way to the bottom and you
> > force
> >  > it if it might move just a bit more and loose contact internally, after
> >  > relieving pressure, apply pressure in the opposite direction-  might
> move
> >  > back just a tiny bit to regain contact again- just a guess......
> >  >
> >  > -----Original Message-----
> >  > From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
> >  > Behalf Of John Dibble
> >  > Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 10:46 AM
> >  > To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
> >  > Subject: REFLECTOR: Pitch Trim Mystery
> >  >
> >  > Seems like when the Reflector has a what-if discussion, soon after
> > someone
> >  > has to go
> >  > out and experience it.  I guess the pitch trim failure had my name on
> it.
> >  > Last night
> >  > I flew 1.7 hrs at 180 kn with the pitch trim pegged at down trim.  I
> cut
> >  > power just
> >  > enough to descend at 500 fpm and kept the trim pegged.  At 5 miles out
> I
> >  > slowed to get
> >  > set up for landing and noticed the pitch up trim wasn't working.
> >  > Fortunately I've
> >  > flown at night enough, so that that didn't add much to the problem.  I
> > had a
> >  > 5000 ft
> >  > runway and a direct 10kn headwind which was a good thing.  Didn't know
> > how
> >  > long my arm
> >  > would hold out so I took the fastest way in and kept my speed up to
> 90kn.
> >  > Wasn't sure
> >  > if I could hold it off at 70.  The landing was a little rough, but I've
> > done
> >  > worse.
> >  > Today I checked it out and the trim is working fine.  Can anyone tell
> me
> >  > what
> >  > happened?  I have fuses and no CBs so it wasn't that.
> >  >
> >  > John
> >  >
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