REFLECTOR: STICK & RUDDER

Tue Mar 27 00:43:32 CDT 2007

Good thought, I will check the hinges.  The entire winglet vibrates at
full right rudder deflection.  It is definitely the right side.  It is
only on full deflection at high speeds.  At lower speeds, no vibration
ever.  Steep turns to the right without the right rudder yields no
vibration.  Plane yaws ever so slightly to the left.  But it doesn't
affect speed.

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Keith Hallsten
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 11:07 PM
To: 'Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list'
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: STICK & RUDDER

Tom,

It seems unlikely that it's true "flutter" if it's a fully-deflected
rudder.  Are you sure there is no slop or play in any of the rudder
hinges?  No doubt it is a vibration, but the task is to find out what is
actually vibrating.  Does it seem to be the entire right winglet, or
just the rudder itself?  Could it be that the LEFT rudder is fluttering
when the right rudder is fully deflected?

Keith Hallsten

Tom Martino wrote: 

By the way ... I get no flutter until the end of the right rudder
travel.  I get no flutter on the left rudder at all ... no matter how
far the travel.  And I never get flutter in a roll one way or the other
(no matter how steep) ... without rudders.

________________________________

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Scott Derrick
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 9:42 AM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: STICK & RUDDER

Tom,

I would first verify your "ball" is set correctly.  You know the drill,
level the plane, check the ball.  If you have the standard fuel set up
with a single cutoff switch, you fuel burn will act as a yaw sensing
device. If the plane is not trimmed correctly(everything else according
to hoyle, ie, fule caps tight, no leaks in vent system, etc.) you will
have uneven fuel consumption between the left and right fuel tanks..  

If you do have even fuel flow, verified with at least an hours level and
straight cruise test, I'd adjust the ball in flight to register in
between the lubber lines.  If the fuel flow is not even shim the right
rudder out a bit more.

Regarding the right rudder flutter.  That should be dealt with no matter
what the yaw situation is.  Have you called the factory and asked about
that?   Do you get the flutter in a hard roll with out using any rudder?
Or half rudder?  

You asked a while ago about how fast to test for flutter. I'd recommend
you test for 10 to 20% higher than your fast cruise speed.  Test at
altitude. Test carefully, 5 knot increments using the knock method on
the controls. 

Scott

Tom Martino wrote: 
At first I thought it was just the weather, or maybe an uneven fuel load
... but I can no longer deny it.  My plane still yaws a bit to the left
(which means I have to touch the right rudder to make it fly perfectly
straight).  So I have the following questions and would like those with
more experience to answer:

1.     The ball is only a tiny bit out of center and I can get speeds of
200 KTAS or more ... so should I leave the damn thing alone?
2.     The plane is almost perfect ... so should I make it fly
perfectly?

I should also make these observations:

--I already shimmed the wings with washers several hours ago - which
helped a lot ... but there is still a slight yaw,
--I also shimmed the right rudder out a bit (right after I did the wing)
... it seemed near perfect ... but still a tiny yaw.
--When I am at higher speeds (170+ TKAS) and make a hard right turn with
full right rudder ... the right rudder will flutter a bit.
--When turning left at the same speed ... no flutter at all.  Is this
because I shimmed the right rudder out a bit to begin with?

ANY AND ALL COMMENTS APPRECIATED.

I have taken a lot of time to make this an exceptional bird ... am I
going too far?  

Tom Martino

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