REFLECTOR: Another Velo in the air

[Dennis Martin]

I hired John Abraham, Velocity Chief Pilot, to conduct my first flights. He
and I spent a couple hours doing fine tuning on the aileron and elevator
rigging. I think you should talk with John about your dutch roll and any
fine tuning you might do to make sure the ailerons are rigged properly. I
also had some nose wheel shimmy - we kept tightening the castle nut until
it went away. We went well past the 15 lbs recommended - perhaps as much as
20-25 lbs. on my fixed gear.

Good luck - I'm sure the factory team can help you figure it out.

Dennis



On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 8:42 PM, David Ullman <ullman at robustdecisions.com>wrote:

> N-444DX, an SEFG took to the air for its first flight today after 5+ years
> of work.  With Jorge Bujanda's flight,  that makes two planes this week.  I
> hired a test pilot, Robin Reid (30,000+ hours in over 300 types of
> aircraft,
> owner of a VarEZ for 5 years, and he flew a Velocity (Thanks Mel Rudin)
> just
> two weeks ago) and I am glad I did.  Most everything worked well which was
> a
> relief since I had been concerned about the engine that I built from a
> basket case, brakes heating, and nose wheel shimmy, but none of these were
> a
> problem.  But,I do seem to have a roll control problem that I will work out
> over the next couple of days (starting with a call to Velocity tomorrow
> AM).
>
>
> It seems that right after take-off Robin experienced a severe Dutch roll
> problem whenever he input any aileron control.  This seemed to increase
> with
> speed so he went around a big circle with rudder only and the ailerons
> locked neutral. He kept the speed under 120kts and landed at about 100kts.
> After taxiing it bask to the hangar I measured the following:
>
> If I push down and let go, both ailerons fare even with the wings.
> If I push up on one, it will stay up due to friction about .35" above the
> wing when the other is even with its wing.
> If I push up hard on one I can flex it to .550"
>
> The reason for this test is the thought that the air loads are pushing them
> both up, but this does not explain the Dutch roll (maybe?).
>
> I measured the incidence of both wings at five different locations with an
> angle measuring device and found that most values were within a degree of
> each other (within the tolerance of the device).
>
> I had a colleague put a resisting force on the ailerons and moved the
> control stick and all seemed normal.
>
> One thing I haven't checked is the gap between the wing and the aileron.
> This was on spec early on, but there has been paint and other finishing
> since then.  I will measure that tomorrow.
>
> Anyone else have a Dutch Roll problem?  I am calling Velocity tomorrow AM
> to
> get their input on this, but other ideas are more than welcome.
>
> David Ullman
> N-444DX Velocity
> EAA 292 President
> david at davidullman.com
> 541-754-3609
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> To change your email address, visit
> http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/listinfo/reflector
>
> Visit the gallery!  www.tvbf.org/gallery
> user:pw = tvbf:jamaicangoose
> Check new archives: www.tvbf.org/pipermail
> Check old archives: http://www.tvbf.org/archives/velocity/maillist.html
>



-- 
All the best,
Dennis
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/private/reflector/attachments/20111130/0d1bdfcd/attachment.htm>