REFLECTOR: Testing forward CG
Brian Michalk via Reflector
reflector at tvbf.org
Wed Sep 24 22:00:48 CDT 2014
In my flight tests, as I move the CG farther forward, I notice that I am
unable to get the airplane to stall in straight flight. Instead if
stalling, the Vm begins to increase. Vm is the minimum speed to
maintain altitude, and is something I check on each flight, because it's
the speed below which I am unable to flare for a landing.
I don't have a specific CG in mind, but when I have 380 lbs in the front
seats, I run out of elevator authority for landing at normal air
speeds. I really need to carry more speed on final than I'm comfortable
with. With this weight in the front, I'm flying approach at 95kts. My
Vm is 80kts.
My next check is to see the actual elevator travel from the neutral
position. I believe I'm very close to the book values, but maybe I need
more elevator travel. If my problem is not elevator travel, I'm
thinking about testing VG's on the canard, starting out with only one VG
per side to see if this helps. I know VG's on the canard only are
verboten, but if one does deep stall testing, and clears the aft CG
regime, then is this still forbidden?
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