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"balanced tail"

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bill.hutchison

Well Known Member
I did a search on this and it was inconclusive.. Please forgive me if this is the incorrect forum for this post.

Looked at an ad for an RV-6 that mentions the airplane has a balanced tail for an RV-8.

Being newer, I'm guessing the RV-8 tail assembly is better in some way, but not quite understanding what 'balanced tail' means.

Trying to understand this in the context of evaluating the ad?

Thanks in advance.
 
Look at the hinge line, the 6 is straight through the top.

The newer rudders have an offset portion that extends forward of the hinge line. Balance weight is added it the offset portion.
 
bill.hutchison said:
I did a search on this and it was inconclusive.. Please forgive me if this is the incorrect forum for this post.

Looked at an ad for an RV-6 that mentions the airplane has a balanced tail for an RV-8.

Being newer, I'm guessing the RV-8 tail assembly is better in some way, but not quite understanding what 'balanced tail' means.

Trying to understand this in the context of evaluating the ad?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Unbalanced 6 rudder
N466PGTailArt.jpg


Balanced 8 rudder
IMGP0579.JPG


As Mike mentioned the counter balance weights are in the fwd top tip portion fwd of the hinge line of the rudder for the newer setups.
 
Two for one

The forward portion of the balanced rudder is where weight is added for static balance as previously mentioned. As a bonus, it obviously deflects the opposite direction and acts as a servo tab. This reduces the force required and is also referred to as an aerodynamic balance. Almost a bit of power steering.
 
Skysailor said:
As a bonus, it obviously deflects the opposite direction and acts as a servo tab. This reduces the force required and is also referred to as an aerodynamic balance. Almost a bit of power steering.
Click to expand...

It is true that if a balance arm is added to a control surface it will dynamically reduce the force required to deflect it, but in this case (RV-8 rudder installed on an RV-6) the rudder is slightly larger in square inches than the original.
It is pretty universally that those who have flown both can't tell a difference in rudder forces.
 
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