First flight and a question

[rv3flier]

Ya, I know except that I had a problem with left brain/right brain. It actually rolls to the right not the left and does so with gusto, about a 2-3" right deflection of the stick. Prior to the damage, the plane was in perfect trim. A recheck of the left flaperon shows bulging between rivet lines in several panels.

Question, what is the best "tool" to squeeze between the panels? The trailing edges are straight with the bulging away from the trailing edge toward the wing about 2". I want to get them as straight as possible trailing edge toward the wing before changing the rod ends.
Thanks for posting.

[John-G]

Rv3flyer-

Before getting draconian with the aft edge of the flaperons first take a look at the cantilevered portion of the wing skins that extend aft of the wing's rear spar.

Use a straight edge and make sure the upper wing skin aft of the rear spar is on the same plane as the wing skin forward of the rear spar. Do this on both wings. I was shocked that evening out the skin in that area (seemingly small amounts) completely corrected my heavy left wing. Below is a link to my site with photos.
http://www.dogaviation.com/2016/11/w...eavy-wing.html

Happy flying,
John

[rv3flier]

Thanks for the pictures -- worth a thousand words, as they say.

I checked the upper trailing edges of the wings and they seemed to be very close to even. I think trying to change anything there to make it better than it is would be problematic. I did take 1/2 turn out on the rod ends on the left wing and then took a short test flight -- the air was rough with thermals but it did take almost all of the heaviness out of the right wing. Just gentle corrective pressure on the stick was enough to level the wings. However, it's enough out that a full bubble left rudder skid is required to fly level w/o flaperon input. I'll try taking some of the bulge out of the left flaperon skin with seaming pliars like you did in your pics. To be continued.

Thanks!

[Piper J3]

Originally Posted by rv3flier

I did take 1/2 turn out on the rod ends on the left wing and then took a short test flight -- the air was rough with thermals but it did take almost all of the heaviness out of the right wing. Just gentle corrective pressure on the stick was enough to level the wings. However, it's enough out that a full bubble left rudder skid is required to fly level w/o flaperon input. I'll try taking some of the bulge out of the left flaperon skin with seaming pliars like you did in your pics. To be continued.

You can also make opposite adjustment to rod ends on right wing - maybe 1/2 turn. Do you have the sheetmetal trim tab on your rudder?

[rv3flier]

Yes to the trim tab. But it takes a lot of left rudder to overcome the roll. Based upon the amount of change a half turn on the left flaperon made, I think it might be overkill to adjust the right flaperon. However, it would be much easier to give that a try than to risk over doing a squeeze to the left.

[Tacco]

Just looking for some insight here, but it seems to me adjusting any of the control system linkage only determines where the neutral position of the stick will be. And, if the push rods are adjusted, it could lead to other issues such as fuel pump interference and an over center condition on the flaperon control arms. Any wing heaviness (with a hands free stick) is best addressed by measuring then correcting skin flatness on the flaperon. True?

And just an observation, another post referenced here talked about having an absolutely vertical stick. My assessment is that the stick on a properly rigged aircraft will never be vertical with respect the the other stick. This is because of the stick to bell crank connection. I's ridged and moves in an arc. This point was demonstrated to me by Mike Seager. After a landing, with no wind, that he had conducted, I asked why he is was holding so much left aileron, the stick was pressing slightly on my left thigh. He said "I wasn't". Check this out he said, and as we sat there he pulled the stick all the way back and centered the flaperons as viewed from the cockpit. The stick was pressing on my left thigh and on his right one. It took a while studying the plans to see why this is so.