walkman

walkman

Well Known Member
I noticed something on my -6 the other night while I was struggling around under the panel that I'm a little concerned about.

When I move the stick full right it come to a hard stop with a "clang" off, I'm assuming, the aileron stop bolts.

When moving the stick full left I do not get the same response. It is a soft, sticky, stop with no "clang" and I can push the stick a little further where it feels like its rubbing on something.

Is it possible I leaned hard on the stick in my contortions and bent something? Is this an issue?
 
The stops for the aileron are just a piece of aluminum bar riveted to the aileron hinge bracket. There should be one stop per aileron. Go out to the wings and make sure the bracket on the aileron is hitting the stop and not binding elsewhere.

It would take quite a bit of force to bend the control sticks or linkages. It is more likely there could be some FOD in the wrong place, or the stick boot getting in the way.

Pull the forward section of the seat pan and check for any interference in that area also.
 
I had the exact same issue when rigging my -6A prior to sign off. What I found was that the aileron was rubbing slightly against the fiberglass flange of the wingtip. Pretty easy to address, if this is the issue.
 
Perspective is everything

walkman said:
I noticed something on my -6 the other night while I was struggling around under the panel that I'm a little concerned about...

Is it possible I leaned hard on the stick in my contortions and bent something? Is this an issue?
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I'm a low-time pilot/RV flyer; when I noticed "only" 25(?) degres up travel on a pre-flight, I immediately grounded the aircraft.

After investigation (aileron pushtube binding at exit) and repair (remove aileron, reinstall with 1/8" offset) a high-time friend pointed out that full aileron deflection is VERY rare on a non-aerobatic RV.

My point? The cause should be determined & resolved before further flight, but if this occurred inflight, there are plenty of options.
 
I may be seeing this now....

Because I have the interior of the aircraft half disassembled. Seats, set pans, boots, all that sheet metal that is screwed down is out. There is a good chance the stick doesn't travel that far when everything is back together.

I have noticed a little play in both sticks fore and aft along the pivot point, I think an "L" washer will fix that up.

As far as bending anything in flight, I've only ever done about four aileron rolls and I think two loops and I seriously doubt I've pulled 2G.
 
walkman said:
Because I have the interior of the aircraft half disassembled. Seats, set pans, boots, all that sheet metal that is screwed down is out. There is a good chance the stick doesn't travel that far when everything is back together..
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The seat pan , floors, etc should not have any bearing on stick travel or feel. You should be able to hit the positive stops with everything in place OR removed. Also if you have any "spongy" or soft feel to the controls you should find it now. It could be something simple like a wire bundle got loose and is resting against the push pull tube or aileron boot seal bunched up in the fuselage hole.
 
Martin, what you are experiencing is a situation where the airplane is "talking to you" - something is different than what it was before. You can rationalize that difference away, or you can find the reason for the difference. If you rationalize it away, you will always have a little doubt about your flight controls in the back of your mind - and that is not good.

Anytime something changes, I want to find the reason for it - then I can decided if it needs fixing or not. But I make that decision based on knowledge, not a guess.

Something spongy does imply a wire bundle getting stressed, or something soft getting pinched. No, you don't need full aileron travel for normal flight, but you don't want something in the way preventing travel - ever. I've been there with a jammed stick in a Cub years ago - sure wished I was on the ground instead of in the air at that moment!

We had a washer stack-up that caused a little stickiness on our RV-3 just before the airworthiness inspection. A neighbor noticed it. It was barely noticeable, but I took a couple of hours to figure it out and fix it. Made me feel good to do so....

Paul
 
walkman said:
When I move the stick full right it come to a hard stop with a "clang" off, I'm assuming, the aileron stop bolts.

When moving the stick full left I do not get the same response. It is a soft, sticky, stop with no "clang" and I can push the stick a little further where it feels like its rubbing on something.
Click to expand...
Are your aileron trim springs installed? I tend to feel the aileron stop a bit more on one side than the other when they are connected.
 
Try putting the stick in the neutral position and the n looking at the bell cranks in the wing.

They should both be sitting at the same angle.

It could be that your pushrods lengths are not set up correctly.

Thse other possibility is that the pushrods are binding slightly. Do you have the small diam. washers installed next to the rod ends at both ends of the long aileron rods?
 
Here is something to check.

Go to the outboard end of your left hand aileron. Push the aileron to full up travel. Check to see if the bottom bolt head of your outboard aileron bracket is hitting the bracket that is riveted to your wing. You can also push your aileron down, look down from the top, and see if there is a dent in the top surface of the wing mounted aileron bracket.

I don't know if you built the airplane or not, but this can be caused from the Van's fix for a heavy wing which is slightly lowering the aileron position on those brackets and installing a new bracket that do not have pre-drilled holes.

Could also be your aileron bracket bolt backing out and hitting here.

Just something to check.
 
Another thing to check that can cause a squishy or spring back feeling is if at full up deflection your inboard aileron bracket is hitting your flap hinge pin. I've seen this happen as well because that pin usually goes all the way to the wing mounted aileron hinge bracket depending on your configuration.
 
I know this isn't your situation but I noticed the same thing on mine the other day. It was a 'slightly' -- and I mean SLIGHTLY off-center seat cushion. It didn't prevent the aileron from full deflection, but it provided some resistance.
 
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