I wish I could say it was completely uneventful but I cannot. Picked a good day got myself prepared did a walk around and taxied out. When I checked the controls free and clear I thought my mind was playing tricks on me and felt a little stiffness on the aileron movement. I had my inspection earlier in the week and my inspector found a loose nut on the bell crank in the wing. We must have tightened it too much and I had not noticed it had really stiffened the controls. Well on take off I couldn't understand what was going wrong, I didn't have time to freak as the plane was rocking back and forth too much. I had lost the free movement on the controls and this made the movements very jerky. Not fun. I gained some altitude over the airport as this was prearranged with ATC. I was able to control the aircraft but it did make me sweat. I immediately returned and landed the aircraft, without any slow flight testing as I could not risk staying up any longer especially slow flight with overly tight controls. The landing was relatively uneventful thank goodness. On further inspection we found the controls much stiffer than we had remembered. I think what happened was after years of testing the controls during building I had become convinced that all was as it had been, only it wasn't, the control setup had changed tightening the bolt after the inspection and I ignored my instinct because it had been good for so long. Needless to say I need to do another first flight and do it right. Hope this bonehead move helps someone someday.
Mark Mercier
RV-7A
Abbotsford BC
Mark Mercier
RV-7A
Abbotsford BC