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RV-14A flight control balance procedure

B

BReilley

I'm New Here
Good afternoon everybody - I can't seem to get hold of Vans Aircraft right now by phone or email, so I'm hoping someone can help me out here. The FBO where I work is presently reassembling an RV-14A after paint(new build, not previously painted). We are accustomed to checking static balance of control surfaces before reinstalling them to an aircraft. I cannot find documentation for this process and the owner says he did not install any weights or check balance during his build. This is the first 14 series we've serviced, so I'm open to surprises, but I would be VERY surprised if there wasn't some process that we need to do before sending this thing back into the air. Can somebody please provide guidance from Vans or point me to where I might find it online?

Thank you very much!
 
BReilley said:
... and the owner says he did not install any weights or...

Thank you very much!
Click to expand...
Well, that's certainly wrong (I hope). There are weights in the elevator, rudder, ailerons. I built a -10 but the -14 must be similar. IIRC the instructions for balancing these controls were somewhere slightly obscure in the build packet, but they're there. e.g.,, I recall the elevator is to be tail heavy by between X and Y pounds (I forget the numbers), measured at the trailing edge.
edit. if nothing else, the SB for skin cracking at the trailing edge of the elevator, which had you adding weight (sealant) internally near the aft edge, also had instructions for modifying the counter weight to account for the weight of the glue.
 
Only adjustable weights on the 14 are elevator, and yes the SB has some info, but not balance info like you are looking for only what the weights should be cut to. Rudder and ailerons are only "built" per plans as the spec that I can find. I've asked the same question to Vans and they won't give the info out.
 
Don’t get bent around the axle on control surface “balance”.

Either the counter weights were installed per plans or not. Perfect static balance is not the objective.

Carl
 
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