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Aileron trim.....yes or no?

Seansull

Active Member
I am going to order my wing kit for the 10 this week. I am trying to decide if I want to add the aileron option or not. For those of you flying already what is your opinion?

Thanks in advance!
 
At 140 hours I am glad I have aileron trim. Fuel imbalance and passenger imbalance are very noticeable.
 
I sure like it on my 6A! Stick forces on my 6 are light, and some feel that it isn't needed. But I like hands off.....perfect trim; and I get it! After all, it will vary with fuel and payload imbalances. That's just a fact!

I might even convert to electric rudder trim too; which I hear is more standard in the RV10.

L.Adamson --- RV6A (flying)
 
Yep DO IT!!

We still had to fit a tab under the left aileron, as the forces were such that the trim servo could not cope, but worth doing.
 
Yes, trim.....

IMHO, every airplane should have trim on all 3 axes. In the order of preference: Pitch, Roll, Yaw. I prefer manual trim, but I would consider moving into the mid-20th century and think about electric trim.

Manual trim never does a "runaway". :p (I'm taking odds that someone will disagree with this last sentence!)
 
Yes and it's a little easier to do during the building of the wing before you have installed the pushrod. If you manage your fuel burn you can get away without it but in the scheme of things...what's another $200:eek:
 
Yep DO IT!!

We still had to fit a tab under the left aileron, as the forces were such that the trim servo could not cope, but worth doing.


Have you checked the aileron rigging? Sounds as it may be off if the trim can't handle the job. Does the motor stall or is there a lack of travel?
 
Thanks everyone for your prompt responses. It looks as if I am going to add the aileron trim option!
 
yep we have the rigging OK..... and the folk at Vans confirmed about 3 out of 4 need a tab on the aileron, mostly due to the plane rolling to the right, but some to the left.

DB:cool:
 
Sounds like you have already decided. I'm not familiar with the -9 but I used two of these http://www.matronics.com/governor/ for pitch and roll trim. They wired easily into the ray allen servos and then up to the coolie hat. The rates (speed) is adjustable.

Even with autopilot servos, its nice to trim the forces off the servo.

Good luck with the -9.

Steve
 
yep we have the rigging OK..... and the folk at Vans confirmed about 3 out of 4 need a tab on the aileron, mostly due to the plane rolling to the right, but some to the left.

I've seen numerous RV 10's, but I never really have looked at the trailing edge structure. My 6A has the brake folded trailing edge. It had what's described as a heavy right wing. Didn't take much stick pressure to keep level, but was more than my 1*6" piano hinge ( servo controlled) trim tab could compensate for.

I was looking into a temporary wedge to tape under the left aileron; as I've noticed that some RV's have opposite fixed tabs on both ailerons. While checking the location, I noticed that the left aileron bent edge, had a slightly larger radius than the right aileron. Probably less than 1/16", but yet noticeable. I took my six inch handseamers and lightly squeezed the left aileron's trailing edge for about 18" of length.

It was a good "guess", because the airplane immediately flew level with both ailerons in perfect trail, and the electric trim tab centered. I now just use it to compensate for loads, as mentioned previously.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
 
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