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First 'Real' Flight N916R 'Lucy'

G

gpiney

Well Known Member
This morning I witnessed the first successful of Rick Jahns' (916Romeo) RV-7, 'Lucy'. The only problems seem to be a heavy left wing and a balky radio. At the controls was George Wheeler, our CFI and long-time tailwheel pilot. He said it landed like a dream. I'm sure when Rick sees this, he will give a further report as I had to head off to work. Makes me want to finish my -8 tonight! (Can I get 1000 hours in before morning?).

'Lucy' had a landing accident on her first flight last year. She's better now.
 
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CONGRATS Rick... great to hear it's back in the air!! Best of luck with Phase I and beyond.
 
Greg,

That is great news! I hope the rest of the flights go as well and look forward to news of your first flight!
 
greg,
thanks for the start...
I'm on V-A-Force lokking for wing heavy solutions & see this post!

Radio problem seems isolated on Geo's headset, mine worked well after the fact, including the handheld and communication with other area a/c.

as for wing heavy... is seems only at high speeds, anything under 110kts show straight & level with the docile landing. upon investigation we found the right aeliron out of rig low by about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch as related to the wingtips. this is the 'first fix' on the list, then we'll look at the flap coordination... after these, per vans instructions will be the squeezing of the 'light' wing. any thoughts on 1/2 in out of rig producing a 'hard roll' tendency???

BTW, thanks for the implied Q's...
.7 hr flight, began 9:10am jersey shore time
23inHg / 2300rpm 3000'alt showed 160kts
pattern speed of 80kts, touch down straight, no bounce, on the #'s
(George is a pretty good pilot)
He followed instruction through to the RV-Grin!

Looking forward to my transition training, & converting fuel to noise!

Thanks again,
Rich, on the Jersey Shore
N916R
LUCY, RV-7 now FLYING woo Hoo!
 
Rich, Read Van's wing heavy instructions carefully. My 7 had a very heavy wing and it was caused by the left aileron being up 3/16" at the outer hinge. Drilled a new outer hinge bracket and it cured 90% of it. Then squeezed the right aileron a little and my airplane flies perfectly straight at any airspeed. Don
 
We should let every one know that Lucy did 160KTs Naked. When she gets her Shoes, Stockings, and Clothes on she'll be a bit faster.
 
I've read the Vans info on 'wing heavy'... first solution being reviewing aileron hing locations. From where, or how is this measured?
relative to the aft spar edge, or what,
I just do not seem to see an edge or hard surface to get to 32nds from

Thanks,
Rich
 
Rich, Mine was up 3/16" at the hinge line. If you put a straight edge across the wing skin and aileron the aileron should not be above the wing skin but flush. This is at the aileron spar in neutral. Of course first verify that your flaps, ailerons and wing tips are all perfectly aligned at the trailing edge as a start. Adjusting the flaps is the last thing you want to do as it has little effect on straight and level and a big effect on wing drop in stall. Flaps up mine has a very slight wing drop to the left and flaps down very small drop to the right. Don't do more than one adjustment at a time and go fly the airplane. It took about ten flights to get everything perfect on my airplane but I have no trim tabs hanging out anywhere. One nice thing about the riveted rudder trailing edge is that you can massage it for rudder trim and its barely noticeable that it has a slight bend. Don
 
rigging

In the plans there should be profile view of the end of then wing with the aileron in trail. It will show the chord line from the wing leading edge to the trailing edge of the aileron. It should have a dimension from the hinge point of the aileron bracket to the chord line. These aren't exact but it should give you an idea if the bracket was drilled wrong. You can level you plane with the wing tip off and shot a laser line along the chord of your wing and see if the aileron tooling holes line up with the laser line. If you made soem wing airfoil templates from your wing kit box, you can put that on the wing and see if there is any misalignment. They are also not exact but get you in the ball park. I had a heavy left wing on my 6 and try to move the aileron bracket a bit and it didn't do much. I tried moving one aileron push tube and it just found it's new center the next time I flew (the stick was not center anymore). I ended up just pinching down on the right aileron a bit and it cured the problem. It doesn't take much, especially if you have a fat trailing edge out of the end of the aileron (moment arm theory). It makes the feeling like it's real heavy but the forces are light just leveraged out on the end of the wing. My wing trailing edges all lined up on the ground and where all in trail according to every test I could do. When I flew though, I had my left aileron down a bit (1/4") from the wing tip. I tried to reset the tip a little by loosening the screws and bending it then tigthening them back up. It still flew the same. I thought the airplane would be slow because it flew crooked. It topped out at 218mph on 180 hp. It must not have been that bad.
 
Thanks guy's, I can't wait to get out & start the fine tuning...
First I'll just re-rig ailerons to wing tips.
Sadly I can't get to it today. (gotta go play golf at noon)
But really looking forward to Saturday

I like the 218 on 180hp, I hope to have those kind of #'s
 
Found right aileron down 1/4 inch, fixed the rigging & waiting for Wx to fly & see effects.

While measuring it seems the right aileron may be mounted low about 3/32 at the rivet line as compared to no gap on the left. Does anyone have an idea of how much roll this would produce, or how much pressure req'd to keep level flight.

as said before, heavy wing was only at speeds above 120kts

-Rich
 
heavy wing update

So, after rigging & re-rigging (seems when lucy flies, things move)
the ailerons are in trail, & flaps coordinate.
Called Vans about what now & the aileron squeeze technique...
of course in the manual & the wing heavy notice on Vans web site
it says to fly for 10 or so hours to make sure the condition is Really really there. then Ken @ Vans said to tape on a trim tab/wooden wedge to make sure that fixes the problem. (trim tab simulates the edge squeeze, who knew!) once it flies well with the trim tab, you can squeeze to remove the trim tab. yada yada yada

I taped wedge to the right aileron, flew GREAT! or as my test pilot said
"it's now a joy to fly"

my wedge is 4.5" in board to out
2.5" forward to aft
tapers from 0 to .25"
attached with aviation grade 'Scotch Blue Painters Tape'

So, now LUCY seems ready for me, it's the I that's the hold-up
I've gotten about 5 of the Insurance req'd 10 hours in type, hope to have
the rest with in about a week.
My transition training started of pretty rocky this morning, but things progressed and the end of the day went well. Really looking forward to more time in the air.

That's my story & I'm stickin to it!
-Rich
 
yakdriver said:
Rich, One nice thing about the riveted rudder trailing edge is that you can massage it for rudder trim and its barely noticeable that it has a slight bend. Don
Click to expand...


Don, what exactly does that mean? Did you take a seamer and just bend the trailing edge instead of adding a wedge or something similar? Sounds too simple ;-)

Thanks Bill S
7a finishing
 
Bill, I just used a 1x2x12 and just massaged some right trim in it. Do it along the whole trailing edge and it it hardly noticeable. Mine flew about half a ball out and it only took about 1/32" bend along the trailing edge at the rivet line. I just held the 1x2 as a guide and gently tweeked it. My airplane flys hands off at almost any airspeed now. Don
 
I am Rich's niece. I was also going to post the link to the news article, but someone already beat me to it. Thank you.

I'm sure y'all already know this, but he loved flying and he loved LUCY. Every time he came home it was all he could talk about! He kept us updated with pictures and would send us any news articles his little town would write about his plane.

They are calling him a hero in Point Pleasant and we're very proud of him. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during this tragic time.

If anyone figures out what went wrong with the plane, please post it here. We would all like to know what happened or what probably/might have happened. (Forgive us, we know nothing about planes!)
 
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3 RV's in one weekkend

While I did not know any of the pilots of the 3 fatal RV crashes this weekend it sure feels like I did. My heartfelt condolences go out to all the families.

Lets keep it safe out there guys!
 
Texan living in NJ

For the last few years I have had the pleasure to know Rich Jahns. He was a great guy who always seemed to find the time when you needed help. This was the case with every one of his friends I have met over the past few years.
He had been precise and meticulous in his Phase 1 testing. The first 7 to 11 hours were flown by a local test pilot (comm/CFII) who has a few thousand hours of tailwheel time. While this was going on, Rich went and got the insurance-required transition training. He messaged me after His first flight with "Woo Hoo!!!".
One of his goals with the plane was to be able to freely fly between NJ and TX to visit family and friends more often. He even had routes pre-planned and intended to fly there later this summer after Phase 1 was completed.
The only problem I was aware of was that his #2 cylinder CHT was running 50-70 degrees cooler than the others. But all the numbers were in the green.

There will be a large number of people who will miss him.

For the latest information:

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080708/NEWS/807080412&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
 
916RomeoNiece said:
I am Rich's niece. I was also going to post the link to the news article, but someone already beat me to it. Thank you.

I'm sure y'all already know this, but he loved flying and he loved LUCY. Every time he came home it was all he could talk about! He kept us updated with pictures and would send us any news articles his little town would write about his plane.

They are calling him a hero in Point Pleasant and we're very proud of him. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during this tragic time.

If anyone figures out what went wrong with the plane, please post it here. We would all like to know what happened or what probably/might have happened. (Forgive us, we know nothing about planes!)
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your loss!
 
Thank you for all of your kind words. If you are near Point Pleasant, NJ and would like to pay your respects, there will be a visitation on Thursday, July 10 from 6-9 p.m. with a scripture service at 7 and Friday, July 11 at 9 a.m. there will be a mass at St. Peter's Catholic Church.

-Sara
 
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