Interesting heavy wing problem

[SteveHRV7]

I have just completed flying off my 40 hours I have been trouble shooting a heavy right wing. I have to keep my aileron trim full left to keep the wings level when flying hands off. I read the Van's troubleshooting page and reviewed the forums on the heavy wing problem.

It seems that I have an unusual heavy wing problem and would like some advice. My ailerons are even and I don't seem to have a poor bend in my aileron trailing edges. What I do have is wingtip misalignment. The right trailing edge of the wing tip raises up a 1/4" vs. the trailing edge of the aileron and the left wingtip trailing edge droops about 1/4" vs. the trailing edge of the aileron.

My question: as it is not possible now to change the wingtip alignment is it better to just fly with the aileron trim set full left - or to set the right aileron position down a couple of degrees allowing the trim to be set to neutral?

Thanks!

 

[bird]

How do you plan to lower the right aileron a couple degrees? If you adjust any linkage all that is going to do is move the control stick. If you are sure it is the wingtips then they need to be refitted. Or, as posted before, you can try closing the radius of the aileron opposite of the heavy wing.

Bird

 

[RV7Guy]

Squeeze it!!!

I doubt your wing tip misalignment would cause that much force. Do a search for the process and squeeze it. The process is amazing and will correct even significant heavy wing situations. FYI, there is no perceptible look in the aileron so don't worry about that.

If all is rigged properly squeezing the aileron, and a couple of test flights and you'll be done in an hour or less.

 

[cfiidon]

Check everything

I had a heavy right wing. I squeezed the aileron trailing edge and it got better, but I could see it was not doing enough.

I re-checked everything and discovered that my left flap trailing edge was 1/4 inch lower than the right. Yep... That was it. Re-positioned it and the wing heaviness went away.

So... Check everything. I doubt a slightly misaligned wingtip will make the wing that heavy.

Don

 

[rzbill]

as it is not possible now to change the wingtip alignment

There have been posts by some builders about using the technique of slitting the tip trailing edge, moving into position and reglueing with epoxy (and flox I guess) to fix the trailing edge position.

 

[Neal@F14]

A wingtip alignment problem most certainly can cause a really heavy wing, and it can be fixed just the way Bill said... you slit the trailing edge of the fiberglass and reposition the upper and lower layers so that it's aligned better, and then glue it all back together with epoxy resin mixed with flox, microballoons, or even some fiberglass cloth if necessary. That's the most economical way... a more expensive way is to buy a new wingtip, and install it with better alignment, but the cut and re-epoxy method works just as well for a whole lot less money

 

[WAM120RV]

" My ailerons are even"

How do you know this........ have you measured the angles in the neutralposition relative to each other?



and I don't seem to have a poor bend in my aileron trailing edges Based on what criteria??

What I do have is wingtip misalignment. How do you know this ?

The right trailing edge of the wing tip raises up a 1/4" vs. the trailing edge of the aileron and the left wingtip trailing edge droops about 1/4" vs. the trailing edge of the aileron. Again is this verified by measuring the angles?



My question: as it is not possible now to change the wingtip alignment is it MY advice is to recheck all the rigging from flaps through ailerons. It is quite difficult to set the wing tips at the wrong incidence but very easy to have the flaps and ailerons out. It took me several attempts in my RV9 but in the end everything lined up both sides with the tips and no heavy wing.

 

[planerv6]

Check your flaps

Problem could very well be the flaps and not aileron. Check your flap rigging to make sure they are the same.