I have sent a message to Van's tech support for their ideas but thought I would post it here as well.
During my initial flights, we had both the need for right rudder to keep the ball centered and a heavy right wing. As instructed in the PAP, we added trim wedges to the rudder to center the ball before tackling the wing heavy situation. It took two full Avery wedges but that brought the ball to center. We then started working on the right wing heavy issue by squeezing the trailing edge of the light (left) wing. I did this carefully at first with no apparent improvement. Finally became more aggressive and as others have noted, making sure I was actually reducing the radius as opposed to thinking that I had. At this point, the entire span of the left flaperon has been squeezed- a bit more than I would have liked. The right wing heavy condition (at cruise speeds) has improved but still persists. However, at slow speeds in the pattern with flaps extended, the plane is now left wing heavy.
So, I clearly am hesistant to do anything else to the left flaperon for fear of worsening the slow speed condition and I still have a right wing heavy condition at cruise. In fact, I do not really like how much I had to squeeze the left flaperon and am even considering reskinning it and starting over.
Any thoughts from any RV builders out there that might have encountered the same? Other than this nuisance, the plane flies great. Just wish it was a bit more hands off.
Jeff
During my initial flights, we had both the need for right rudder to keep the ball centered and a heavy right wing. As instructed in the PAP, we added trim wedges to the rudder to center the ball before tackling the wing heavy situation. It took two full Avery wedges but that brought the ball to center. We then started working on the right wing heavy issue by squeezing the trailing edge of the light (left) wing. I did this carefully at first with no apparent improvement. Finally became more aggressive and as others have noted, making sure I was actually reducing the radius as opposed to thinking that I had. At this point, the entire span of the left flaperon has been squeezed- a bit more than I would have liked. The right wing heavy condition (at cruise speeds) has improved but still persists. However, at slow speeds in the pattern with flaps extended, the plane is now left wing heavy.
So, I clearly am hesistant to do anything else to the left flaperon for fear of worsening the slow speed condition and I still have a right wing heavy condition at cruise. In fact, I do not really like how much I had to squeeze the left flaperon and am even considering reskinning it and starting over.
Any thoughts from any RV builders out there that might have encountered the same? Other than this nuisance, the plane flies great. Just wish it was a bit more hands off.
Jeff
