Rigging changes

[wypaul 448]

Put 3.1 hours on the clock yesterday.  There are a few rigging changes to be made before the next flight.  The left wing is a little heavy so I am going to re-check the rigging of the wings and the flaperons then make the changes to get the thing flying level.  The rudder requires right input even at cruise and the springs on the rudder pedals should be adjusted enough to take care of that but if not then a rudder tab will be added.

 

The last item is the stick is a little far forward to be comfortable while in level flight.  I have checked the manual but did not find anything about adjusting the stick position.  I am assuming that by adjusting the rod end at control column I will be able to move the stick back so that it is comfortable.  Does that sound correct, it may be clear to understand when I get back out to the plane.

 

A question for you 912 flyers:  My oil temp were running at 235 F yesterday with 60 F weather, do these tend to run this high with the new engine and come down as it breaks in or is there an oil cooler in my near future.

 

All in all a fun little plane but it seems to take forever to get anywhere compared to my Q-2 which cruises at 150kts.

[akflyer 1427]

you can fix that heavy wing by turning in the heim joint on the end of the left strut.  In order to get my stick in a comfortable position, I had to shorten it up on the front and rear (turn the rod ends in, not shorten the tube)

 

No clue on the 912 stuff

 

[Av8r3400 1178]

Paul, refresh my memory, is your plane an Avid or Kitfox?  The Avids have a tighter cowl with less air going through, so a cooler is usually needed.

 

I am not running an oil cooler on my Kitfox IV, 912 80 hp.  I will occasionally see oil temps in the 240 range, but since I run Mobil 1 - Racing 4T, my oil redline is 280 degrees.  I have 400 plus hours on my motor currently.  I bought the plane with 70 on the hobbs.  The oil temps have never trended differently for me.  

 

At 235 you are still well within the green, so not to worry.  Just monitor it for higher.

[Av8r3400 1178]

Oh - just a thought:  On my trip to NC this past spring, during a sustained climb all the way to 10,500 MSL, I did see an oil temp spike to 260 degrees.

[wypaul 448]

It is a MK IV Avid, guess I will see how it does as the weather starts to warm up. Thanks and thanks Leni I made the adjustments to the wing but have not flown it yet to see if it is enough. Looks like Tuesday before I get another chance to check it out.

[Av8r3400 1178]

The cowl you have, are the cheek openings partially blocked off? (Sometimes done on a 912 install) How much "lip" do you have on the hot air exhaust on the bottom of the cowl?

[wypaul 448]

The cheeks are open and the lip is factory, there is an excessive amount of flow at this time through the cowling.

[wypaul 448]

What a great little plane! Starting to get it dialed in rigging wise. Trimmed out was able to fly for several minutes without stick input and very little rudder input and could have continued for most of the flight today. The ball is still to the right of center without rudder input so there is still that to figure out.

Still having growing pains in the landing phase, I find that I need to carry some power into touchdown to make a decent landing. Haven't tried the flaps for landing yet. One thing for sure, when it is done flying, it's done.

6.1 hours on the clock.

[Russ. 7]

Be careful of flaps on landing as the flapperon response will be slower with each degree of flaps.  Got me in trouble once.

Edited 7 Jun 2013 by Russ.

[dholly 718]

One thing for sure, when it is done flying, it's done.

Kitfox too. Notes in the log from the builder of my KF4 at ~hour 3 of Phase One include "airplane floats above 55mph" and "sink rate below 45mph increases to a point it is dangerous". Woot, w00t!

[wypaul 448]

Thanks Russ, I will put off trying the flaps on landing to somewhere in the distant future.

Doug, I can attest to that!

[akflyer 1427]

1) As to the ball being slightly to the right of center... Put a level on the bottom of the fuse when its sitting level on the ground or in the hangar (side to side level) and check the level across the front tube on the wing carry through in the fuse.  If both of those are level, and your ball is centered while sitting then it need the little bit of rudder input.  On mine, the turn n bank was installed in the panel slightly rolled and when flying, my ball is about half out to the right.  If I try and fly with it centered I am actually in a bit of a slip.  Check the ball against your airspeed too.  If you are at a higher airspeed with it slightly to the right, than you are with it centered, then it is an issue with the instrument being installed slightly rolled, not an issue that you need to use rudder to correct.

 

2) I always (unless very gusty crosswind) use full flaps on landing and take off.  I always carry power on short final too!  once I have the runway made, I use full flaps and power to keep the sink rate and speed right where I want it.  Elevator controls speed, power controls sink rate.  If your wanting spot landings on the numbers every time, your going to be playing with the power all the way to touch down.

 

3)  Sink rate... if you want to loose altitude, pull the nose up and come off the power.  at 45-50 I can drop out of the sky with the nose slightly high at 1000+ FPM.  Throw in a slip and I can peg the VSI at 60-65 MPH.  Every plane flys slightly different due to builders etc, so the best performance increase you can get out of your plane at this point is gas in the tanks! 

 

Glad your getting it sorted out, as these little planes are an absolute blast to fly that will get you back to the bare bones, basic stick and rudder skills that have fallen by the wayside in much of general aviation! 

 

[wypaul 448]

1. That makes since, it does feel better with the ball to the right. Will check it out.

[wypaul 448]

Thanks for the suggestion about flaps Leni. I have been using about 1/2 flaps for TO and it does feel much better. Today after checking full flaps at altitude I used full flaps for landing and it really worked for me. Best landing so far.

Installed the Ivo ground adjustable prop yesterday and it appears that I picked up about 5 kt

Twelve and one half hours total time to date

[tcj 150]

_{Another check to check wings level to slip/skid bubble centered (or off a bit).  Stretch a string from wing tip to wing tip above the wings.  Jack one wheel up a little or let air out of one tire to level that string.  Where the bubble is now is wings level flight.} 

[wypaul 448]

Thanks, sounds like a good method.