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Tail wagger

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Posted

We built an Avid from a partially completed kit a few years ago and have been flying it.We think it is a heavy hauler. No paperwork.

The problem with it is very longitudinally unstable. It waggs its tail. A lot. I have around 50 hours on a different Avid and a Kitfox so I know they are notorious ass  waggers but this thing is something else. When we built it my partner is long in the back and could not sit in it without his head hitting the ceiling and looking right at the front spar carry thru. So we built a roof extension, raised the roof about 2 inches, it worked out pretty good but I am suspecting it has disrupted the airflow over the tail. As long as the ball is kept right in the center it is not bad but as soon as the ball is a little off the the side it "slews" all the way over, irritating.  We are in the process of increasing rudder and vertical stab size. We tried adding fins on the end of the horizontal stab the way Challengers do but no effect. 

Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated.

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Posted (edited)

You didn't say what model Avid, but there are a couple of Avid owners on here who have extended the roof as much or more than yours, and have not had any tail-wagging complaints that I have heard of.

Are your rudder cables tight?

I wonder if you have the later controls for differential aileron travel, and if that might make a difference?

I have extended the roof and wings of my latest Foxy about 6 inches, but I have added a dorsal fin almost up to the turtledeck, larger, taller, vertical stabilizer and larger all other tailfeathers - not completed yet.

The tail height on mine and later Model 4 Kitfoxes is about 54", about a foot or more taller than the early models, if that means anything for your Avid.

EdMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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Posted

Is this a tricycle gear airplane by any chance?

 

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Posted

Have you tried adding a bit of flaps while in flight?  My first Avid would go to a negative flap position if you pushed the flap handle all the way forward, and it didn't fly very good then.  Pull the handle back a bit and everything got good.  Jim Chuk

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