Reduced Dihedral

7 posts in this topic

Posted

Hey Gents - Heading into restoring my wings - I am curious if there is a way to reduce the wing dihedral once a wing is already drilled and rigged.

Thanks for letting me know any options !

 

 

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Posted

I would guess that the fastest way to do it would be to shorten the lift struts.  But why do you want to?  JImChuk

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Posted

Thanks, Jim.   Admittedly, just looks :wacko:,  no other good reason.  I can understand shortening the lift struts but I assume the spar-fuselage bolts and clearance holes would no longer line up?

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Posted

Ya, your right.  It's 12:30, I drove over 600 miles today, and picked up a Kitfox project.  Just winding down before I try to go to sleep.  My brain must be a bit muddled.  I suppose if you removed one of the doubler plates the wing bolts/pins fit through, redrilled and reattached a new one, that would work, but lots of work for a little looks, and probably reduced stability in the airplane for the effort??  JImChuk

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Posted

The dihedral serves a couple of functions.  It helps keep the fuel flowing in turbulent air when fuel level is low, and helps stabilize the airplane in roll when stalled.  As a side benefit, it allows you to cruise hands off, once trimmed up, using rudder only.  The dihedral and wing twist were designed in to protect us from ourselves, i think.  A Stinson -style monster fin might have also been a good call, since so many Avids get damaged in groundloops.

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Posted (edited)

If it ain't broke don't fix it...
I know some would argue we are "experimental aircraft" and should therefore not bother what someone else is doing - but this doesn't sound like a good idea.... Turbo list some good reasons.. to start with... 

Edited by FredStork

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Posted

Dihedral is an important contributer to flight stability, and should only be changedwith care and study. Basically, the uptilted wings make any yaw movement (sideslip) into a roll disturbance, so the aircraft stays reasonably straight in yaw, and the pilot sees the roll and corrects it. Dihedral makes the aircraft feel like the rudder and tail are even more effective. A flat zero dihedral would allow the aircraft to just slide sideward, perhaps with really bad results.

Every time I fly my Avid I can see what a genius Dean Wilson is, and appreciate the way he balanced the design so well. I would not change a basic property without some serious knowledge and careful flight test.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihedral_(aeronautics)

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