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SatOct03,201511:35am
(http://www.usrigging.com/cableassemblies.jpg)
There is a lot of experience among the readers here on BCP, and many of you are building or have built in the past. Whether you are buying a used plane, renting,
or building your own, Captain Obvious says making sure a plane is properly rigged is important.
.
MTV in two separate posts discussing ACA Scout and Husky Aircraft wrote:
//snip//
As I noted, they did have some quality issues some time back. I've also seen some really badly rigged ones (and Super Cubs, as well), so
have someone take a good look at it first.
//snip//
Pay particular attention to the wing rigging first time you fly it. Start out with some gentle stalls, and gradually work your way into more
aggressive stalls. If it rolls off hard anywhere for any reason you can't explain by your control inputsGET IT RIGGED RIGHT. I've seen a
couple of these airplanes brand new which were rigged REALLY badly, and which had really ugly stall characteristics. Find that out on a test
flight up high, not on short final to some high DA backcountry strip, and get it fixed. Scouts are easy to rig right.
http://bondline.org/wiki/Rigging_Checks_and_adjustments (http://bondline.org/wiki/Rigging_Checks_and_adjustments)
.
Rigging Checks and adjustments: Significant performance changes can be obtained by removing the errors and getting the plane correctly
rigged.
Clearly different planes (Bearhawk vs Cessna 180) and different configurations ( Bush wheels, floats, etc. ) will affect the checklist or matrix.
If you look at enough used aircraft for sale you see some projects that are stunning and perfect, while others dont even mind using duct tape on the dash to cover
an out of service instrument. In terms of Certified Aircraft, in 2015 hopefully most manufacturers have cleaned up their quality assurance act and are putting out a
decent product. The same goes for the kit guys like Rans, Bearhawk, and Just Aircraft.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/8QVodsF7_8U/U38Dtfo126I/AAAAAAAAMf4/Qd_EfFNiEns/s1600/ducttapefunnypictures.jpg)
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SatOct03,20151:15pm
Also, don't forget that adjusting one thing can change something else. Example: On a cub, adjusting dihedral/washout will change tensions on the aileron cables.
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SatOct03,20151:48pm
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SatOct03,20154:30pm
Years ago Lexus used to run this TV ad about how they could roll a marble along the gaps between door panels or where the trunk met the fender line. All was
uniform. I look at my Jeep Grand Cherokee and it is anything but.
Reading the many posts on various websites, I have gotten the impression ( false or correct?) that certain planes have that Lexuslike quality of fit and finish, while
others are less so. Moreover, it seems a scratch built plane will sometimes sell for less than a kit built, again due to concerns about average scratch vs average kit
built quality and consistency. Although clearly we have all seen scratch projects that far exceed any certified or kit built aircraft as well.
We all remember what happened with the Hubble Space Telescope in the beginning. It's the little things that sometimes can mean a lot.
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SatOct03,20157:00pm
That's not everything, of course. There must be full elevator travel and full rudder travel, and it's entirely possible to be out of rig in such a way that there's more
control surface travel one way than the other. That's where proper measurements come in, so that the control surfaces move the way that they should and as far
as they should.
It's also possible for an airplane to fly well, but to have both ailerons drooping a little. It'll fly OK, but it will go slower than it should in cruise. My airplane gained a
couple knots, because that problem in mine was corrected during the rerigging. Or perhaps the flaps don't retract quite all the way; that will cause the same
excessive drag.
It's less likely that wing washout will be unequal, but that can happen if the airplane was in even a minor ground accident and careful reconstruction wasn't
accomplished.
And of course there's the simple issue of a bendable rudder trim tab being bent too far one way or the other, which can make even an otherwise properly rigged
airplane seem out of rig.
Way back in ancient times when I was learning to fly, the 150 I flew on my long cross country was horribly out of riglet it go, and it would go into a pretty steep
right bank almost immediately. The easy solution was to hang the hand mic over the left side of the passenger yoke. The weight and tension from the mic cord was
exactly right that the airplane would fly straight and level with just me in it. Now that's rerigging at its cheapest!
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SatOct03,20157:56pm
In defense of ACA, my little Scout was rigged very well (opinion) from the factory. She is dream to fly straight, stall, etc etc.
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SunOct04,20158:58am
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MonOct05,20158:09am
hardtailjohn wrote:
I usually try to get behind the plane and look at it.... usually differences are easier to spot from wing to wing from behind. I tend to look at
flap gaps and aileron positions as well as lining up the vertical and horizontal with the wings to eyeball how square things look, for starters.
Every plane, certified or not, has rigging instructions. Some are more technical than others. I've seen them range from one sentence to a
whole book.....
Rigging can range from cables to whole surfaces....and it's all worthwhile.
JH
'
What he said. There's rigging of the wings on many airplanes, but not all, and then there's rigging of the control surfaces on all airplanes. Get the rigging right and
the plane will fly hands off or nearly so, it will stall straight and predictably and it will perform close to the manufacturer's specs.
Some airplanes have fixed wings....no adjustment available. An example is the Found Bush Hawk. That is a one piece wing, essentially....so the dihedral and wash is
fixed....no adjustment available. You rig those by rerigging one flap if necessary. Creates a little drag, but it's all you've got.
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MonOct05,201510:43am
You have to have a good starting point. The first thing I do is check the ball, level the airplane per the manual, then make sure the ball is centered. All rigging starts
from there. Fly it with the ball centered, and you can learn a lot. Does it stall straight ahead? Does it have a heavy wing.
Ailerons are generally not messed with for heavy wings, since they will trail to a neutral position. A trim tab on an aileron on the other hand will help, but I
generally consider that a band aid. Cessnas fix heavy wings with the eccentrics, most rag wings I am half familiar with will lengthen or shorten the rear strut (but
I'm not much of a rag wing guy, so don't quote me). On Cessnas, if you have to use flap to lift a heavy wing, something else is wrong.
If a Cessna does not stall straight ahead, it can be poorly built wings (or not coordinated, but that isn't the airplane's fault, Right?). There is a simple procedure
spelled out in the service manual for measuring wing twist. They are supposed to have no twist between the root and station 100, and 3 degrees of twist between
station 100 (the rib at the strut) and the tip (except the 170A, I think it has 1.5 degrees, 140A may be different as well). I've measured A LOT of wings, factory
original, wings built in good and bad jigs, wings built on saw horses, and none of them measured 3 degrees. The ones that I considered "perfect" based on my
knowledge of their history or repair all measured 2.8 degrees. The fact is, it doesn't matter as long as they are equal. If one has more or less twist, the airplane
may not stall straight ahead. That being said, I have flown airplanes with up to 1/2 degree difference in twist left vs. right and they flew well and stalled straight
ahead, so there is room for some error, but ideally, they should be equal. Cessna does allow for a bit of slop in this regard, but I can't remember the spec,
something like .100" on either end of the measuring rig. I've also heard of guys who wanted to make their Cessna faster so they built wings with no twist, or less
than original. In theory it would work, not sure if it did in practice.
Control travel limits should be check as well. It doesn't generally affect flying hands off, but it can significantly affect controllability when you need it most. I was
checking out a good friend and good TW pilot in his new to him 180. He had trouble with it darting left on takeoff and I chewed him out repeatedly for it. He let me
fly and it did the same thing to me. We finally chased it down to the right rudder travel stop was limiting deflection by a lot. Not obvious on a walk around, but
painfully obvious when we flew it and when we measured it per Cessna's book. Aileron travel in a Cessna is not adjustable, at least not via anything in the manual. I
suppose you could file out the slot in the bell crank but then you become a test pilot. Elevator travel is adjustable via an eccentric block and up and down travel are
adjustable independently.
Sorry if this is a bit random. My world is 180s and 185s, so this mostly applies to them and may or may not apply to others. Rigging a skywagon from scratch can be
an all day or more project.
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