chad500_0

All,

I am flying a Q tee, which has rudder and elevator as control surfaces. My question is that when I go into a spin under power ( screaming Black Widow) , after I center my stick, the plane will continue to spin 5 - 8 more times before the spinning stops. I have tried counter stick movement, but nothing happens. I have had this happen 3 times, and I am curious about why this is happening.

chad

BMatthews

Center of Gravity is too far back is my guess. What does it do if you dive the model at a 45 degree angle and release the stick? If it continues straight or tucks to a steeper dive the CG is too far back. If it slowly pulls up then it's fine and I'm all wet...

How are you entering the spin? Just with rudder or are you flattening the spiral dive into a true spin with some elevator?

chad500_0

BMatthews,

I will try moving something forward.

I am entering the spin with a touch of up and a hard rudder. I have tried to flatten the spin with up elevator, but again.. nothing.

thank you,

chad

BMatthews

Try that dive test thing. It's a good indicator of your stability setup. A tail heavy airplane will spin like you described, with a lazy and delayed recovery, when the CG is too far back or there's a significant problem with the design. Typically too small a vertical fin and rudder. You didn't do any modifications did you?

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

A plane that can spin is a lot of fun. It seems that the CG needs to be rearward for success and flatness for sure. I think to be able to cancel out your whirling dervishes' momentum, you need a bigger rudder and or more throw. Being able to get the nose pointed down with opposite rudder should be all you need for quick recoveries. The QT doesn't have much for a rudder or elevator, so I guess fine tuning the CG is a painless thing to try, but I think for this plane to be a true spinmeister, it needs a redesigned tail group.

Wazmo

Gyroscopic forces from the prop can also affect spin recovery. Is the same when you spin left or right, or is the recovery faster in one direction?

Bipe Flyer

Some planes will come out quicker than others. A draggy airframe and a large tail group aid in recovery. Most biplanes, for example, will recover quickly by just putting the sticks to neutral.

Get lots of height, go into your spin and then try different techniques to find what works best for that plane. You will probably need full throttle, opposite rudder and down elevator, or maybe just one or two. It depends on CG, airflow, throws, control surface size and wing loading. You need a rearward CG for good spins, but if the CG is too far back and too much elevator throw you may find that it re-enters the spin when you input up elevator after you think it has recovered. In a flat spin the airflow is mostly moving from left to right (or right to left) over the h-stab as opposed to from front to rear in normal flight, so you want to get air flowing in the right direction again. I've found that on planes that take several rotations to recover, it can help to go to a smaller diameter, higher pitch prop to get more airflow over the tail. The throttle doesn't pull the plane out of the spin as much as push the tail back into place.

I don't know if this will help you much, but here is a video clip of a plane that will stay in a flat spin if I neutralize the controls. To recover I go full throttle and opposite direction on all controls and it will recover instantly. http://www.missionwings.com/videos/Little%20Falcon.wmv

hogflyer

Check your CG - it should be right on the spar. Also check your surface throw as it may need more rudder. One way to tell on the Q-Tee is to roll the plane. If it has enough rudder to do a good fast roll, then you should have enough for spin recover. If, on the other had it won't roll cleanly, then you don't have enough rudder for the spin recovery and you'll need to increase it accordingly.

Just remember the Q-Tee wasn't really designed for aerobatics like the S-Tee. One of its best virtues is a slow, lazy glide.