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Old 01-10-2004 | 02:06 PM
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combatpigg
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From: arlington, WA
Default RE: elevator trim/incidence adjusting

HI LENNYK! It's a juggling act that is complicated by airfoil selection, and speed range. A well designed pylon racer, or competition sailplane will be set up with the CG in a spot that allows a neutral elevator,[ or stabilator ]while the plane is being operated in the speed range it was designed to do it's business at. When the pylon racer comes in with a dead stick landing, it's no longer in that groove, and the pilot finds himself much more involved with keeping the plane under control. The trainer airfoils, with lots of lift[like a gliders'] are the most difficult to dial in for all speeds. If you find that you have a ridiculous amount of up elevator trim to keep your plane level, then there is something wrong that needs to be looked at.If you do some simple checking with an incidence meter, or with a ruler off of your work bench and don't see anything out of whack, then your CG is maybe the culprit,[ I'm assuming it's too far forward since you didn't complain about pitch control]. Let's say you move the CG back to 25% of the wings' chord[counting ailerons] and the plane becomes over sensitive, then you probably have too much elevator throw. A general statement would be that the push rod should be about 3/4" up on the control horn, and 30 degrees up and down on the elevator should be in the ballpark if you are flying a 40 size plane at typical sport flyer speeds.