Has this been done? Can in be done?

I have a HL Bonnie sport plane with strip ailerons that often comes in hotter than I'd like. I've gottem much better at slowing it down, but since I fly out in the country and use a road as the runway, I'd feel more comfortable being able to slow it down easier since the width of a road seems like a lot until you try to set a plane on it. Now if I had a big grassy field I wouldn't care a bit.

My idea was to attach a couple flaps to the inboard underside of the wing but I assume the length of the ailerons where the flaps are would then be pretty much ineffective on the downswing but act like an airbrake on the upswing.

Any ideas if this arrangment would cause any severe changes in control? I don't want any surprises leveling the wings with the ailerons on approach.

Tried flapperons. Don't like it.

I tried flaperons twice and found, like you, that they don't work well.

I think your flap idea will work fine. You're going to inset them into the wing in front of the ailerons I gather? There may be some trim change requireing some down elevator but I think you'll find that it's minimal and reduces to very little if any being needed once the speed lowers. Split flaps generate more drag than lift so the pitch change should be minimal.

Make sure that your split flaps deploy through a sufficiently large arc -- 80 - 90 deg would be great. This will maximize the drag & reduce pitch-up (might even get pitch-down).

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to give it a try. I figure it will be a lot easier than modifying the whole wing with wider ailerons on the tips and such.

If the problem is actually too much speed, the split flaps described may not help very much. The approach speed is determined by the stall speed, and split flaps deflected 80-90degrees won’t reduce the stall speed significantly. Attempting to fly a steep approach with a clean configuration will in fact result in a faster approach. By adding drag you can make a much steeper approach without picking up speed, which will provide easier control on final. This may be what you need rather than a slower approach speed.

Hi..
I’m reading this thread with interest. Would spoilers or spoilerons be an option in this example?
Bert

Spoilers is actuallly an option and would work well. Perhaps as well as the split flaps in front of the strip ailerons. Spoilers do generate a strong nose down pitching action when near the high point. I understand this is reduced if they are located back closer to the trailing edge. I don't know if they produce the same lift killing action at that point though. Spoilers on gliders located at the spar not only kill the lift in that area but they affect the wing to either side for quite a ways. Perhaps as much again as the width of the spoiler. Moving it to the rear would reduce that effect I suspect.

The suggestions are good in a general way, however having looked at the HL Bonnie, which is a small electric high wing model, I suspect that the added weight of the flaps/spoilers and servo would increase the stall speed enough to negate any real improvement in landing. I suggest that small, fixed leading edge slats would add little weight and would reduce the stall speed significantly. The major drawback is that the approach would be much more nose high than without the slats and would take some getting use to.

Although it’s an ARF and little can be done about airframe weight, Using smaller servos and batteries could shave several ounces of weight and reduce the stall speed. A lighter wing loading will do wonders in reducing approach speed.

I have modified a trainer this way and yes it is better or easier to operate than flaperons. Yesterday or Saturday for the first time I flew with flapperons on another trainer. Flapperons give more of a slower approach than split flaps/ ailerons would, so to speak.

When using flapperons one needs to have experience with flying with the tail, then flapperons are a sinch to use when landing.

Back again, I just looked at this plane in HL and IMO this plane should sail in like a glider. No need for flaps

Good Luck.

OK. Update.

That actually IS exactly the problem. I guess I sort of mislead everyone by suggesting the plane NEEDED to come in fast. It's actually not the case, but that she would NEVER land even when I pitched up and up with the nose it was still coming in fast.

But the spoileron idea got me thinking and after two or three take-offs and landings to get the airbrake mix just right with no pitching,

WOW, that did the trick!

Ailerons full up deflection, elevator about +2 degrees, ailerons still work perfectly, no adverse yaw, but the sink rate vastly improved and speed very comfortable.

The really nice thing is having to give more throttle to counter the brake which gives me a lot more surface authority.

You can almost see the thing slam on the brakes in the air when suddenly deployed and ground roll is 1/2 what it used to be

Thanks for all the input.

Certainly the simplest fix.
I'm presuming "ailerons full up" means the side that usually would go up to command a turn to that side doesn't move any further up, while the other side goes down, lessening the drag on the downgoing side so the up-aileron's drag brings the nose around.

Depends on how high his ailerons go up ....I can use the same method when my ailerons drop down by pushing my elvator up . I don't do this because I don't want to hault the planes glide and descend to the ground .

Yes, I'm no aerodynamic expert so I don't know exactly why, but there is no weird yaw effect as I had when using flapperons that were both down.

I'm sure someone will explain it...

And someone will contradict him, and so on and so on...

The yaw with flaperons is the same thing, but in the opposite direction.
The surface that's down all the way can't go further down when commanding a turn in the opposite direction. The other surface, being down, goes up, lessening the drag on its side. The net result is a turn/yaw -away- from the intended direction, which is disconcerting at least, and totally disorienting at worst.
The effect with spoilerons is much better, the up surface providing the drag on the proper side.