Has any one heard of or tried using "flaperons" with a Dura-plane?

These designs are strong birds, resistent to hanger rash, should do OK in windy conditions (I think) however they fly - or at least land, faster than most .40 trainers. Perhaps flaperons would slow them down? In my opinion the best trainer on the market today in Sig's Kadat Senior - especially when powered by a 4 stoke motor. Unfortunately this fine model, with its low wingloading, is easily effected by wind.

Maybe a Dura-Plane w/ flaperons would be a rugged bird, not so easily effected by the wind, and with a slow landing speed. What do you think?

Mark in Missouri

I have a couple of duraplanes that I fly when I want to really wring it out or fly in high wind. They handle the wind really well. I flew a few weekends ago in winds exceeding 30mph and gusting even higher and although it seemed to take forever to fly upwind it would scream going downwind. Landings were no problem in the wind if you were very gentle on the elevator input, pull back just a tiny bit too far and you were 50 feet in the air again.

I am intrigued by the suggestion of flapperons on the duraplane, I may order a new wing kit and convert it to dual aileron servos. It would also eliminate the problem of getting the rubber bands under the control rods. With practice the duraplane will land slowly though, but agreed, not as slowly as an LT40.

I will check into this, you have piqued my interest.

Try it, it works!

I crashed mine and wrecked the wing. When I built a new one I enlarged the hole where the servo goes and put 2 in. Flaperons let it fly really slow, spoilerons make it drop like a stone. Spoilerons also help with inverted flight.

I'm running out of things to change on this plane - it's a taildragger, the tail is bigger, and the ailerons are a little bigger -(instead of sanding the LE, I just glued some triangle stock to the front). It's actually pretty aerobatic now.

Flaperons and trainers usually don't go together well.

The result is usualy an increase in the "adverse yaw" when using ailerons. This can lead to the student applying more and more aileron, trying to overcome the turn, and then the plane suddenly tip-stalls, and smacks the ground. I've had adverse yaw with one plane that would overcome the ability of the rudder to correct for it. Newbies would tend to forget to use the rudder to ATTEMPT to fix the problem.

Best not to add the weight and complications. (even though its not much weight....)

Personaly I don't consider the duraplane a trainer in any other sense than it's durability. It doesn't fly like a trainer, it's fast and maneuverable, can perform more aerobatics than a conventional trainer and lands like a brick. I would not recommend one for a pure beginner to learn on unless they have no choice but to go it alone.

Only attempt such drastic modifications if you are qualified to do so.

Where would we be if Orville and Wilbur had never made modifications to those bicycle parts?

FhHUBER,
May I ask why you do not post a location?
No problem, I am just curious.
Regards,
DOC

The flaperons won't help at all while you are learning, but they will be fun later. Once the wing is built it will be almost impossible to add them in; if you do it now, all you need to do is enlarge the hole and replace 2 little plywood rectangles. It's just easier to make the modifications while you're building it.