Rascal 40 Rolls
 

I have 18 flights on my Sig Rascal 40 now and am very pleased with it. As most here probably know, the Rascal is a high wing airplane, but has a semi symetrical wing and is supposed to be very agile as high wings are concerned. I'm just starting to get brave enough to do some aerobatics with it. I can knife edge with it somewhat, it has some coupling in it and needs up elevator to correct. I just about have this down.

None the less here's the question... When I roll this plane with Aileron only, I get a severe drop in elevation and a very gross looking roll at that! It's set up with the same throw in up and down on the ailerons and I'm wondering if changing the throw in the up direction will make these rolls any smoother. Are there any other suggestions?

Thanks for your help,

MPB

RE: Rascal 40 Rolls
 

What you are experiencing is normal. How much elevation you loose on an aileron roll will vary with the design of the airplane, plane speed and the roll rate but all planes will tend to fall some when you roll. Don't change the elevator rate to address this. You have to fly it. Get in the habit of bumping elev up (pull elev) slightly just before you start the roll and then when the airplane is inverted bump down (push elev). As you move to higher performance planes, you will need less of this.

RE: Rascal 40 Rolls
 

Just a point of interest, several of our members have the Rascal 40 with Saito 56's in them and I usually end up test flying them.
This really is a sweetheart of an airplane.

Three of them I test flew I was able to do a vertical snap with them which is quite neat.


3dbob

RE: Rascal 40 Rolls
 

If you are experiencing excessive loss of altitude when inverted, either during a roll or straight inverted flight, that can be an indication of a nose heavy airplane. Check your C of G, if it is at the forward end of the range experiment with moving it back a little at a time. You will be amazed at how much the flying characteristics can improve.

RE: Rascal 40 Rolls
 

Some of it I suspect is due to the dihedral in the wing also... A quick easy way to "cheat" a little, is just add a touch of rudder in with the ailerons. It ain't gonna be axial, but with practice it looks better.

Wonderful plane! I love 'em.
[8D]

RE: Rascal 40 Rolls
 

I'll touch base on several of the comments here... Thanks a million for the efforts. I've accidentally snap rolled with this plane, and yes it's pretty darn cool! Yes, I did expect that this plane would react the way it does since it's a high wing aircraft, and two it does have dihedral. The CG is fine in this plane. In fact, I've installed a 4 stroke OS FL-70 in it and it has tons of power. It is not heavy at all as the FL 4 stroke is a very light engine, just has more power. I did have to squeeze it in to the built in cowl though.

The rolling that I'm experiencing isn't all that bad, it just isn't an axial roll like I'd like it to be and perhaps I'm expecting way too much from this airframe. None the less, I'm going to keep working at it.

Thanks for all your input!

MPB

RE: Rascal 40 Rolls
 

The problems you're having with rolling the Rascal Forty are not really problems at all. This airplane has a slow rate of roll, and therefore requires more coordination throughout the roll than a more agile aircraft with a faster roll rate would. My Rascal, with full aileron deflection, was still a slow-rolling airplane. It's meant to be this way, and I loved it. With a Saito .56, this is a fantastic airplane capable of many aerobatic manuevers.

If you're performing rolls with aileron only, just pitch up about 20 degrees before starting the roll. If you're wanting to roll along a straight line, you'll need to use the rudder and elevator to compensate for the loss of altitude.

Good luck.

N925WB

RE: Rascal 40 Rolls
 

If you want to roll across the horizon without changing elevation it's time to learn to use rudder and elevator while rolling. You'll probably want to do it some day so you might as well start now. I found the easiest method for me was to do slow rolls (with plane flying away from me) and think about the rudder and elevator input as the plane was rolling. After a while it will become a learned, natural coordination and you'll be ready to do some rolling circles and harriers. Good luck!