I am inexperienced with airplanes, but am a fast learner. I have had 2 gallons of fuel practice before I got my cap 232. I have had about 50 flights on it and there are certain things I don't understand. I guess I can say I am doing good if I haven't crashed yet.

First I thought when it acted up, I thought it was just snappy. I heard they are and it was like the plane was automatically adding aileron. Now I am beginning to think that it is just tip stalling.

EXAMPLES

I was doing a spin. The one with rudder and elevator. I think I had no power. I got out and the plane went sideways.

I go to loop it add full power to climb. When it is upside down I cut the power and flip it back over. It then does an uncontrolled roll.

The runway from one side is blocked by trees. I make a slow turn and then it does it again and I almost got it stuck up there.


What I want to know

Is this tip stalling or snapping?

Also if it is tip stalling what is the best way to get out if it is heading for the ground.

If it is snapping how do you control that.

Also is there any other deadly characteristics of the CAP 232.

A snap is basically a high speed Tip Stall. Moving the CG forward a little and laterally balancing the plane will help, but if the wing is prone to tip stalling you will have to live with it. Also try lower elevator rates to calm down the elevator.

Flyfalcons is right. Another thing to think about is when do you loose it? If you tip just as you get the power out, make sure your engine is lined up. If not, you are trimmed for the power and when you pull power, it can snap. If it snaps when you pull elevator, make sure both sides of the elevator are moving the same amount. Usually, adding power makes the spin worse once you get in it. I would add some weight to the nose and see what that does if everything else checks. These planes don't like to fly slow. They can tip easy if you get slow and add power. Can make some maneuvers a lot of fun, but can get you into trouble if you are low and dont expect it. Hope that all helps a bit.

It was an arf built by a professional. He checked 2 areas of balance and said it was okay. He aslo flew it and said it was fine. He also built this plane before and still has that.

I am pretty sure it is me and not the plane. For some, that is hard to admit.

I did not know that about the snap. No wonder why I really can not tell the difference.


Also why does the elevator cause it to snap then.

The elevator can cause the plane to fly at a high enough angle of attack to stall/tip stall. The tip stall part is not the Elevator's fault but the wing's. Decreasing the throw should get you out of having enough throw to end up with a violent stall.

So then why does the plane "tip stall" in a dive. I mean if you add elevator and rudder it looks like you using the ailerons or sometype of snap.

I don't meant to sound rude, but can we get back to the best way of recovery. This would really help me a lot.

To recover in a dive, use minimal elevator. Too much and you're just going to snap again and repeat the process until your plane attempts subterrainian flight. You shouldn't be using any rudder during the dive recovery; that will put the plane in an uncoordinated condition and induce a snap. Remember it is possible to have too high of an angle of attack even though the nose is pointed straight down; your plane can and will stall at any attitude and/or airspeed.

before I would go and try to recover from it tip-stalling I would move the CG to the nose more just like Flyfalcons mentioned. And then after this try it again and see if it still has problems tip-stalling. It should help out your problem though.

Your plane should not tip-stall when trying to recover. To recover it usually just takes some up elevator to pull out and thats all. It sounds like the way it is set up now would be a good setup for 3D especially since the type of plane you have. But for conventional type flying the way the CG is set up can get you into major problems.

Also make sure you do not have to much travel on your elevator as mentioned in above posts. You can take some out of it little by little until you are able to give full back elevator and it not tip-stall. I had to do this with a Morris Hobbies Spinsation I been flying. I had to much at first and it did the same thing. So I set my low rates so I can pull the stick all the way back and it not tip-stall. Now on high rates I set it up as far as it will travel but I can not use this if I want to recover from a stall. It is just used to aerobatics only.

one more thing if you are trying to recover by adding elevator and rudder at the same time you are pretty much forcing the plane into a snap-roll.
The type plane you have is meant for aerobatics and it does not take much to get it into a snap.

Just a couple of thoughts if you still have excessive snaps, even with the CG in the right place(although that's the most likely cause if too far back) ..

Make sure the elevators are exactly in line (my CAP has separate elevator horns, I presume yours has too?)

Also, try sealing the aileron and elevator gaps. It's amazing how even the smallest gap can cause odd things to happen in extreme situations like going too fast or too slow.

David C.