I have a Great Planes Cherokee 40 that I got to maiden the other day. It is my first plane with flaps and a larger one in my collection (mostly 1/2a's). I had two problem issues that almost caused the first flight to be a disaster. First of all the plane pulled hard left and I had to add all my right aileron and rudder trim to fly straight. I think I have fixed that tonight. Since I wasn't the one who built it (just covered and final assembly) I realized there was no right thrust built into the motor mount. So I think I got that squared away. The other thing was that it required all of my up elevator trim to fly level. Initially before the first flight I added a 2oz heavy motor hub to help balance the plane to the specs on the plans. I balanced the plane without fuels and it was just a hair on the tail heavy side according to plans. After my first flight for some reason I tried putting another ounce and a half on the nose. Right on spec now and the second flight of course had the same problems. Thinking back to my early mistakes in flying I remembered that with a tail heavy plane usually you had to add down elevator so I am guessing that I am actually nose heavy and the CG on the plans is wrong. The plane landed great with the flaps but does seem to take a bit to get off the ground and doesn't want to naturually lift like many of my other planes which also leads me to believe that it may be nose heavy. Does this sound right to everyone? Thanks for any advice in advance!

SPYDER, hi sounds like you know whats wrong. can you let me know where you got the plane? it sounds like a kit. i was looking at the hanger 9 cherokee arf. but i would like to build one.. it will be my second plane. thanks for any info spooner

how about the incidence of wing or horizontal stab?

I think this is quite possible. I had forgotten that after I covered the plane and mounted the wing to it I found a gap (a hair less than a 1/4 of an inch) between the leading edge and the fuselage. At the time I thought maybe this was to add the weather striping cushion material that I used to see on planes. But now I wonder if he drilled the holes for the two wing dowels too low on the fuselage (or glued the piece in too low). This would give it less angle of attack and I am guessing would cause the excessive elevator trim. I suppose I could quickly fabricate a shim and put it between the trailing edge and the fuselage and see if thing work better. That sounds like a better idea than trying to change the CG (which in my experience can make for a short plane life).


The Great Planes Cherokee 40 kit was discontinued as far as I know. I think its a lot better looking than the Hanger 9 Cherokee ARF. If I get a chance I'll try to post a pic. I do think that the Hanger 9 version is still a good looking plane (especially since its under $140) though and probably would have purchased it instead of buiding a kit if this one wasn't already built.

I owned a H9 Cherokee. Pros: It looks great, has a nice size which beats the sub 60" wingspan of a lot of sport planes and is a great flyer. It would fly quite fast and land fairly slow. Cons: The cowl is made of 1/64" thin plastic and is very fragile. The covering is not heat resistant and will sag in hotter climates. The fuselage is made of mostly foam with a few balsa sticks thrown in to maintain the shape. I had to let it go in when a fast moving fog surrounded the plane. The wing could have easily been repaired but the fuselage was turned into a pile of confetti. If you realize that its a throw away type plane if it crashes and your ok with that, then its worth looking at. If you want a plane that is more repairable for hobby bumps then look elsewhere!

SPYDER, I think you have the answer on the pitch but also think you have not fixed the left turn using right thrust.

If it takes full or near full aileron to make it fly straight there must be an alignment problem! Check that the wings and horizontal stab. are in line, the vertical stab must be in line with the center line of plane, etc. I have had many planes that had no right thrust and all flew fine. It sounds to me as though the builder was a little sloppy.

The plane is built straight and well (minus the wing dowel holes). It doesn't require full rudder/aileron to fly straight it requires the trim tabs on the transmitter to be full right. When the trims are centered the control surfaces appear to be straight. The plane easily turns both left and right properly once the trims are put in. Now my setup isn't using maximum throw on the surfaces so the trims are making small changes. I was more concerned with the balancing and the excessive elevator. I think I can trim the rest.

Checked the plane against the plans last night to find out that he had drilled the wing dowel holes 1/4 of a inch too low. I was able to redrill and fill the old holes. I had to also shape the fuse a bit so that the wing fit correctly. I'm guessing that being off a quarter of a inch in the front is a big deal and probably the cause. Unfortunately it snowed here the other day so it will be a while before I can test again.