Flaps setup
 

Being new to flaps, can anyone suggest what sort of throws I should be looking at. Have a 65" Super Chipmunk with a DLE 20 with flaps, also do you ever set them up to move upwards for airbrakes?

RE: Flaps setup
 

Hi,

I ain't no expert here, I wanted to use flaperon on my Strega 40. I'm using Aurora9, and I learned and set it up. I have not flown the plane yet cos of weather and timings but if not this week next week, it's gonna be my first experience.

I think that in order to do the flaps setup you gotta also state which radio are you using, so the experienced guys who might be using the same radio you are would be able to help ya.

Good luck

Mody

RE: Flaps setup
 

If the flaps are deflected upwards, the wing tips will usually stall first. The plane will drop a wing if you fly too slowly. Flaps down will increase stability when flying slowly. If you need better brakes and your radio can handle it, you could drop the ailerons slightly together with the flaps, or raise the ailerons if you don't need the extra lift.

RE: Flaps setup
 

Once you set it up and maiden, make sure you get get it up fairly high and test them out while doing a high flyby. Different planes react differently to flaps. Some guys that use flaps or flaperons mix in some up elevator to counter act the effects of the flaps.

RE: Flaps setup
 

I have no experience with that particular plane, so this answer is just in case no one who does jumps in.

Flaps allow you to fly more slowly without stalling. If your radio allows it, less lowering for takeoff and more for landing is the norm. Maybe 10 and 20 degrees to start. Unless you are planning on doing very unusual maneuvers, there is no reason to have your flaps go up. Nor is there much of a case for flaperons, especially as you already have flaps.

RE: Flaps setup
 

Took it out for a flaps maiden, with throttle reduced to a 1/4 when dropping the faps the plane started to gain alot of lift. So if I was to add some up elevator to counter the flaps would this just make the plane rise even higher or could it be that I had too must throttle.

RE: Flaps setup
 

Be nice to that strega, they are ground looping sons of ......, blistering fast,easy to tip stall,and need to land HOT. To much throw makes them a beast to handle.

Setup correctly they are maybe one of the most fun to fly, very well built,and a good looking plane. :D I miss the hell out of mine.

I never tried flaperons. I would use just a slight amount of deflection at first,and adjust to what you need once used to it.

I had it for a year with an O.S. .65 on it. A man made me an offer for it I could not refuse. Later that day he took it up with his own rx,trimmed it out and started playing. He had gone to higher rates then suggested, and planted it at about 120mph into the concrete 4 minutes into it. Lots of pieces, lots and lots of tiny....tiny.... tiny.... pieces.

RE: Flaps setup
 

If the plane noses up when you drop flaps, you could mix in a little down elevator. If it just balloons, without nosing up much, try less throttle. The main point of flaps for landing is to let you fly more slowly than you otherwise could without risking a stall.

I am no expert on flaps, though I have them on a couple of my planes. It would be good if someone who knows your particular plane would contribute.

I'm not a flaperon expert, either, but I know enough to avoid them. Using them makes your ailerons less effective and increases the risk of a tip stall. In exchange you get not much, if anything.

RE: Flaps setup
 

If you ever look at the wing of a full scale airplane you will see that the flaps are always on the root (closest to the fuselage) of the wing. This is because if you ever induce a stall in the wing (loss of lift) you want it where there is the least amount of lever action.

Think of a sea/saw and how how hard it is to push it down if you push near the center vs pushing near the end. If you stall the root of the wing, the plane rolls gently to one side. If you stall the tip, you are flying knife edge before you know it.

I love flaps, have installed them on many planes by shortening the strip ailerons (ailerons are least effective near the root for the same reasons, and usually start with 10-20 deg down flap and manually pushing in down elevator to get a feel for where the elevator needs to be for that amount of flap. With the plane on the ground, I then set up the flap/elevator mixing based upon the down deflection I needed to add in my test flight. Back in the air, two mistakes high, I test my setting.

Flaps that deflect up are called spoilers, but I have never seen a model that needed them.

RE: Flaps setup
 

I beleive that when you use flaps you mix a small amout of down elevator so it does not ballon.

RE: Flaps setup
 

As tacx said: itdepends on the plane, center-of-gravityand the amount of flaps. Some will nose up and some will nose down with application of the flaps. Don't program it in directly linked until you have tried.

Start with a small amount of flaps - 5°to 10°or so - and always slow down before applying them until you see what they will do.