LonnieMcc

Well I have finally finished up building my chippy. All I need to do now is balance it. But not exactly sure just where.

A little background on me. I have been back into flying now for about two years. I have also been flying my Escapade for about five months now. I would like to balance the chippy more on the tame side for the moment.

According to the plans, the balance point is 1/4 forward to 1/4 beyond the spar. So the question is about how far back from the LE should I balance it?? What I have done so far is balance about 4" back from the LE, would that be a good spot or slightly farther back?

Thanks

TomCrump

Balance the Chippy 1/4" in front of the spar.

LesUyeda

"What I have done so far is balance about 4" back from the LE, would that be a good spot or slightly farther back?"

Where is 4" back from the LE with respect to the spar???? Is that 1/ 4" before or after the spar????

Les

LonnieMcc

It is 1/4" before the spar

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

Balance in the middle of the range. Running forward CG range will mean faster landing speeds and poor flight charicteristics.

KW_Counter

Hey Chipmunk Guys,

I just got the Goldberg Super Chipmunk kit in ARC form.
I'm having to re-drill the firewall for my engine.
It appears the center line for the engine is 1 5/8" below the top of the fuse.
Is this correct? That puts the engine mount at the top of the firewall if doing a sideways engine mount.

Thanks for the help,

KW_Counter

LesUyeda

" Running forward CG range will mean faster landing speeds and poor flight charicteristics."

Forward CG means slightly nose heavy; that means less responsive to control surface input, i.e. less twitchy, less likely to become uncontrollable. A Great place to start, then move CG back, a little at a time, until you get the response you are happy with.

Les

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

I have built and flown a few of these kits. It is very predictable and is like a trainer. I would balance on the spare. This bird floats and you want to do three point landings, not main wheel landings. A noes heavy plane will not fly good and is not the best way to maiden a plane. This kit is very reliable and many have built it and flown it so not much to experiment with. If you are not confident in your setup (balancing) have an experienced pilot fly it for you to see where the CG is in flight and adjust it there're after.


TB

chuckk2

The plane should start out nose heavy, and transition to neutral at fuel exhaustion if it's balanced properly.
When the weight and balance is approximately correct, look at the trimmed out elevator position.
If the elevator position is in line with the horizontal stabilizer, things are about right.