Midwest Citabria Heading wanders
 

I've got a Midwest Citabria with a bit of a directional controll issue. This is the second one I've had. The first flew absolutely great. The second one wanders on the heading when flying. It just seems unstable. Balance is same as first. Have checked throws, incidence etc. Only difference is the new one has pull pull cables on rudder. Other flyers at club have checked out tension and say cables are tight enough. I've been flying models for years and am scratching my head on this one. Maybe some more down thrust may fix things.

Art

RE: Midwest Citabria Heading wanders
 

If the plane is straight and all surfaces are in proper alignment. Then I would suspect that you may be getting stretching in the rudder cables. They would have good tension but allow the plane to wander. I would look there first. I have never used pul-pull cables yet. But sometime in the future I sure will. Just to have done it. Good luck in fixing your wandering willies.

Mark Shuman

RE: Midwest Citabria Heading wanders
 

I picked up my BUSA Citabria Pro at an auction already built so I assumed the plane was straight and true, firewall included. Well I was wrong and the engine had 2 degrees of up thrust in it, a Robart incidence meter showed the error. After taking the time to shim the engine I flew the plane again and it flew MUCH better. Addition of quite a bit of aileron differential calmed it down in the turns and now it's a big teddy bear. On high wing "Cub" type planes like these it's critical to get all of the angles and control throws right.

I would try adding some down thrust to the engine and dail in some differntial into the ailerons. A good starting point would be to cut the downward throw by 25% and see how it flies.