Rigging, Roll tendancies and Speed...

[Guitarmaster]

Hey Guys I thought I would update our rigging fun.  

Summer has been so busy I haven't had a chance to address the problems.  Today, we finally got to it.

Problems:

 

1.  Rolling to the right flaps up

2.  Rolling more to the right flaps down.

3  Right rudder to keep heading with wings level.

4.  Slower than book speed.

5.  Yokes not centered

6.  Ailerons drooping.

 

 

Gear tight in the wells.  Engine is per factory specs.  No, we don't have travel boards (the guy that rents them has a long-term illness and closed his business).  No matter.

Solutions:

 

Found flaps asymmetrical.  

Many thanks to Piloto (Jose) for clearing up the difference flaps up and down adjustments. After centering the yokes and setting the ailerons where they are supposed to be, we found BOTH flaps improperly rigged.  WAY off!  Like 1.5 inches off compared to the aileron.

 

Now, flaps out, little to no rolling (still needs a little tweaking) and flaps up has a SLIGHT roll to the right.  The up stop was adjusted but I haven't had time to test fly it again.

 

Anyway, we are making huge moves to perfectly straight flying.  

Chris, I finally got time to do a TAS check.  Four-heading method.  7500MSL and slightly above standard temp.  Pressure slightly lower.  

 

@ 22"/2500  (72%) I got a solid 147KTAS.  That is right in line with the book.  This is up from 139KTAS when this party started!  I am still tweaking and looking for more.  I am shooting for the 150 mark with zero speed mods.  

This is a stock (except for Brakett air filter) 1975 F.

[Marauder]

Hey Guys I thought I would update our rigging fun.

Summer has been so busy I haven't had a chance to address the problems. Today, we finally got to it.

Problems:

1. Rolling to the right flaps up

2. Rolling more to the right flaps down.

3 Right rudder to keep heading with wings level.

4. Slower than book speed.

5. Yokes not centered

6. Ailerons drooping.

Gear tight in the wells. Engine is per factory specs. No, we don't have travel boards (the guy that rents them has a long-term illness and closed his business). No matter.

Solutions:

Found flaps asymmetrical.

Many thanks to Piloto (Jose) for clearing up the difference flaps up and down adjustments. After centering the yokes and setting the ailerons where they are supposed to be, we found BOTH flaps improperly rigged. WAY off! Like 1.5 inches off compared to the aileron.

Now, flaps out, little to no rolling (still needs a little tweaking) and flaps up has a SLIGHT roll to the right. The up stop was adjusted but I haven't had time to test fly it again.

Anyway, we are making huge moves to perfectly straight flying.

Chris, I finally got time to do a TAS check. Four-heading method. 7500MSL and slightly above standard temp. Pressure slightly lower.

@ 22"/2500 (72%) I got a solid 147KTAS. That is right in line with the book. This is up from 139KTAS when this party started! I am still tweaking and looking for more. I am shooting for the 150 mark with zero speed mods.

This is a stock (except for Brakett air filter) 1975 F.

Now we're talking! With the mods I have, I am seeing 152 at those power settings and altitude.

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[Guitarmaster]

I was actually toying with the idea of designing winglets and pursuing an STC. Of course, all in my spare time! LOL!!

[M20F]

Right in line with this as well

http://www.mooneypilots.com/mapalog/M20F%20Evaluation/M20F_Evaluation_Report.html

[furledd]

Where you located in Illinois? (Poplar Grove I think?)

 

I am in the LaSalle Peru area and have a 67 M20F with a few basic mods on it.

 

Been wanting to do the same thing you describe but don't have the rigging tools (would be willing to rent the travel boards for both of us to use) but if i did rent them I wouldnt be "allowed" to do the rigging myself.  

 

Does your rigging expert (or maybe that you) have time for a day visit and with my willing assistance do the same thing here? Should go twice as fast the second time around? 

 

PM me if might work something out

 

[Guitarmaster]

Sent you a PM

[DaV8or]

This year at annual, I was the only plane in the LASAR hangar. Paul Lowen himself must have been bored, so he actually came out and gave my plane a throughout going over with his experienced eyes. He hasn't really done that in the past because I have had my plane there three times before and even though I had witnessed him inspecting my plane at the request of his mechanics when they wanted an opinion in the past, this time he couldn't remember ever seeing it.

 

He discovered that whoever installed the flap gap seals didn't set it up right and my flaps were not actually hitting the stops in the full up position. So he tweaked the gap seals and got the flaps all the way up. He also checked them with the travel boards. However, when the airplane was actually flown, it was found to now bank to the left. My plane has always flown straight and level hands off.

 

So when the ferry pilot and I flew the plane back to LASAR after picking me up (first year not doing owner assist), we both observed what looked to be a difference of 1/4 - 3/8" between the two flaps in straight and level flight. When we got to LASAR we told Paul this info and he came out with a wrench and adjusted my right flap stop about a 1/16" in his opinion. The amount was just an educated guess on his very experienced knowledge. He showed me how to adjust it (pretty self explanatory actually) and damned if it didn't fly straight and level, hands off on the way home!

 

Paul explained that even though the flaps are interconnected with a mechanical linkage, there is enough flex in the system that you can still make quite a bit of asymmetrical adjustment. I am now hoping that with the flaps going all the way up and flying level again, she will maybe go a knot or two faster!   Time will tell...

[RobertGary1]

Give it some stall practice too. My plane flys a little sideways with the flaps out. It it was a compromise of the roll off tendency during stall. I went with a compromise between the two.

[MB65E]

Any experts ever rig the elevators to have some twist? That way the flaps can be sucked up all the way, the ailerons don't need to be bent.

I just replaced a few rod ends on in the elevator linkages and thought about it. You could trim off the pitch change with the elevator trim but the twist might be enough to correct roll tendicies.

Finally- smooth elevators... One has 9 ribs and the other has half that? What's that about?

-Matt

[RobertGary1]

If you try it let us know. Be aware there are lots of stories of Mooney pilots trying various things to trim and ending up getting things well out of wack. I believe Maxwell has some stories of starting over from scratch on a few planes. The adjustments are so minor that bumping against the trailing edge of a surface makes a noticeable difference in flight. 

 

-Robert