Wing drop

[mooney27239]

I have a recently developed issue that neither myself or my A&P can figure out and I hope someone here can help with. On my '65E, when I am in level flight and have the wing leveler on the plane flies true and straight. When I disengage the wing leveler the plane starts banking right rather quickly. This all started after I had washed the plane one day. Prior to that the plane would fly straight with the wing leveler on or off. As far as I know, I didn't hit anything while I was washing it to knock anything out of adjustment. Perhaps the washing is unrelated but this problem arose for the first time on my next flight. Anyone else run into this?

[carusoam]

27239,

a few things come to mind...

[1] Water captured in the wing on one side.  Seems quite unlikely, mooneys have a hard time holding on to fuel in sealed compartments.  This would be a more serious consideration if it were possibly frozen.

[2] Something has affected your rigging.  Since these are screw adjustments, something may have been washed out or into the path of the screw or something changed the screws position.  Also unlikely, but worth looking at.

[3] Since the wing leveler can keep it centered, it is not far off.  Have you added, subtracted or redistributed any junk (toolbox, spare battery) in the baggage compartment during the clean-up exercise?

Overall seems like a good reason to visit the MSC (somebody with the travel boards) for a rigging check.

-a-

[Lrn2Fly]

Does this happen even while you are PUSHING the PC disconnect button (i.e. not in the pulled out position)?  This was happening to me. One side of the PC was still retaining vacuum, causing one servo to pull on its respective aileron.

If there is water in the vacuum line to the servo, or if the disengage valve is faulty, the servo will in essence act like an altimeter as you climb and descend. In my case, the lower I went, the stronger the pull was to the right.  This was after being at 9000' for several hours, then descending.

As always, your mileage may vary.

[mooney27239]

Quote: Lrn2Fly

Does this happen even while you are PUSHING the PC disconnect button (i.e. not in the pulled out position)?  This was happening to me. One side of the PC was still retaining vacuum, causing one servo to pull on its respective aileron.

If there is water in the vacuum line to the servo, or if the disengage valve is faulty, the servo will in essence act like an altimeter as you climb and descend. In my case, the lower I went, the stronger the pull was to the right.  This was after being at 9000' for several hours, then descending.

As always, your mileage may vary.

[richardheitzman]

I was going to say the same thing regarding the servo retaining a vacuum. Do a search in the forum on PC or wing leveler and I am sure you will find someone else discussing the same thing.

[takair]

Quote: mooney27239

I have a recently developed issue that neither myself or my A&P can figure out and I hope someone here can help with. On my '65E, when I am in level flight and have the wing leveler on the plane flies true and straight. When I disengage the wing leveler the plane starts banking right rather quickly. This all started after I had washed the plane one day. Prior to that the plane would fly straight with the wing leveler on or off. As far as I know, I didn't hit anything while I was washing it to knock anything out of adjustment. Perhaps the washing is unrelated but this problem arose for the first time on my next flight. Anyone else run into this?