Does CG and loading cause a wing drop?

[PT20J]

4 hours ago, Pete M said:

Just curious: Why would you want to disable the interconnect?

The Mooney has wide span flaps which increases their effectiveness in increasing CLmax since more of the wing is subject to the increased camber effect when flaps are extended. The tradeoff is less room for ailerons. The short span, wide chord ailerons likely create a lot of drag when lifting a wing. The obvious fix to minimize the adverse yaw would be to add a aileron-rudder interconnect. If you remove it, you would likely find the reduced roll-yaw coupling unpleasant. 

[David Lloyd]

I built a Van's RV7.  The kit comes with a big binder full of plans and instructions for the average person on how to build an airplane.  There is a page or two about dealing with a heavy wing. Begin by going back and checking everything that may cause a heavy wing.  Ailerons aligned properly?  My right aileron sat 1/16" above the wing.  When the hinge was redrilled the aileron had to be realigned using the tooling holes on the end rib.  Are the flaps aligned with the ailerons?  Not now, I moved the aileron!  The wing tips line up with the aileron?  Not now, I moved the aileron!@@##!  Are the wheel pants in alignment?  (do your gear doors close all the way).  Are the horizontal stabilizers even with each other?  Just like Van's, the Mooney instructions say start at the beginning and make certain everything is correct before evaluating and making changes. I have a spring loaded aileron trim.  I can legally disconnect it and fly.  You can't.  Andy disconnected the aileron/rudder interlock and adjusted it to neutral and reassembled.  I didn't fly it that way, just made certain the spring was neutral on centering the ailerons.  Go fly.  Is the ball in the center?  You did check on the ground didn't you?  Lots of sagging panel shock mounts.  Not in center, fix it.  Rudder tab.  Once the plane flies with the ball in the center at normal cruise power, you can start evaluating a heavy wing.  Until all that is done, you really don't know anything.

My RV7, anything other than normal cruise power the ball is not in the center unless is step on the rudder.  Climb power and speed, right rudder is needed.  Pull power back for descent, left rudder. Never noticed the left rudder required on the Cherokees, Mooney or Bonanza.  Maybe it was less pronounced.

[PT20J]

1 hour ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Mooneys are the same, but yes, maybe less pronounced.  In normal cruise my previous M20J always flew with the ball slightly out of center.  After a while I figured out why.  Or at least I think I did.  For the first 8 years of it’s life it was flown commercially as a radio station “eye in the sky” traffic spotter.  To the tune of around 1000 hours per year.  Top Gun maintained it during those years.  If you pulled it back to what I assume was their fly-around-over-San-Francisco-all-day speed, which I remember was higher than L/D max and around Carson’s speed, the ball centered perfectly.  Mystery solved.

I took a 10 hour basic aerobatics course a few years ago, mostly in Great Lakes but also in Pitts.   The downside of vertical maneuvers was the first time I had ever really noticed the need for left rudder when flying over normal cruise speed.  It was really pronounced in those planes and was a real eureka moment for me. 

That M20J was also involved in a mid-air. The nose gear or a C-152 hit the fin of the Mooney and bent the fin in half. Both planes landed with no injuries. 

Trim is speed dependent. On Mooneys with out rudder trim, the rigging is set for ball centered at cruise. 

[PT20J]

6 hours ago, Hyett6420 said:

my point is have you looked at number 2 because it could be that, ie the wing is slightly twisted.  One way to check is to go up and stall her, quite a few times feet off and see if its the same wing which drops everytime.  DONT DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE EXEPERIENECED AT INCIPIENT SPIN RECOVERY. ,ie take up an aerobatic guy with you in the right seat.  If it is the same wing that drops everytime you know its a wing angle of attack issue.  Then tape some wool strips on the wing and do the same thing again filming them on both wings to see how far out it is.  The wool should "turbulate" ( new word" at the same time on both wings at the same points.  

Some airplanes - Cessna high wings, for instance - have adjustable wing incidence. Mooneys do not. The only way it will be out af manufacturing tolerance is if it has been damaged. Rolloff at stall is not necessarily related to a heavy wing at low (cruise) angle of attack. The latter is usually a rigging issue, assuming the plane is straight. Mooneys tend to exhibit some roll if a stall is not promptly recovered. The stall strips are located during factory flight test to minimize this.