Return-Path: Received: from mail.cruzio.com ([208.226.92.37]) by truman.olsusa.com (Post.Office MTA v3.5.1 release 219 ID# 0-52269U2500L250S0V35) with ESMTP id com for ; Sun, 13 Jun 1999 02:33:44 -0400 Received: from testelectronics.mail (sa-207-251-8-117.cruzio.com [207.251.8.117]) by mail.cruzio.com with SMTP id XAA03296 for ; Sat, 12 Jun 1999 23:36:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from main [192.168.16.1] by testelectronics.mail [192.168.16.1] with SMTP (MDaemon.v2.5.rB.b2.32-R) for ; Sat, 12 Jun 99 23:16:23 -0700 Received: by localhost with Microsoft MAPI; Sat, 12 Jun 1999 23:16:23 -0700 Message-ID: <01BEB529.963B5530.matt@testelectronics.com> From: Matt TestElectronics Reply-To: "matt@testelectronics.com" To: "'lancair.list@olsusa.com'" Subject: Control Surface Balancing Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 23:16:22 -0700 Organization: Test Electronics X-Mailing-List: lancair.list@olsusa.com Mime-Version: 1.0 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<--->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> << Lancair Builders' Mail List >> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<--->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >> Ian Crowe. Asks: Can any of our more technical brethren in the aerodynamic field give us some pointers as to what we are trying to achieve by balancing and to what degree of balance we should aspire to? The elevator control surface balancing is done to keep control pressures on the stick constant when the aircraft is experiencing G forces. The main thing to avoid is having the front of the elevators heavy. If the front of the elevators are heavy the plane will over react to control inputs. When you pull back on the stick, the G forces will pull the rudder up even more and tend to push the stick back. This is control reversal you then have to maintain forward pressure on the stick to keep the plane from rising uncontrollably. The same reversal applies to pushing forward on the stick. You can probably imagine, this situation is non intuitive, and makes it very difficult to control the airplane. The best thing to do is get it exact, or make the rudders a little heavy on the trailing edges. Another way to think about it is the heavier the trailing edges are the more sluggish your plane is going to be you will need muscle to pull aerobatics maneuvers. The closer you get to the balance point the easier your plane is going to respond to your control inputs. When you get beyond the balance point, your plane starts to dangerously add to your control inputs, so never go here. Regards, Ed Watsonville CA. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> LML homepage: http://www.olsusa.com/Users/Mkaye/maillist.html