Mailing List lml@lancaironline.net Message #820
From: <CHRISTOPHER_ZAVATSON@udlp.com>
Subject: fuel tank imbalance
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 10:07:34 -0500
To: <Lancair.list@olsusa.com>
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        Regarding flying with one wing full and the other empty.
    (I have no header tank in my 360)
    I have, on occasion, caught myself using the aileron trim to     compensate for fuel burn until the trim reached full deflection.  This     gives me about a ten gallon imbalance.  Unfortunately, I was too close     to my destination to level the load.  As you slow down, the trim     becomes less effective and I was having to hold more and more pressure     on the stick to stay level.  By the time I got to touch down speed,     the deflection was quite significant.  My big concern in those     conditions is tip stall.  As you approach for landing you want to     unload the tips.  Washout and lowering flaps help accomplish this.  If     your aileron has a large downward deflection because of a heavy wing     you have loaded up one tip and it will be the first tip to stall.  The     risk is that it will be the first part of the entire wing to stall.
    My fuel runs out to the tips (22.5 gal per side) and there is no way     the ailerons could handle a 100% unbalanced fuel load at any speed low     enough for landing.
        Chris Zavatson
    N91CZ
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