Right-on. IMHO, too many folks are trying to save $$$ at the expense of safety. In my Alon, I also had to shim one of the Heim ends in the main bellcrank (mixer?) under the floor - this is legit because the tolerance just isn't there in the casting. Also had to replace upper and lower control column bushings.
Let's also remember that walk-around preflight inspections
should catch sloppy control surfaces. We should all have
learned that in our pilot training. Although there are small
differences between the maximum allowable free play between
brands/models of aircraft, it doesn't take a "coupe
mechanic" to find control surfaces which have more than 1/8"
peak-to-peak free-play. It's the pilot's _duty_ to know the
limits and check for them regularly.
Ditto nosewheel shimmy. With proper tolerances in the
control system, there shouldn't be any shimmy.
David Smoler | __ | San Jose, CA
|==/__ยค_\==|
*==========|==| () |==|===========*
Alon A-2 | \____/ | N6359V
s/n A35 () () () based at RHV
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david cross wrote:
>
> Ed,
> I too noticed that the
> controls on my coupe were sloppy and at the last annual replaced eleven
> Heim bearings, clevice pins and all the attachment hardware. What a
> difference it makes---
> --- Ed Burkhead <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Consensus is that I was _extremely_ lucky and that
> > there is so little
> > time involved from the onset of flutter before
> > airframe failure that
> > it's luck
> > Analysis was, that there was more than specified
> > slop in the controls.
> > (A series of non-Coupe mechanics who probably
> > checked them and thought
> > they felt just fine.) Even then, we just put
> > washers and such in the
> > linkages and I flew cautiously for years (dumb)
> > until we went completely
> > through it last year replacing parts.
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