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Adding a little to the trim tab discussion, here my experience. A few years ago I reworked all the Heim bearings on all control pushrods to combat the aileron flutter I experienced before. I then rigged the plane according to the manual and found that relatively easy to do. Just follow the steps in the manual. I also straightened out the trailing edges of the ailerons to get a fresh start on the trimming procedure. When I took the plane up for it's first test flight, I found it almost perfectly trimmed - it was pulling to one side a bit and that was simply corrected by bending the opposite side. If I had to deal with a wing heavy Coupe again, I would start with checking the rigging first. Even a slightly off center nose wheel alignment can be felt in flight. The nose wheel wants to fly straight and thereby adds forces to the control system. Then if the ailerons are bent already and most are, adding a tab to combat that effect is basically just eating your cruising speed. You might be able to balance the wings, but you also add drag. Make sure the ailerons are straight to begin with and start from there. Bending the trailing edge is not a big deal and it does not need much bending to get a satisfactory result. Here is what the manual says: "If wing heaviness exists on test flights, double check steps outlined above (rigging) for misalignment. If wing heaviness exists with controls properly aligned, extreme trailing edge of aileron (flat section containing rivets) may be used as fixed trim tab and bent with suitable bending pliers. Bending must begin at out board end of aileron opposite heavy wing, and bending must be downward. Amount of bending and length of area bent varies with amount of wing heaviness present. Slight bend over great length is preferable to pronounced bend over lesser length. It has been determined that wing heaviness necessitating 5 degrees deflection of control wheel from neutral to hold plane on course in flight can be corrected by 3/16 inch downward bend for full length of trailing edge." Hartmut N3330H ----- Original Message ----- From: "DONALD BOWEN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 7:58 PM Subject: RE: [COUPERS-TECH] Trim Tabbing > ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- > > > Raising the left wing can be accomplished by lowering (bending down) the tab > on the right wing. > > Don Bowen > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > ----Original Message Follows---- > From: "Ralph Finch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: "Ralph Finch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "'Ercoupe Technical Discussion (moderated)'" <[email protected]> > Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] Trim Tabbing > Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 06:34:58 -0700 > > ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any > advice in this forum.]---- > > > My Alon has the same problem, and it already has trim tabs > on each side. I remember a mechanic said I should bend > the tab only on one side but I don't remember the rule > as to which side and direction (up/down) to use, anybody > know what I'm referring to and remember the rule? And, > I understand one should bend the tab with a couple of > pieces of 2x4 so the entire tab gets bent evenly. > > Ralph Finch > Davis, California > > > From: "roger anderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Subject: Re: [COUPERS-TECH] new ercoupe owner > > > > I picked up a Coupe in Houston a couple of years ago. I > > also flew home with it wanting to roll left, holding right > > aileron for the hours back to Tennessee. On the ground > > when home, all rigging and alignment looked correct. > > Realizing the majority here will recommend following the > > coupe procedure of bending the trailing edge of the aileron > > as a trim method, I prefered a small trim tab being installed > > instead. I just don't like bending the wing structure. > > Also, any future minor adjustments can be easily made with a > > trim tab. A small tab slipped in and rivited between the wing > > trailing edge corrected the problem and it flew beautifully > > hands off after that. roger > > ============================================================================ == > To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm > Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/ > > > ============================================================================ == > To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm > Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/ > > > > ============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/
