Avid with a new tail and skis

43 posts in this topic

Posted

We had a serious ass wagger. It was so bad it wasnt fun to fly. Every landing and takeoff was an adventure. In flight if you let the ball get a little of center it would swing way over.

Increased the tail area by a third and voila. Fixed. 

Tonight we rigged the skis and built a rig to get it out of the shop.

On skis it has always been an effort to get out of the hanger. 

Now we just hook the garden tractor on and haul it out. 

Put a little snow on the platform and drive right on. 

CAM00847.jpg

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Posted

Now that's "Thinking out of the box"!  Like your porthole rear windows too.

EDMO

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Posted

That is a great looking cowling on your plane!  Is it totally custom?

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Posted

That is a beautiful cowling .somehow mark 4 esq but swept back.did you increase the elevator and horizontal or the vert and rudder only?

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Posted

That is a great looking cowling on your plane!  Is it totally custom?

+1 :BC:

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Posted

Sweet!!! Nice looking bird. Like said, the rudder itself or the stab too?

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Posted

Looks like the stab was enlarged as well.

 

:BC:

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Posted

The cowling came with the airplane when we bought it. It had the rad mounted beside the engine. Didnt work very well.

We enlarged only the vertical and rudder made a world of difference.

I think we need to repitch the prop. Only getting 4500rpm on takeoff. A little sluggish. The engine really winds up once we are airborne. 

CAM00848.jpg

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Posted

4500 with what engine?

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Posted

looks like a left hand prop, 2 stroke or maybe geared sube????  Here is the cart I built to get the Avid into my narrow door hangar.  Ramps hinge on the back pipe, so they move down when you back up the plane or pop up when you roll it far enough forward.  Jim Chuk

IMG_1262 (Large).JPG

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Posted (edited)

4500 with what engine?

I'm as curious as Larry and Jim about those rpms - That would be OK for a Soob, but don't sound right for a 2-stroke - Could it be something else?

EDMO

Edited by EDMO

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Posted

582 brand new blue head. We are going to back off the warp drive a little. What is a good static rpm for this engine?

I can get it up to 6500rpm doing 105mph. 

 

Ray

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Posted

Static is normally around 6150 to 6200 so you can get 6500 in climb out.  I shoot for right around 67-6800 straight and level.  a 2 stroke does not like to be lugged down.  What are your EGT's running at take off and cruise?  If your not getting up into the 1100 to 1150 range your just loading the engine up with carbon and asking for sticky rings and fouled plugs.

:BC:

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Posted

I would also question the accuracy of your tach.  Jim Chuk

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Posted

I would also question the accuracy of your tach.  Jim Chuk

It has been posted on here many times that the Tiny Tach is the most accurate, and the Rotax tachs are not....

EDMO

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Posted

We are using a tiny tach..

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Posted

As a point of interest.

I have several hundred hours in both an Avid Flyer and a Kitfox. I always found the Avid a little more "docile" which is the reason we chose the Avid as my buddy Bill's first airplane.

He is long in the back and we soon realized he was not going to fit in the plane so we modified it by raising the roof two inches. (It's called Experimental Aviation).

As soon as I started to fly it I knew there was something wrong, it was a mean squirrely little  airplane. I have never flown anything that was as longitudinally unstable. Landings and takeoffs were always an adventure and in flight if the ball got a little out of center it would slew all the way over.

Not fun to fly.

The only thing different from this airplane and the other two I have flown was the raised roof.

By raising the roof we must have spoiled the airflow over the tail causing it to become ineffective.

So we increased the tail dimension and now it is a very nice gentle little flyer.

Fixed.

 

Ray

avidroof.jpg

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Posted

Do you have some photos of your tail mods in detail to share?

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Posted

4500 is way too short. You're turning more than that. You have something going on. If it is turning 4500 static and 6500 level flight? Huh? Is that the only tach you have?

Also I think the thing to do would have been to drop the floor instead in such a short coupled plane.

With that said, I an not beyond increasing my rudder surface area!!!

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Posted

Oh, mount a strip of UHMW on each side of the skid, and you won't have to bother throwing snow on it. ;)

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Posted (edited)

4500 is way too short. You're turning more than that. You have something going on. If it is turning 4500 static and 6500 level flight? Huh? Is that the only tach you have?

Also I think the thing to do would have been to drop the floor instead in such a short coupled plane.

With that said, I an not beyond increasing my rudder surface area!!!

Dropping the floor and seat is not as simple as raising the roof on these planes - There is not much room for the controls under the seats, and it would include some major structural changes.

EDMO

Edited by EDMO
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Posted (edited)

How about a drop seat? They made two different seats. I sure wish Airdale would get his $%^& together. I would like one of his new planes to build.

My seat...

PA170026_zpscjkgue3i.jpg

Edited by Fly-n-Low

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Posted (edited)

I know little about the Avid controls under the seat, but imagine they are similar to the cloned Kitfox.   I hated the Kitfox seats, and I am only 67" tall, so I raised my seats and used Cabelas boat seats like Suberavid did to get more comfortable and had to raise my roof and wings 6" - made the tail about a foot taller too.  Making separate Flaps and ailerons too - I figured that this is my last plane to build, so making it "My Way"!  A taller pilot could take my seats out and replace them with lower ones. 

I Just need to park next to a stump, so my short legs can get me into the saddle - like riding a tall horse!  :lol:

EDMO

Edited by EDMO
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Posted

 I am only 67" tall, so I raised my seats....... 

I Just need to park next to a stump, so my short legs can get me into the saddle - like riding a tall horse!  :lol:

EDMO

I got a whole inch on you man!   All body and no leg though.....

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Posted (edited)

 I am only 67" tall, so I raised my seats....... 

I Just need to park next to a stump, so my short legs can get me into the saddle - like riding a tall horse!  :lol:

EDMO

I got a whole inch on you man!   All body and no leg though.....

I used to be 68", but shrank with age - Interestingly, my 80" son-in-law was only 1" taller than me from butt to head - It's all in the legs, and mine didn't grow much!

EDMO

Edited by EDMO
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