Leading Edge Slats

[SuberAvid 617]

Just got the leading edge slats on the Avid+ and flew it for about 4 hours the past 2 days.  It is pretty fun; amazing control to be able to fly and be fully maneuverable at 45 mph and less.  The flaperon flaps actually enhance the slats and keep the plane at a pretty level attitude while flying and maneuvering at that speed. Will have to see how much it changes take-off and landing performance better when I go back on wheels.

Not great pictures, but what I got for now.

[TJay 1041]

Sweet where can I buy those at.

[SuberAvid 617]

TJay,

These are carbon fiber ones from Carbon Concepts; the same ones Steve Henry is using on this Justs, Yehaw 6 and 7.  They are the same as used on the cubs and I think he has them on around 14 different types of airplanes now.  These are the first ones used on an Avid but I am pretty sure they are on some KF's too.  He will custom build them to length to fit the rib spacing you need and the mounting tab profile.  Steve Henry and some of the KF users have mounted them by screwing the tabs into the leading edge spar, which means the spacing can be the standard 48" long panels, but I am hesitant to do that so I made a mockup mounting tab profile to fit the rib and mount to the ribs; and had him build the length to fit the spacing I needed. I still had to rework the top "T" foot of each to get it to fit and contact the rib correctly though (not difficult) so would recommend not having him glue and rivet the top one and just let you fit it up if you choose to attach to the ribs.  I glued the mounting tabs that go on the tanks with a 2 part epoxy type glue.

Randy Apling is the owner of Carbon Concepts and you can reach him at (907) 244-7505.

Randy

Edited 12 Apr 2020 by SuberAvid

[ChrisBolkan 130]

Very cool! Was not aware these were available after market. Do these self deploy with increased angle of attack or are they fixed like those on the Zenith 701? I can't tell from the pictures. And is it OK to as what you paid for these little marvels, or would you prefer I ask Carbon Concepts?

 

[akflyer 1427]

Hopefully when I get home this hitch we can get together and have some fun.  I am interested in the new mods you have done.  We had to go to a 4x4 hitch to minimize travel so I wont be home till the 6th now. 

[SuberAvid 617]

Chris, yes, they are hinged so they self actuate and being carbon fiber, are lighter than the aluminum ones, so they move with very light changes to air pressure over the wing.  You put stops on them to limit the travel to 2.5" between the trailing edge of the slat and the top of the wing.  It is surprising but the stay fully deployed until at least 70+ mph and I am not sure they are fully laid down at 90 mph.  Price is not cheap though, they are $500 per panel.  I ended up with one 51" on the end with my extended wings, one 47" in the middle and one 48" inboard; so 3 panels per wing.  This leaves about 12" from the inboard slat to the fuselage, which has been found to lessen the speed loss in cruise.

Leni, we've got to do it!  I was wondering how this was affecting your schedule.  I am getting my bed liner recaps on the tires this week and will be on wheels this weekend.  Give me a call when you get a chance and we will figure out a good date to get together!.

[dholly 718]

Hats off to you Randy, you are doing some really neat stuff with both your Avids. Your E-AB spirit proves you don't have to be a weekend cowboy with a huge purse and $250k showplane to have fun. Well this last mod is $$$ but probably a bargain where and how you fly (cheaper than the lift out!). It sure is interesting to follow along with the technical as well photo posts. Keep it up!

 

[TSIMKO 11]

Great work! Love to get down meet you guys and see this beauty sometime this summer! Thanks for the inspiration! 

[furry22 8]

Randy, those look like they belong on there. Can't wait to see how they perform in person. And hear how they fly when you get on wheels. 

[TSIMKO 11]

Randy do you have any video of those slats in action yet? Thanks.

[akflyer 1427]

 

Randy out playing with the slats

[jackak 20]

How do you open it? All I see is the top of a chopped picture.

Jackak

[jackak 20]

Never mind. If you sneak up on the bottom of what's showing, you get the little hand to show and opens the face book page.

Jackak

[comte 0]

Sub er avid bonjour,

Bravo pour votre initiative de monter des becs de bord  d'attaque sur un avid. j'ai fait moi-meme sur mes deux speed- wind

et cela change beaucoup les performances et surtout la vitesse de décrochage (32/35 et descente parachutale)

amicalement votre 

Marc Comte

 

 

 

 

Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire?

Nouveau courrierCopie

 

Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire?

Nouveau courrierCopie

 

Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire?

Nouveau courrierCopie

 

Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire?

Nouveau courrierCopie

 

Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire?

Nouveau courrierCopie

 

Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire?

Nouveau courrierCopie

 

Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire?

Nouveau courrierCopie

 

Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire?

Nouveau courrierCopie

 

Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire ?

Nouveau courrierCopie

[marksires 484]

Translation for us 'mericans'

Sub er avid hello,

Well done for your initiative to mount leading edge spouts on an avid. I did it myself on my two speedwinds

and that changes the performance a lot and especially the stall speed (32/35 and parachutal descent)

friendly your

Marc Comte

[109jb 181]

What do you call someone who knows 3 languages? ------------- Tri-lingual

What do you call someone who knows 2 languages? ------------- bi-lingual

What do you call someone who knows 1 language ------------- American

Edited 1 May 2020 by 109jb

[marksires 484]

I use that joke a lot.  

[Madguy 0]

Randy,

I have been talking to Randy @ Carbon Concepts regarding slats for my Avid Magnum.  I am trying to make my Magnum a little bit more STOL capable, I would be interested to here what you think about the addition of the Slats.

 

Thank you

Mike

[SuberAvid 617]

Hi Mike,

Here is my view of them after somewhat less than 100 hrs on them now.  For the type of flying I like to do I like them and would do it again.  The biggest difference is in slow flight; it stays very solid in maneuvering down to 45 to 50 mph with no mush or sloppy handling.  I was demonstrating a stall to a new flyer last weekend and had to apologize for the difficulty in noticing when the plane was stalled.  With power off and stick all the way back, there is really little indication of a stall, the nose doesn't drop or porpus, the plane just sinks.  The "recovery" is instantaneous with a little bit of power.  I have to think about getting really slowed down when I want to land short; get the plane slowed down below 70 mph, full flaps (26 degrees), slow to below 50mph, then run my flaperon tabs down 30 to 40 degrees, then just let it slow down and keep just enough power in to keep it from sinking until the landing spot.  You are at a fairly high angle of attack then so you are look down the side of the cowling and the tail wheel sometimes will be rolling along for a ways until you cut power if you do it right.  The slow speed allows me to land shorter than I can take off now, I think that is due to the physical limitation in the angle of attack I can get on rotation.  The takeoff distance is not that much different than before.  I am used to having them on now so they become the new normal, but looking at the places I am comfortable going in and out of now, I would have never considered doing before, so they do add a good margin of safety for me especially when going into new places or when heavily loaded. The down side is they slowed my cruise speed by about 5 mph at the same power setting.  That said, I will probably get a set for the Mini+ once I have it ready to fly.  I hope that helps you decide.

If you do get them, Randy has the attach bracket patterns from my wings with the HH rib profile and with the Kitfox cuff ( which should work fine on wings without a cuff as well), but because the rib profile is so thin compared to the Cub I had to fit each bracket to my wing by gradually sanding the underside attach point until the bracket fit all the way back to the leading edge and then glued and riveted the little Tee foot piece on.  They didn't fit close at all when I got them from Randy because the flatness of the rib profile makes them such a touchy fit, even each location on the wing fits different, so just have him leave the bottom foot piece off and do that fitting yourself.  For the bracket that goes onto the tank, you have to glue them on so I put 4 foot pieces on those brackets.  The all have stayed rock solid.

I will be interested in hearing what you do.

Have fun,

Randy

[JustNorm 14]

Great work! Love to get down meet you guys and see this beauty sometime this summer! Thanks for the inspiration! 

I see you have wheels on the original Avid floats.  Did you do that modification

[TSIMKO 11]

No I did not do that my self. The previous owner welded it out of 1/2 conduit. I haven’t used it yet but could take pictures of the design when the snow melts:)