We're hoping to tap the collective wisdom here yet again (I love this forum 
).
The aileron rigging on our RV-8 is off, and we've found several existing threads here that give some great advice. We plan to follow it
In the meantime, I thought I would post our symptoms, since they seem a little more complex than just a heavy wing. Maybe someone has some additional thoughts or ideas.
Observations:
1. With everything 'centered' (stick held center, aileron trailing edges lined up with tips and flaps, fuel tanks balanced), the plane rolls right.
2. However, if you let go of the stick (no pressure applied), the ailerons seek their natural position in the airflow and this ends up as significant 'left' aileron and left stick (and the plane rolls left).
3. Right trim (we have electric spring trim) is then needed to pull the stick back from the #2 config above somewhat toward #1 above. Hands off trimmed level flying is with significant *right* trim pressure, but with the stick (and ailerons) somewhat still deflected *left*.
4. As speed decreases and flaps come down, we need significantly less right trim pressure to fly level.
5. Visually, the ailerons seem off vertically (i.e., what could be adjusted by moving the aileron hinge bracket position up/down against aileron spar). The left aileron leading edge is noticeably higher than the wing trailing edge; and the right aileron leading edge is lower than the wing trailing edge.
The in-flight behavior is, to me, as if the left aileron was curved down and/or the right aileron was curved up. This would cause them to 'seek' a neutral position of left aileron deflection (and resulting left roll); and when holding the stick to align the trailing edges, would cause right roll.
Does it make sense that the offset leading edge vertical positions we see would behave similarly?
We're going to go through the steps suggested in other posts, checking the aileron shape, wing and surface incidence, etc. and will report what we find.
Thanks for any thoughts you may have!
).The aileron rigging on our RV-8 is off, and we've found several existing threads here that give some great advice. We plan to follow it
In the meantime, I thought I would post our symptoms, since they seem a little more complex than just a heavy wing. Maybe someone has some additional thoughts or ideas.
Observations:
1. With everything 'centered' (stick held center, aileron trailing edges lined up with tips and flaps, fuel tanks balanced), the plane rolls right.
2. However, if you let go of the stick (no pressure applied), the ailerons seek their natural position in the airflow and this ends up as significant 'left' aileron and left stick (and the plane rolls left).
3. Right trim (we have electric spring trim) is then needed to pull the stick back from the #2 config above somewhat toward #1 above. Hands off trimmed level flying is with significant *right* trim pressure, but with the stick (and ailerons) somewhat still deflected *left*.
4. As speed decreases and flaps come down, we need significantly less right trim pressure to fly level.
5. Visually, the ailerons seem off vertically (i.e., what could be adjusted by moving the aileron hinge bracket position up/down against aileron spar). The left aileron leading edge is noticeably higher than the wing trailing edge; and the right aileron leading edge is lower than the wing trailing edge.
The in-flight behavior is, to me, as if the left aileron was curved down and/or the right aileron was curved up. This would cause them to 'seek' a neutral position of left aileron deflection (and resulting left roll); and when holding the stick to align the trailing edges, would cause right roll.
Does it make sense that the offset leading edge vertical positions we see would behave similarly?
We're going to go through the steps suggested in other posts, checking the aileron shape, wing and surface incidence, etc. and will report what we find.
Thanks for any thoughts you may have!
