Moose elevator
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:04 pm
At Sun&Fun I saw a Moose in the homebuilt area that had the front of the
elevator where the lead balance weights are mounted modified into a
slightly pointed rounded shape. We doing an Elite which has this area flat
to the airstream as does the standard Moose. When assembling our elevator
I wondered why the flat front as it would swing up and present that flat
face to the air when the elevator was deflected. Now with the passage of
time and with a little more knowlege (hopefully) it looks like that flat
front would cause the oncoming air to take an abrupt 90 degree turn and
create a turbulent condition that would "stall" that portion of the
elevator aft of the balance weight area rendering it ineffective. As the
elevator returned toward the neutral position the air would reattach making
that portion once again effective. It would seem that would have the
effect of making the elevator effect non linear and perhaps feel "twitchy".
That is a comment I have heard in reference to the Elite. There are other
aircraft with these "flat" elevator tips such as the RV8 but the surface
area is much smaller and may cause no adverse effect.
My temptation is to similarly modify our elevator. Has anyone else thought
about this or know why this SR -oops- Moose has been modified? Please
comment. I will contact MAM on Monday to hear their side of it.
One other point, the vertical fin and rudder on this aircraft appeared to
have had an extra 10 - 12 inches of height added.
Ralph Baker
Elite 624E (reserved)
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elevator where the lead balance weights are mounted modified into a
slightly pointed rounded shape. We doing an Elite which has this area flat
to the airstream as does the standard Moose. When assembling our elevator
I wondered why the flat front as it would swing up and present that flat
face to the air when the elevator was deflected. Now with the passage of
time and with a little more knowlege (hopefully) it looks like that flat
front would cause the oncoming air to take an abrupt 90 degree turn and
create a turbulent condition that would "stall" that portion of the
elevator aft of the balance weight area rendering it ineffective. As the
elevator returned toward the neutral position the air would reattach making
that portion once again effective. It would seem that would have the
effect of making the elevator effect non linear and perhaps feel "twitchy".
That is a comment I have heard in reference to the Elite. There are other
aircraft with these "flat" elevator tips such as the RV8 but the surface
area is much smaller and may cause no adverse effect.
My temptation is to similarly modify our elevator. Has anyone else thought
about this or know why this SR -oops- Moose has been modified? Please
comment. I will contact MAM on Monday to hear their side of it.
One other point, the vertical fin and rudder on this aircraft appeared to
have had an extra 10 - 12 inches of height added.
Ralph Baker
Elite 624E (reserved)
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username "rebel" password "builder"
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