A big shout-out to Tom in Kentucky … thanks for posting on the VAF forums about your
observation that your RV-12’s wing skins aft of the rear spar were not flat. It
seems that Tom, much like myself, had a heavy wing … although Tom’s was the
right wing and the DOG Aviation RV-12 had a heavy left wing. As mentioned in an
earlier post, during early flight testing, I discovered a heavy left wing and
followed Van’s suggestion of flattening out the aft edge of the flaperon on the
light wing (right wing in my case). After flatting the aft edge just a little
bit, went for a test flight and still had a heavy left wing, but seemingly
slightly better.
Before bending more flaperon metal, decided to have a look on the VAF forums
to see what others have done. I knew the rod end bearings were set correctly,
so was looking for other options. Fortunately, I ran across Tom’s thread and
read where Tom discovered the upper wing skins aft of the rear spar on his
RV-12 were not flat … after Tom flattened the wing skins in this area, his RV-12 flew hands off without
rolling. As mentioned in the previous post, decided to have a look at mine and
sure enough, discovered I too had places on both wings where the skins were
either low or high and proceeded to level this area on both wings.
Today I made a very late afternoon test flight during very calm
conditions at the airport … the winds were very light with an occasional gust
to 7 knots. There was no turbulence, so the RV-12 flew like it was on rails … I’m
happy to report Tom’s suggestion regarding leveling the wing skins aft of the
rear spar really made a HUGE!!! difference … no more heavy left wing!! Yay!!! The DOG Aviation
RV-12 now flies level hands off.
A tip for fellow RV-12 builders that discover they too have a heavy wing:
I would suggest prior to bending flaperon metal or adjusting rod end bearings
(especially if you were meticulous when installing them), the builder should first
consider taking a very good look at the skins aft of the rear spar. Drop the
flaps to gain some clearance, then adjust the skins flat using a straight edge
and block of plywood as documented in the previous post. Fly again and if there
is still a heavy wing, then look elsewhere … possibly getting draconian with
the aft edge of the light flaperon or adjusting rod end bearings.
I’ve been holding off on really delving into the test flight cards since
I have 40 hours to fly off, there is really no rush … so figured it best to
tweak the RV-12 to obtain straight level flight first and then proceed to working
through the flight test cards once the RV-12 flies straight ... which I'm happy to report, now it does.
