Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Like to report a first flight, although short, a step forward.
All readings in the green, controls felt good, trim worked fine.
Still have some paint trim to finish, and the tail whell steering is a
little sensitive.

Congrats!
Although I didn't build mine, I am resurecting it from a 9 year sleep. I'm pretty close to my first flight too.
I'm excited for you.

Excellent ! Well done. The fact you left the Earth and returned safely is a milestone ! Good looking A/C ! After the first flight there will be a few things that will need adjusting/tweaking. Not sure how your tail wheel is set up, but mine is sensitive to my big feet on the rudder pedals !

RB
NX115RX

Big Feet??
That cracks me up. I have the same problem, as the brake pedals are narrower than my shoes!
I need to wear my narrowest sneakers to keep from hanging up in the 'stirrups'.

Outstanding. A very big congratulations. That is a feat less than one percent of the population can claim.
Beautiful craft.
Decribe your tail spring/ taill wheel setup. Maybe we can help. Although, everyone has their own idea of what setup feels the best. I like mine tight and sensitive- no comments from the peanut gallery

Difficult to comment on a SW overnite ! We know SW pilots are "sensitive !"

RB

I think I have the ratio, pedals to tailwheel about as good as I can get it.
Just have to get used to it.
I can get full swivel, but its not to sensitive.
The picture show the tailwheel set-up, used previously with no problems.
The clips shown in the picture were changed to SS removable chain links,
I'll try them.
You can see one of the clips partially came unattached.
Must of rotated and stretched..?
It was attached at pre-flight.

From the pics it looks like you have cable with swaged fittings? I would loose that and go with the setup I copied from Bill Williams. I can see some "slack" in the cable from the springs and the tail wheel arm and no way to tighten it ?

RB

Very clean set-up, a good idea I'll try.

More concerning to me is that you have the tail wheel cable/chain attach way too close to the pivot point. With that set up I doubt your getting enough control authority. Id move the cable attach out to the per plans location. I can't imagine keeping the airplane on the runway with that setup.

_________________
Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Actually the stock location made it worse, I've tried it.
Re-locating the holes inward reduced the sensitivity.
This tailwheel, the horn holes are closer together than the
original tailwheel.
I'm where I want to be on the hole location, I just need to
rework the cable attachment.

The horn on that tail wheel is identical to the one a lot of us use. You are not getting enough control authority with the setup you have. Personally that scares the crap out of me, if the tail wheel is too sensitive on the stick position, try wearing softer shoes. Be careful Mark.

_________________
Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

I appreciate your concern Lee, I have plenty of T.W. control authority.
I can kick it into full swivel mode, which says there is enough throw
at the pivot point.
The picture does'nt show the true location of the rudder horn holes.
I can put on my soft shoes, switch back to plans holes and confirm.

Thanks for the help.

I'd like to hear about what it feels like to you after you change the setup and eliminate the slop in the cable/chain. I found it easier to control with tight chains. The loose chains had a delayed response. When that response came, it was way too much at the time. My chains are tight enough that I have to remove the tiller from the tailwheel, install the chains on it, then stretch the tiller back to the tailwheel. I get immediate/accurate response in that config.

congratulations on first flight

_________________
Dean Cuke
Visalia, California
N772DM
KVIS