Thorp Air Command - T18.net

I read that somewhere....

I have a heavy left wing (really its me since I sit on the left)...however at 140 + kts the airplane really wants to roll left if one happens to be distracted for a moment or two...

I would like to take the least invasive (no aileron trim....yet)... to try and deal with this...

can someone explain the procedure to shape the aileron(s) to induce of slight roll to the right?

You want the left aileron to go down and lift that wing. Sooo, you gotta massage the trailing edge of the left aileron up. Take the trailing edge in between your thumb and forefinger and gently bend the trailing edge up as you slide you fingers along. Do the whole length. It doesn't take much! You can do the opposite on the right side as well, but all things in moderation. Word to the wise: Check the alignment of the flaps in the up position. They can be the culprit.

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Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

If it gets worse with increasing speed, it is not your weight. It is a rigging problem. Ailerons can be adjusted via the rod ends. But Bob is most likely right in that flap rigging tends to be poor on a lot of airplanes..
Cubes

I don't have a roll trim "system" - I have both massaged my ailerons and adjusted the push rods - too much actually and I snotified it well enough to where I started over after installing my new flap motor.

I taped my precision wooden fuel stick sight gauge to my control stick and made a mark on the roll bar at vertical (using a level) so I could see it outside the plane and adjusted the the ailerons even with the trailing edge inboard while keeping the stick vertical and the push rod adjustment as neutral as possible (centered). Flew fast with plane empty but me. Was perdy close but needed a little push rod adjust (1/2 turn each side)....then flew with Vidal Sassoon Aircraft Emergency Tool Kit and (about 15 lbs) and a quart of earl, etc in the trunk on the pax side. Landed and adjusted another half turn.

Voila - That's the configsys I fly most times. If I take a fat ass or Rich's blow up doll with weights, it's usually not for long and no big deal. If I take Rich and his blow up doll without weights for a long X-country, then a massage of the left one is about all it takes. I have a trim tab on the right aileron, but I can't seem to get a good feel for adjusting it as it is soooo sensitive, so I just leave it alone.

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Fraser MacPhee
N926WM
Serial #279-1
Angel Fire, NM (KAXX)

It's simple to adjust the aileron linkage for level flight at your usual loaded condition. I can't see any reason for adding a fixed trim tab. I believe that a heavy wing condition when the airplane is evenly loaded is many times caused by a wing that isn't constructed &/or installed straight and in correct alignment. That too can sometimes be corrected, but with much more difficulty.

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE