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  2. Elevator and T-Tail trim ?

Re: Elevator and T-Tail trim ?

Calvin Thorne
 

This forum is great. You fellows are being most helpful to me regarding this issue. I am very interested in the specific configurations you are flying. The Elevator trim is unused in some of your flying Q's. I now see that once you are trimmed out from flight tests and early flights some of you can do without it, interesting. I see it is important to keep our aircraft trimmed so there is minimal drag on the trim (t-tail or reflexor). Something I read today makes sense to me that we need to be able to jockey the elev trim against our Reflexor or T-tail trim systems. This is to achieve maximum speed and minimum drag. I now understand the fact that the elev trim increases camber which increases lift and is not just a pitch adjustment. I think I will replace the elevator trim even if it hardly get's touched once I have my aircraft flight configured again. Future gust lock maybe...

Calvin Thorne
Cochrane Alberta

--- In Q-LIST@..., "David" wrote:

My Q2 was built per plans with a GU canard, T-Tail and vortex generators. The original elevator trim wheel was used to control the T-Tail. The springs that were part of the original elevator trim were retained and permanently fixed to the firewall and the instrument panel with link chains. The springs were under tension (for almost full stick travel) and the chain links statically adjusted so the elevator was held in cruise position. This worked well, so we never changed the T-Tail to the "highly recommended" reflexer. The aircraft flew in cruise with the T-Tail neutral. If it had required either up or down deflection for cruise, we would have adjusted the springs (adding and removing chain links) such that the T-Tail would have flown neutral. So we never had an elevator trim and didn't need one!

--- In Q-LIST@..., cbthorne14@ wrote:

Hi everyone,
I am rebuilding a Q2 in Cochrane just outside of Calgary and have a question for those more knowledgeable. I would be grateful for advice. I have the T-Tail trim system on my Q2 C-GMBK and believe that I can omit the "Elevator trim" control that used to be on the forward center console. I believe that the elevator trim system is a possible safety issue in that it could be adjusted to reduce some of the elevator control movement if one was unaware of settings. Having two trim systems seems wrong to me. I have read the article in the Nov/Dec 2011 (# 150) issue of Q-Talk archive by Gary McKirdy (tech counselor UK, thanks Gary), that explains in detail about the T-Tail and Reflexor trim systems. He had commented in the article, quote: "If you have both the Elevator and T-Tail" inferring it to could be an option. I believe that many have both because the Elevator trim was the original configuration with T-Tail or Reflexor added later. Can I safely remove the original elevator trim wheel?
Thanks guys

Calvin Thorne
56 Rolling Range Estate
Cochrane, Alberta, Canada T4C 2A3
Cell & text 403 860-7582
Aircraft building web page:
http://users.xplornet.com/~vision/44/tailfeathers.html
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