Stabs

[Stuart Chale]

I do remember a brushfire flying AMA pattern back in the 80's with a flying
stab.  I believe it was Stan Rautkus's plane and it used a Geizendaner (sp)
flying stab mechanism.  Essentially a square aluminum rod with plastic
sockets in the stab halves running through two ball bearing supports mounted
on either side of the fuse,  In the center of the aluminum rod in the fuse
was a large control horn that attached to the servo.  I actually used the
same mechanism with a lock on the control horn to make an adjustable stab
with standard elevators back then, also on a brushfire.

 

Stan's plane flew well until one day at the Meroke pattern contest in NY
when to the right of the flight line a loud explosion was heard and Stan's
plane came to the ground in pieces.   Seems that the linkage let go and the
stab rotated to 90 degrees.  Effective air brake. 110 to 0 mph in nothing
flat.

 

Stuart C.

 

  _____  

From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org] On
Behalf Of Bob Richards
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 11:45 PM
To: discussion
Subject: Re: Stabs

 

It has been tried before, way back in the 70s as I recall. I think Bob
Violet might have sold some hardware to do it. I know he designed a pattern
plane that was featured in one of the magazines back then that had a flying
stab. I know the glider guys use full flying stabs a lot, but for drag
reduction mainly. Not sure why it would not work, but I suspect you would
not get the same "feel" as you would with a conventional stab/elevator.

 

With a conventional setup, you are able to play with the camber of the
horizontal surfaces, which can be used to trim the downlines for hands off.

 

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but when wing tubes became prevalent, I
believe someone (I think Chip Hyde) experiemented with wings that rotated on
the tubes instead of using ailerons.  That did not work well, from what I
understand.

 

Bob R.




jeffghughes at comcast.net wrote:

Now that a lot of 2M planes are going to removeable stabs, it seems a short
step to full flying stabs. Is there any advantage to this type of stab?
Seems like it almost would be easier set up, you wouldn't need to worry
about wing to stab incidence.

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