Flight Trimming

[eta150]

Depends on wing size, I think it's been mentioned several time in the Wright stuff board.

[StampingKid]

Depends upon the stab size too So ideal is based upon the individual plane. I think this year with the limits on chord size it is more rearward. But as someone noted each plane is an entity unto itself. The Freedom Flight developer noted that it flew preliminarily well up to .75 inch rearward in his design plans. But two experienced coaches/mentors on this forum noted .25-.50 inch and even at the rearpost for this same plane. As Jeff Anderson has noted building the plane is only a small part of this event. Your practice will determine ideal for your plane..

[eta150]

Due to repairs (most notably on my destroyed tail), my plane has gained .10~.15g. Would this weight gain result in the ~10 sec. I've lost from my flights? I'm rebuilding the tail from scratch to cut weight regardless, but I was wondering if that small weight gain should have caused this change.

[calgoddard]

Assuming your 2010 Wright Stuff plane was flying around three minutes in a low ceiling height, i.e approximately 22 feet, and 0.10 to .15 grams of weight was then added to the plane, it is reasonable to assume that this extra weight could result in flights about 5 - 10 seconds shorter, all other factors being constant. This is why Jeff Anderson and others are continually recommending that students fly a plane that just meets the 7.0 gram minimum weight.

[eta150]

Yeah, that sounds about right. Thanks!

[Littleboy]

Does anyone know how tall the gym will be for MI state?

[jander14indoor]

Assuming its flown in the usual gym, which I expect, about 24 ft or so at the center peak, 20 ft at the sides. That's to the bottom of the rafters. Not open girder rafters, but solid I-beam rafters, I think. Some lights and ceiling fans, spaced enough not to be too much problem. I seem to remember they replaced the hanging lights with flush ceiling fluorescents improving the site for WS, but that may have been the other gym we use when there are two flying events. Floor space is generous enough to fly multiple official flights, but we seldom do, though we may interlace teams t get all 48 teams in. Two teams flying officials at one time, but only one in the air at a time. At some times of day there is drift, but I'm going to leave that to you to figure out.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[StampingKid]

4 weeks until state. Moving from low humidity winter to spring showers. My bridges I store in turkey roaster bags with silica crystals. Should I worry about my planes? My first concern for them is not breaking them. But their static set up is so précise that I also want to avoid warping the wing or stab especially in an adverse direction. And do I need to be aware of any adjustments for the rubber size if we have rain on the day of the competition? When we fought running vents last year we used bigger rubber. Is 100 percent humidity going to call for a similar adjustment?

[Draylon Fogg]

Moisture adds weight, but also flexibility, so it just depends on where your planes are trimmed at, but there might be some call for adjustment when you get there.

[bd123]

My plane initally climbs really fast (while stalling), at a very high angle untill it gets close to the ceiling about 18ft. It then levels out and then decends. Is this normal? I feel that if the ascent is slower it would be better.

My plane is 7.0grams. Around .102 ish rubber, 45(15) winds, 1.4-1.5g. Fairly large wind chord. An ok number of winds left. The front of the wing is 1/8" higher than the back. Center of gravity is around the middle of the wing.