Aileron/Flap Interconnect

By Terry Healy

(September 1, 1998)

I am enclosing a graphic of my plate which is a tracing (I was flying today and removed it) of the actual piece that I am using. It is standard HP-18 for the first segment, that is it reflexes the ailerons with the flaps and then droops the ailerons with positive flap up to about 12 Degrees. Then the second segment gradually puts the ailerons into somewhat negative by about 30 Degrees of flap. The third segment then maintains the ailerons in their negative position (I have not made any exact measurements to date) as the flaps continue down.

This does two things, it prevents the tips from stalling on roll out, and on my particular plane allows me full use of my differential that I have built into my ailerons.

The result is that you have dramatically improved handling during the landing roll. I can now hold the wings level until the plane stops in any condition without any trouble at all as the ailerons are far more effective.

In any case I used 6061 t6 3/16 inch aluminum stock to construct the plate. I simply scribed my design and drilled the appropriate size holes and the filed out the resulting slot to proper clearance as per the original cam plate.

This one works great for me, and obviously you can rest the ailerons at various degrees of negative simply by repositioning the third segment higher or lower (using the correct arc segment).

This was one of the most significant performance enhancements to date and truly makes it a pleasure to land now. Remember to check for full and free travel on any modifications you do and as it is a control have another pilot or mechanic double check your work.