Flaps is as flaps does

[Area 51%]

For those of you with the aerobatic flaps/aileron set-up, do you ever find the shorter flaps inadequate?
I'm considering going with the shorter flaps because I don't think my wife is capable of pulling full flaps with the standard set of air brakes.
I guess I should be addressing the tricycle people as a full stall landing in the tailwheel version is something of a myth. .

[Bryan Cotton]

We do full stall landings by planting the tailwheel first. The shorter flaps work great. I recommend them.

[daleandee]

For those of you with the aerobatic flaps/aileron set-up, do you ever find the shorter flaps inadequate?
I'm considering going with the shorter flaps because I don't think my wife is capable of pulling full flaps with the standard set of air brakes.
I guess I should be addressing the tricycle people as a full stall landing in the tailwheel version is something of a myth. .

We were "schooled" on full stall landings about eight years ago ... viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3376&p=25588&hilit=full+stall+landing#p25588

As for being able to pull full flaps, slowing the plane down helps or you could put in an electric flap actuator as some have done. Personally I like the KISS method for flaps & trim ...

[Area 51%]

Is there anybody out there with a tailwheel and an LRI that can verify Zero-lift when a Waiex's tail touches?

For sure the mains are headed for terra-firma very shortly after the tail touches, but I believe it's a matter of leverage/geometry rather than the airfoil having packed it in.

Have you ever seen an X-15 landing? I doubt they ever came close to a stalled wing, but the fuselage comes down hard enough to break at least one in half after the tail skid touches.

Shorter flaps it is here @Area 51% .

[Bryan Cotton]

When you are stick full back and mains in the air, you are way on the back side where all the drag is. It is done flying pretty quickly.

[Area 51%]

Agreed. But a pretty hard bounce would follow with the wing that steep and the tailwheel in contact.

[Onex107]

The Onex had short flaps, due to the folding wing, the ailerons were the length of the outer wing. Pulling the flaps on was always a function of air speed, even with the smaller flaps. But I preferred landing with half flaps where you do more floating and could make more controlled landings. Of course that depends on your runway conditions and the wind. With higher cross winds, full flaps get you down before getting blown off the runway.
My Onex, 107, rests in a hangar in Toronto, owned now by a car collector, who is not a pilot, but is required to have an airplane in the hangar he rents. Can't beat folding wings for not taking up much space.

[Eric W]

I did the "added middle" notch of flaps on the flap detent (add a middle notch to the flaps detent that isn't in the plans). Found I never used full flaps, just that middle setting. Also didn't bother with pulling "first notch" then "second notch", just pull directly to the 2nd notch and leave it.

Above 100mph, it was tough - good feedback that you're too fast for flaps anyway.

I had the standard length flaps, and found that a "middle notch" was a good compromise between adding drag while still having a predictable cushion in ground effect without excessive float.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhWvN0vD8TU

[Area 51%]

I also had the "extra" detent in the first Waiex. Like you, I didn't find it necessary, very often, to go the whole 30.

This Waiex I'm working on now is to be set-up so my wife can find it comfortable to fly. That means tricycle gear and flaps she can control. She was in a car accident many years ago that left her with something less than full arm strength on her left side. (No Bryan, I'm not going with the center controls).
All indications are, the aerobatic flaps should require less force to engage. But here's the thing. Neither of us care to have the aerobatic ailerons to go along with them.
Enter "THE PLAN'.

I'm toying with the idea of a static portion of the trailing edge between the standard aileron and aerobatic flap. It will be of aileron profile and attached at both the top and bottom with the hinge that would already be in place with the standard flaps and aerobatic ailerons.

I've consulted with both a sloth and a hermit crab. Both have yet to give me the "thumbs up". We'll see how the whole thing plays out.

[Bryan Cotton]

I switched back and forth between standard and acro ailerons a few times a week when I was at Sonex, and never really noticed a major difference in the feel of the ailerons. They all flew, well, like a Sonex!

From:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7509