March 2003 - American Bonanza Society

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The wing bolts were set in place fairly well, which required some effort when the time come to break them free.In some cases, mechanicstry to adjust the aileron positionsor flap positions to correcta wing rigging problem.Those types of adjustmentsjust increase the aircraft'sdrag and don't reaJJyimprove performance, sinceit counters the force of thewing by adjusting a smaJJer,less powerful control surface.made the right adjustments,you may have10 back off of thoseadjustments 10 get theplane to ny the rightway. However, henOled that in somecases mechanics tryto adjust the aileronpositions or nap positions10 correct awing rigging problem.He said thatthose types of adjustments are just going 10 increase theaircraft's drag and not really improve perfornlance, sinceyou are countering the force of the wing by adjusting asmaller, less powerful control surface.Weather or notOn our first appointment date, the weather gOl in theway. A strong wind from the nonh was generating a goodamount of lake effect snow, and the forecast was just notamenable for nying. The next day was clear and bright, soI set course for Kalamazoo and arrived at the airpon.Before going after the wing bolts, Ralph tweaked onthe naps to get them into the proper rig. The left nap wasin about the right position, but the right flap was hard upagainst Ole stops. We ended up taking around three turnsoff the rod end for the right flap actuator before the flapgot to where it needed 10 be. It turns out that the right flapwas too far in, so it was keeping the left flap in trail slightly.Backing off the rod end on the right flap had broughtthe left nap into position!From there, Ralph took off the lower wing boltcovers to see where the wings were set relative to theairframe. He found the left wing was full up whi le theright wing was neutral. With this information, he determinedthat we needed to adjust the right wing. So we hadto pull out the right side seats to provide access 10 thewing bolts.It is interesting 10 note that the lOp wing bolts aresmaller than the forward bottom wing bolts. [n flight , thebottom wing bolts are in tension, with the wing pulling onthe bolts, while the top wing bolts are not, since the wingis pushing up towards the bolt .The upper wing bolts get placed in tension when theplane is banked in either direction, wh ich explains whythey aren't as big. The wing pivots on the bottom forwardbolt, which is fastened through the jack fitting for thelanding gear. The jack fitting is actually attached 10 thefuselage, not the wing.The aircraft was carefully placed on jacks, and thewing bolts were loosened. The shop also ran a scribebetween the fuselage and the wing rool seal to assure thatthe seal wasn't stuck to the airframe. A piece of maskingtape was put on the fuselage between the wing root sealand the fuse lage and marked to show the staning position.With the wing bolts loose, Ralph used a large rubberPage 7734ABS March 2003
mallet to "persuade' the trailing edge of the wing to movein the direction he wanted by rapping on the top andbottom aft bathtub fittings. He had to go both ways to getthe wing to break loose from the fuselage. It had beensome years since the wing attach bolts were touched.The wing moved about an eighth of an inch in theright direction. So we tightened everything down, reinstalledthe seats and went for a flight test. The flight testshowed we still had some problems, and the aileron positions,true airspeed and ball were again checked.At that point. we had enough information and turnedthe plane back toward Kalamazoo to rake another shot atthe problem. It turned out that both wings needed to betweaked. So we pulled all the seats and Ralph and histeam took another go at it. The right wing was tweakedfurther, and the left wing was adj usted very slightl y.During the final checkouts, the shop found the rightaileron was not in adjustment, but two turns of the rod endbrought it back into perfect alignment.Inspecting the flaps. ailerons and wingtips fallowingthe work was remarkable. They were all matching upbetter than they ever had in the past. In fact, all of themmatched up with the centers of their reference pointsexcept for one aileron, and it was no more than a quart.erinchoff. So much for my thoughts of a twisted ai leron; itwas all a rigging problem!The rigging of my Debonair was an all-day task. Thiswas mainly due to the extensive removal and replacementof the seats to get to the wing attach bolts, as well as theoriginal effort to find the right wrenches for each wingbolt, and then get the bolts to break loose after years ofinaction.If I had elected to have the wing attach boltsremoved, tested, treated and replaced, it would have beena two-day job. Ralph noted that V-tails are generallyeasier to rig, due to the way the tail planes work. It is easyto adjust out a multitude of problems with just a fewtwists of a rod end here or there.The net results of the changes are notable. TheDebonair now nies more level than it did in the past, andthe controls are more coordinated in te,ms of theirposition in flight. The results of the rigging effort were anincrease of between 4 to 6 knots of true airspeed,compared to our pre-adjusted flight. This turned out to befairly reasonable to implement when you consider theentire effort cost less than $500.just as successful as the past efforts-in other words, notvery successful.Looking back in the Deb's logbooks, I found oneplace where the wing bolts had been removed, inspectedand reinstalled. That shop wasn 't a facility that had a lotof Beech experience, and it is very possible that one of thewings slipped out of rig at that time.Other than that, there are a number of routine replacementsof wearable parts such as rod ends on the ai leronsand nap cable replacements that can cause things to getout of rig.The lessons learned here are simple:Before any changes are made. install your gust lock andnote where all your control surfaces are positioned.If you have a digital camera, take a picture of the "asfound" position of the control surfaces.Once the work is complete, install the gust lock andverify that the comrols are back where 'hey started. Ifthey are not, have your A&P make adjustments to getthe comrols back into the original positions.Is your plane rigged properly?If you aren 't really sure yo ur plane is properly rigged,the next time you fly, take the above checklist with youand see where your plane really is set up. Then contactABS headquarters (316-945- 1700) to get the name andaddress of the closest rigging expert to your home airport.While this may take a little time and money. in thelong tern] it will save money through better fuel economy.ABS member George Wilhelmsen is the Balance of Plan! Supervisor 01Exelon's LaSalle County Generating Station. He is a CommercialInstrument-rated pilot. is the Qvionics ed,tor for Private Pi/of and CustomPlanes and is a contributing editor for IPlfol and AviOniCS News.You can see where the right wing endedup. The trailing edge of the wing was set1/8 inch below the previous position,which had been neutral.What caused it?The out-of-rig condition was a combination ofproblems, all of which had to be corrected to get the planeto fly correctly. It wasn 't as simple as jus, making a singleadjustment, and I'm sure that had we not been in the careof an expert rigger like Ralph , this effo rt would have beenABS March 2003Page 7735
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March 2003 - American Bonanza Society

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