Van's Air Force
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Flight/Landing Characteristics @ Aftmost CG
- Thread starter HFS
- Start date
andoman
Well Known Member
I'm surprised that no one has chimed in. I have not been able to test my Rocket to aft CG because I can't get there. If I recall correctly, with 100 lbs baggage and a 200 lb. rear pax I'm still a tad from full aft. Pitch and roll harmony is ideal with a 160 lb pax and abut 60 lbs baggage.
Taking a stab at your question: I bet it flies just like a -4 at full aft CG. Somewhat touchy in pitch and perhaps a handful. I've flown my -4 at full aft and I don't find it disconcerting. There are others that would certainly disagree.
Taking a stab at your question: I bet it flies just like a -4 at full aft CG. Somewhat touchy in pitch and perhaps a handful. I've flown my -4 at full aft and I don't find it disconcerting. There are others that would certainly disagree.
Just looking at some older posts and I see this one, so will chime in. I have an F1 EVO. Here is what I wrote in a summary of the lateral stability testing I did:
With a forward CG the airplane exhibits positive longitudinal stability. As loading moves aft the longitudinal stability decreases. It goes negative somewhere between 92.5” (still positive) and 93.7” (negative). At ~96” the airplane became more difficult to control, with gusts creating large divergences from straight and level. This instability increased with speed. Testing further aft of 96” was abandoned and 96” will be the aft limit for this aircraft. However the autopilot did not have any problem controlling the airplane in this flight regime.
With a forward CG the airplane exhibits positive longitudinal stability. As loading moves aft the longitudinal stability decreases. It goes negative somewhere between 92.5” (still positive) and 93.7” (negative). At ~96” the airplane became more difficult to control, with gusts creating large divergences from straight and level. This instability increased with speed. Testing further aft of 96” was abandoned and 96” will be the aft limit for this aircraft. However the autopilot did not have any problem controlling the airplane in this flight regime.
fixnflyguy
Well Known Member
My -4 experience..I have Rocket time, but never in AFT CG, however, in my -4 I have hauled a 225 PAX , smoke oil tank in the baggage compartment and half full fuel..any RV4 driver can vouch that's pretty AFT loading. The pitch sensitivity is something to watch, and requires a light hand. When landing, if trimmed to zero stick pressure, a go around will result in high pitching up, so I trim nose down a bit and hold some back pressure..just a personal preference based on experimenting .
