Section 5 has descriptions and pictures. It will guide you through the process. My 6 was somewhat sensitive in pitch but not a problem. When I started IFR training, It was hard to hold 100' when doing other things. I addressed the under squeezed TE's on the elevators and it made a noticeable difference when under the hood. Didn't take away any of the fun factor, just the over sensitivity.

Larry

This looks like it's ripe for a nice video showing a trailing edge that is too rounded, and a trailing edge that is correctly rounded, and how to make it right. Also, any hints for those with painted surfaces would be welcome!

Mike, next time you're in Switzerland I'd love to have you fly my 8 to determine where on the --twitchy----------stable-- spectrum it sits. I'm happy with it, but I've only flown 5 RVs, and they all seemed about the same.

Pillowing trailing edges are also the major cause of skin cracking around the most aft rivets.

As Larry wrote, there is fairly detailed instructions in SECTION 5 on how to evaluate the shape of control surfaces with bent (vs riveted) trailing edges, and how to adjust them if the shape is not correct.

The shape / profile is far more important than the actual bend radius of the trailing edge.

This is equally important for the ailerons, elevators, and rudder.

Next on the list of things that can make an RV fly bad is control system friction. This is particularly bad in the pitch circuit.
For the best flight qualities (and static and dynamic stability), the control system should be very low in friction.
I.E., if you flick a control surface, it should move and bounce around without quickly stopping.
Sometimes solving this just requires doing some good lubricating but it is usually caused by excess friction being induced by improper assembly.

I hope someone takes pictures or makes a video the next time they encounter this.

I actually went around at OSH and took pictures of the rudder and aileron trailing edges to compare to mine because as a first time builder I have no idea what I am doing.

From the Construction Manual, in the section on building the ailerons:

This makes a lot of sense now.
 

I have owned of a -10 for several years. I had the chance to fly my first two seat RV last week, it was a -6. I have a lot of time in many high performance aircraft including many aerobatic biplanes. This -6 had the most sensitive elevator control I have felt. I called the owner who is new to Vans and he is checking the skins now.

Thanks for the tip!

From the plan, it says the maximum length from the bushing is 15 inches but it does NOT mention the minimum length to keep it from being twitchy.

What is the preferred length from the pivot point to the hand position? Like many builders, I cut mine so it will just clear of the lower instrument panel.

Short enough to clear the standard kit supplied instrument panel is appropriate.
Shortening to clear a custom, deeper, panel would be staring to deviate towards unacceptable.

As already mentioned, detailed photos already exist in Section 5 of the manual.


https://www.vansaircraft.com/service...d-revisions/5/