Some context: I am a relatively new pilot - just 270 hours, but about 260 of those hours were over a dozen years ago. I bought an RV-14A last month and did 5 hours of instruction on the way home and another 5 back here in Texas before getting signed off to fly my own bird solo.
So all week I've been shooting touch-and-gos and was doing the same yesterday. My procedure once I touch down is to quickly clean up the airplane - flaps up (3 momentary clicks) and hold the hat switch up to send the trim from nearly full up back to neutral. I visually confirm the flaps are up, check the trim indicator and then hit the throttle to go again if the trim is anywhere near neutral.
I'm not sure exactly when the runaway trim started (probably the motor just kept going after I let off the switch), but somewhere around 50ft AGL I noticed I was having to apply what I would call extreme back pressure to climb. For a second I felt I couldn't climb. It caught my attention immediately.
After the initial shock of it, I took a breath and focused on flying. I noticed that the trim indicator showed full down but toggling the hat switch had no effect. I did not even think to go into the VPX settings to try to adjust from there, but honestly I probably wouldn't have been able to reach over to the MFD and handle that given the focus and physical strength it took to fly the airplane.
Having just got back into aviation after a long hiatus, the term runaway trim wasn't even in my lexicon, and although I saw the indicator stuck on full up, a part of my brain was convinced there was some structural problem with the elevator that could get worse any moment. For this reason I decided to stay in the pattern and land as soon as possible. In hindsight, I should've left the pattern to stabilize the airplane and troubleshoot. At a minimum, I could've experimented with pitch control and better understood the limitations before attempting a landing.
But I was in a hurry, so I radioed the 3 other planes in the pattern to let them know I had an elevator problem and asked for them to clear the way. Prior to this point I was hitting the numbers at 65 every single landing, but in my haste to get on the ground this time the approach was hot and I crossed the threshold probably around 80. There was a lot of bouncing and I used 3500 of the 4000 feet available. When I got to the ramp and turned every thing off and back on, the trim functioned normally.
This topic has been discussed extensively in another thread, so the technical considerations perhaps belong there. But after researching it, I'll be doing a few things:
1. I'll be working with my A&P to diagnose exactly where the failure occurred. I'm not a builder so I need help there.
2. I'll be practicing (at altitude) runaway trim scenarios. The airplane is in fact controllable, especially as slow speed in the pattern, but my arm was sore after fighting it for just a few minutes and it wasn't a pleasant experience.
3. I'll be considering solutions from the market for this, like the TCW Safety Trim module, with the understanding that this in one sense just adds more electrical complexity.
I certainly welcome any feedback from the community as well.
So all week I've been shooting touch-and-gos and was doing the same yesterday. My procedure once I touch down is to quickly clean up the airplane - flaps up (3 momentary clicks) and hold the hat switch up to send the trim from nearly full up back to neutral. I visually confirm the flaps are up, check the trim indicator and then hit the throttle to go again if the trim is anywhere near neutral.
I'm not sure exactly when the runaway trim started (probably the motor just kept going after I let off the switch), but somewhere around 50ft AGL I noticed I was having to apply what I would call extreme back pressure to climb. For a second I felt I couldn't climb. It caught my attention immediately.
After the initial shock of it, I took a breath and focused on flying. I noticed that the trim indicator showed full down but toggling the hat switch had no effect. I did not even think to go into the VPX settings to try to adjust from there, but honestly I probably wouldn't have been able to reach over to the MFD and handle that given the focus and physical strength it took to fly the airplane.
Having just got back into aviation after a long hiatus, the term runaway trim wasn't even in my lexicon, and although I saw the indicator stuck on full up, a part of my brain was convinced there was some structural problem with the elevator that could get worse any moment. For this reason I decided to stay in the pattern and land as soon as possible. In hindsight, I should've left the pattern to stabilize the airplane and troubleshoot. At a minimum, I could've experimented with pitch control and better understood the limitations before attempting a landing.
But I was in a hurry, so I radioed the 3 other planes in the pattern to let them know I had an elevator problem and asked for them to clear the way. Prior to this point I was hitting the numbers at 65 every single landing, but in my haste to get on the ground this time the approach was hot and I crossed the threshold probably around 80. There was a lot of bouncing and I used 3500 of the 4000 feet available. When I got to the ramp and turned every thing off and back on, the trim functioned normally.
This topic has been discussed extensively in another thread, so the technical considerations perhaps belong there. But after researching it, I'll be doing a few things:
1. I'll be working with my A&P to diagnose exactly where the failure occurred. I'm not a builder so I need help there.
2. I'll be practicing (at altitude) runaway trim scenarios. The airplane is in fact controllable, especially as slow speed in the pattern, but my arm was sore after fighting it for just a few minutes and it wasn't a pleasant experience.
3. I'll be considering solutions from the market for this, like the TCW Safety Trim module, with the understanding that this in one sense just adds more electrical complexity.
I certainly welcome any feedback from the community as well.