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When can I finally get ride of my tail support?

nohoflyer

nohoflyer

Well Known Member
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Because my project has been tail heavy I’ve had a saw horse with blocks under the tail of the plane so it doesn’t tip back.

Yesterday I installed the engine (no prop/no cowl) up front and thought that it might be the time. So I did and guess what happened when I went to jump in…..it started tipping backwards. Thankfully I jumped off in time and no damage was done.

Will it be the prop install? The cowl?
 
What engine variant?

You're probably going to need to add the prop, accessories (starter, alternator, ignitions, exhaust, etc.) to get the Cg to move a bit more forward of the fulcrum.
 
nohoflyer said:
Because my project has been tail heavy I’ve had a saw horse with blocks under the tail of the plane so it doesn’t tip back.

Yesterday I installed the engine (no prop/no cowl) up front and thought that it might be the time. So I did and guess what happened when I went to jump in…..it started tipping backwards. Thankfully I jumped off in time and no damage was done.

Will it be the prop install? The cowl?
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It's all a CG issue. Until you have enough weight FWD, this will happen every time.
Hang the weight of the prop from the flange and you should be good.
The missing Cowl is not enough to drop the tail.
 
My suggestion would be to leave a support back there until the build is complete. While it may be overly conservative, you get used to crawling all around the plane pretty much anywhere you need to, without giving it a second thought. If you always have a support back there, you won't risk going for a pitch up excursion in your shop when your body weight tips the balance.

My problem with a tail dragger was the opposite. The plane was on the mains and the tail was on a stand to keep the fuselage more or less level. Then one day I leaned forward from the cockpit over the firewall (no canopy, no wings installed) and the tail came up. I was lucky enough to have a builder/buddy with me that day and he jumped and grabbed the tail, slowly lowering it back down. At a minimum, there would have been VS damage where it banged the ceiling, but it could have gone over on its nose. I tied down the tail and put weights on the stand after that.
 
I kept four saw horses under mine. I knew I would probably forget to put them under before climbing in so they just stayed. Each under a bulkhead. Shimmed and padded so they were supporting. A weight on the tail tie down just in case. I'm 200lbs. Last thing I wanted was for the tail to hit the floor or my fat body to bend something. You have to crawl back there several times to run wire and rig the bellcrank.
Word if advise, cut some plywood into sections. One over each seat area. One across the baggage area. That way when you step in, weight is distributed.
 
wirejock said:
I kept four saw horses under mine. I knew I would probably forget to put them under before climbing in so they just stayed. Each under a bulkhead. Shimmed and padded so they were supporting. A weight on the tail tie down just in case. I'm 200lbs. Last thing I wanted was for the tail to hit the floor or my fat body to bend something. You have to crawl back there several times to run wire and rig the bellcrank.
Word if advise, cut some plywood into sections. One over each seat area. One across the baggage area. That way when you step in, weight is distributed.
Click to expand...
I totally should have done the plywood thing. I regret it now.
 
nohoflyer said:
I totally should have done the plywood thing. I regret it now.
Click to expand...
That, plus I cut some "wedges" of plywood to lay in the aft fuselage for the times I needed to slither back there and work on wiring or whatever. Made it less uncomfortable and distributed the weight better across all of the bulkheads, preventing damage. Still have them somewhere in the hangar :).

ETA: Oh, and never forget that if both pilot and passenger stand on the step at the same time, that can cause the aircraft CG to go aft and tip it backwards!
 
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