On Aug 29, 6:21*am, J-Soar wrote:
Brad:

Thanks for all the info about flying the Apis. I'm getting closer to the first flights, probably preceded by some simple ground towed crow-hops to get used to it first.

A question:

Did your Apis have flaperon/wing gap seals? Mine had them, but they made the force on the stick in the roll direction very hard and sticky, at least on the ground.

The maintenance log for my Apis shows them only recently installed and with only about 3 flights on them, so I doubt they were well tested.

It seemed like not a good idea to have hard moving and sticky roll control, at least on the first flights, so I took them off of my Apis. It vastly reduced the stick force required to move the flaperons, and made it more like the elevator force.

I could replace them with new if required. What do you think?

Thanks,
Jerry Booker

Hi Jerry,

Robert was very conscious about trying to get the most performance out
of the Apis, that is why he installed those root fences. Mine did not
have them and removing yours already gives you a stick force
reduction, I would just leave them off. My Apis had light roll forces.

You probably don't need to do a crow hop, but if you do remember this
is a VERY LIGHT sailplane and will want to jump off the ground rather
quickly............put trim full forward!

Brad