Larger tail

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Mickav8r
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Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 12:55 pm

Larger tail

Post by Mickav8r »

At what year did the kits contain the larger tail section? Am looking at purchasing a Wheeler that is supposedly a 94' kit. What would be the method of confirming it is the large stab? If a measurement what should it be? Thanks. Mick
kevin
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Re: Larger tail

Post by kevin »

I have 2 CT kits, one from 92 and one from 99. Both are the same for the most part. After the company went bankrupt in the late 90s, some builders with partial kits got together to copy parts and finish their airplanes. This bred the version called the Auriga, and then the S90. Basically for your needs, if it is a CT, it has the smaller tail. If it has the conventional stab placement, it should have a larger tail.

That being said, the CT flies fine as it is, as I said I have 2. The "quirks" so to speak of the CT are related to placement not size with the exception of the trim tab.

At high angles of attack and slow airspeed, you can blank out the tail which will cause the nose to drop when the tail stalls. When do you get slow with your nose up? Takeoff and landing. On takeoff, you shouldnt be that nose high and if you dont leave the ground before 70 knots or so, it isn't an issue. If you come in to land slow, there is a technique for that. Come in at 70 or so, keep airspeed up, flare relatively close to the ground and land her slow and almost flat. The Columbia 400, TT, and cirrus are the same. If you land a Cirrus nose high and below about 70 knots she stalls and you drag the tail on the runway. Keep the speed up and land her about 10 degrees nose up and all is well.

The Express has a wide (by industry standards) CG range. Plane with full fuel and single/dual pilots only and the CG gets toward the forward limit. This causes high effort for the elevator and the need for a good bit of trim. In this condition I sometimes run out of up trim and still have to hold the stick back for level flight. The remedy: 50 lbs in the baggage compartment. Before any comments, my Certified Bellanca Viking required as per the POH 35 lbs in the baggage compartment if you didn't have anybody or any thing in the back seat. A Cessna 182 is similar. The remedy- extend the trim tab all the way to the inside edge- at the rudder- of the elevator. The trim tab is, to me at least, too small. So far with 4 people, I have no trouble with an aft CG, although flying with one makes the plane, shall we say, unstable. I have flown right up to the AFT CG limit with no issues other than the stick moves quite easily.

I hope this helps, sorry it took so long to respond. If you need something faster- call me or PM me. two three nine- eight nine six seven five seven six
Sorry for no numbers, bots troll these sites all the time and pull any info they can. You should see the reports I get.

I havent looked up where you are, but I am at KCRG in Jacksonville FL if you want to fly one.

Kevin Alderman-
A&P, GROL
ASEL, Commercial/Instrument
kevin
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Posts: 105
Joined: Tue May 20, 2014 6:46 pm
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Re: Larger tail

Post by kevin »

Missed the question about the size-
The CT tail has a stab about 8.5 feet long- IE wide.
The Auriga made it about a foot longer and a wider chord- but I dont have time right now to see if I have that manual for exact numbers. I think I read before that it increased the tail area by 15%.
The new kits are pretty much the same length tail as the Auriga.

I fly mine regularly with no problems.

Kevin Alderman
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