Flying Lizard
Pre-Flight
Any Super Decathlon pilots out there??
I spoke with an American Champion factory pilot, he said the plane is happy to snap all day long, just fly with maximum of 1/2 tanks and enter the roll at a steady 90 mph. But I've heard other folks say the plane shouldn't be snapped, for fear of some unspecified problem.
My bird is a 1999 and it did require a fuel tank replacement at about 500 hours; gas sloshing into a baffle caused it to leak. The factory said the new tank is a better design and shouldn't fail that way again. I suppose any roll is going to send the gas smashing into those baffles and the quicker the roll rate, the bigger the impact. Does anybody know of any other specific concerns with snaps?
Another question I have is about snap roll technique. When I snap it, the nose yaws all over the place during the roll. I've tried them with the stick back the whole time, with a little forward stick, with a little aileron into the roll, and with a little forward stick and aileron into the roll. Moving the stick does accelerate the rate, but there's still a sloppy lot of yawing going on and it feels out of control. I'm wondering if the rudder should be let out for some of the roll ...does anybody know of a way to snap this plane and avoid a lot of yawing?
Thanks!!!
I spoke with an American Champion factory pilot, he said the plane is happy to snap all day long, just fly with maximum of 1/2 tanks and enter the roll at a steady 90 mph. But I've heard other folks say the plane shouldn't be snapped, for fear of some unspecified problem.
My bird is a 1999 and it did require a fuel tank replacement at about 500 hours; gas sloshing into a baffle caused it to leak. The factory said the new tank is a better design and shouldn't fail that way again. I suppose any roll is going to send the gas smashing into those baffles and the quicker the roll rate, the bigger the impact. Does anybody know of any other specific concerns with snaps?
Another question I have is about snap roll technique. When I snap it, the nose yaws all over the place during the roll. I've tried them with the stick back the whole time, with a little forward stick, with a little aileron into the roll, and with a little forward stick and aileron into the roll. Moving the stick does accelerate the rate, but there's still a sloppy lot of yawing going on and it feels out of control. I'm wondering if the rudder should be let out for some of the roll ...does anybody know of a way to snap this plane and avoid a lot of yawing?
Thanks!!!