Controls - Rigging
April 1991
Both control sticks should be rigged approximately 10 degrees left of being vertical. A side stick should not be rigged vertical with ailerons at neutral. The 10 degrees, however, is not critical. You should sit in your airplane and place your hand on the stick in a relaxed condition, such as you might experience while on a long cross country- You will find that the most comfortable position for you hand is a little left of the vertical. Clamp your stick in this position and check that the CS-124 belhorn is now vertical or exactly as shown on page 16-5 of the plans.
Now, rig your ailerons to fair with the wings (neutral roll). Adjust the CS-126 and CS-129 push rods to position the ailerons at neutral with the angle between the CS-128 belcrank and the CS-129 push rod at 90 degrees (see pages 19-5 and 19-6 of the plans). This is very important, do not omit this step.
Now, install the stop bolt shown on pages 19-5 and 19-6 of the plans to allow approximately 20 degrees of rotation of the CS-128 belcrank but, more importantly, to move each aileron up 2.1" as measured at the inboard trailing edge of each aileron relative to the wing trailing edge. Theoretically, the aileron should travel up and down equally but may not due to individual tolerances. Do your best to set each aileron travel equal at 2.1" in the aileron trailing edge up position and accept whatever you get in the down position. (Note: More than 2.1" travel will not give more roll authority due to flow separation on the ailerons (aileron stall)).
The stop bolt on the right side of the airplane (through the CS-127 brackets) should stop the right aileron at 2.1" trailing edge up. The stop bolt on the left side of the airplane should stop the left aileron at 2.1" trailing edge up. The sticks, however, should be able to travel further left and right than just to the point where the CS-128 belcranks strike against the stop bolts. It is very important that you can move the stick approximately 10 degrees more in each direction than what it takes to strike the aileron stop bolts. This is because the air loads on the ailerons will cause some "wind up" of the roll control torque tube.
In order to have the maximum available roll authority, you must be able to displace the ailerons to their maximum deflections (i.e. 2.1"of travel) at speeds up to the maneuvering speed, Va - 120kts. Check to see that your hand wrapped around the stick does not strike the side of the fuselage when rolling right, and that the AN415A bolt and washer through the bottom of the front control stick does not strike the side of the fuselage when rolling left. See page 16-6, top left, of the plans and, if necessary, grind through the inside skin of the right side of the fuselage to allow over-travel of the stick (left roll) with full forward (as well as neutral and full aft) pitch control. If you are already flying your Long-EZ and do not have as good a roll rate as your buddy does, check the aileron throw and the ability of the forward stick to over-travel both left and right to assure that you can deflect the ailerons to their stops at up to 120 knots.
Carefully check that you have the correct elevator travel and that the stick does not limit your ability to reach the elevator deflections by prematurely striking the console or any cover you may have over or around the control sticks. If you have the original GU canard, you should have approximately 22 degrees of nose up (elevator trailing edge down) and 18 to 20 degrees of nose down elevator travel. If you have the Roncz 1145MS canard, you should have 30 degrees nose up and 12 to 15 degrees nose down. It is very important that you have pitch control stops set correctly to obtain maximum lift, and no more. (More travel gives less lift.)
Rudder travel is not as critical but, due to dihedral effect, the rudders on a Long-EZ add considerably to rate-of-roll. in order to obtain the maximum benefit from the rudders, do be sure that your rudder travel is set to the maximum recommended. (6" measured at the top of the rudder for the original plans-built rudders and for the new high performance rudders, 41/2" measured at the bottom of the rudder relative to the lower winglet trailing edge.)
Do not accept any friction in the pitch control system. If you have friction, do not fly until you have corrected this condition. Friction in the pitch control system of a canard-type such as a Long-EZ can make the airplane critically sensitive to fly. Friction in the roll control system greatly reduces the enjoyment of flying your Long-EZ and should be corrected. Work on every pivot and hinge point until the aileron control system is nice and free, with the minimum possible friction.
Your flight control system is absolutely critical to safe, controlled flight and, in this area more that any other, accepting less than perfection could be very hazardous to your health! Do not go flying until you are completely satisfied that you have done your very best to reach the above goals in the control system of your Long-EZ.