John Walsh
New Member
I'm helping a friend with his Boredom Fighter (W-11). It was built in the early 2000's and then sat for many years after test flying was completed and documented. After that it sat partially disassembled in the new owners garage for a few more years and was finally sold to my friend (and fellow EAA member) about a year ago. It has a Continental A65 engine and appears to be constructed in accordance with the plans and with good workmanship. After some tail wheel adjustment the ground handling was OK. I did notice there is a lot of right-yaw bias built in to the vertical stabilizer (which is quite small) as well as a rudder tab providing additional right yaw bias. The vertical stab forward attach bracket appears to have been modified to accommodate shifting the leading edge 1 to 2 inches left of center. In flight the airplane was stable and well behaved except the yaw control was squirrelly. It did not require excessive rudder force to keep it straight (ball centered), but if I didn't watch it closely, it would unexpectedly slosh over to the right and stabilize there, requiring rudder input to straighten it. So I believe the obvious answer is too much built-in yaw bias. However I can't help wondering why it was deliberately modified like that. I would presume you wouldn't make such a modification except in response to observed flight characteristics. There is no documented damage history and we can't locate the builder (if he's still alive). The previous owner never flew it and probably never noticed the unusual vertical stab position. We've checked alignment and rigging of wings and gear. I'm thinking about gradually reducing the stabilizer bias. Can you think of any other considerations or possible approaches? I suppose I expected the airplane to fly similarly to my Baby Ace, which admittedly has a bigger vertical stab and rudder. Would appreciate the opinions/inputs of anyone with experience flying in this airplane. Has anyone encountered a Boredom Fighter which did not have the vertical stab centered?
Thank you,
John Walsh
717-421-8104
Thank you,
John Walsh
717-421-8104
