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Ultimate Wings

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apriester

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2007
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So I did my first flight in my new pitts s1ss with ultimate wings today. It took 3.5 yrs to get to this point. What started off as a high speed taxi ended with a lot of confusion. Here's the skinny: On my speed taxi the plane lifted about 2 ft from the runway with half throttle.... no big deal just settle back to the runway. The plane did a violent torque to the left around the roll axis which really got my attention. I immediately pulled up adding a little power. My thinking is altitude b/c i did not want the plane to roll the wing tip into the ground making me kartwheel down the runway. On cross wind the "snatching" continued. both to the left and the right but the pulses were not continuous or harmonic. But they were very sporadic and very aggressive. It felt and looked as if i was trying to do a snap roll but at 60 degrees decided to stop. At 900 ft on the downwind leg the same behavior was happening. I decided to land. On base with the throttle pulled back a little the snatching stopped as well as on final. the landing could not have been better. At no time during this whole situation was I at full throttle. To be honest I was afraid it would aggravate the situation. What the hell happened? I will tell you that there is a little play in the ailerons b/c I did not put a stop nut between the hinge block and the threaded rod end bearing. Frankly I didn't think i needed one due to the fact that the rod end bearing can't rotate. It's locked on the female portion of the hinge block. Putting one on is an easy fix. I don't think that was the problem though. Next is the aileron itself. The trailing edge of the upper wing is narrower than the leading edge of the Aileron (side profile). I noticed this a while ago but was told that would be a non issue. What are your thoughts? Oh, the engine and everything else was outstanding:)
 

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