Interesting... TWO sets of flight controls on one airplane.
10 or 15 years ago I had a Quicksilver MX. These also came from the factory with spoilers instead of ailerons for roll control. Thes planes were rudder-dominant and relied on a large degree of dihedral to control roll and minimize adverse yaw.
The spoilers were hooked to the "rudder pedals" and the rudder was hooked to the control stick. One could push one pedal or the other to roll the plane, or push them both at the same time to deploy BOTH spoilers and loose altitude FAST. The first time I did a preflight I thought they were installed backwards!!! But that's the way they were designed.
A lot of owners would later add ailerons and a steerable nosewheel. The ailerons were attached to the control stick, the rudders were attached to the foot pedals, the elevator remained on the control stick, and the spoilers (if retained) were attached to a rope over the pilots head. The pilot would fly the plane with normal control inputs, and just pull the overhead rope to deploy the spoilers for FAST descent.
Rick
----- Original Message -----
From: Roger PoynerSent: Sunday, December 19, 2010 11:48 PMSubject: Light-Sport Aircraft Yahoo group Spoilers versus ailerons [1 Attachment]This post relates to airplanes and I hope it doesn't put me on moderated status for clouding up the site.For years I have been hearing the merits of ailerons over spoilers for roll control on light planes. I think I may try to settle or spur this debate on again. I am going through my Starflight DBL on an extensive check out. One of those that takes a look at every nut and bolt on the plane. The plane was originally built with spoilers for roll control to avoid adverse yaw that can be induced with ailerons. I started to build a set of ailerons to add to the plane because that is what I am used to flying GA planes. I started flying in Weedhoppers in the mid 80s with two axis control and have flown the DBL in a two axis configuration and was impressed with how well it handled.
Since I will replace the wing sails at any rate and add the dual controls for the ailerons my idea is to install both ailerons and spoilers on the plane. The plane is a tandem two place and the front seat will have two control systems installed that are separate from each other in the front seat. While both will share elevator control they will be on there own for roll. Center stick for aileron roll and right side stick for spoiler control. Production models of Starflights still use spoilers so the plane should work fine as a trainer for either system. Intial test flights will be solo of course and the redundant flight controls can be tested one at a time. The spoilers with the side stick and ailerons with the center control stick. Dual control sticks will only be in the front cockpit with a center stick in the rear. For spoiler training the center stick will be removed.I just want to get a feel for both control systems and understand the merits of each. Any one have any thoughts? Roger P
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