Gents,
Here's one from left field, but it's not from my fevered cerebrum for a
change. A friend is the maintenance director at a warbird museum where
I volunteer and he's asked me to forward this poser to all of you.
They've recently finished recovering the flying surfaces of the museum's
Stearman. The wire tensions, etc., were done by the book, but there's a
small discrepancy in the flying characteristics of the plane. It does
power off stalls straight ahead, with no tendency to drop either wing,
but in level flight it rolls into a shallow left turn. The turn and
slip indicator shows about a quarter ball to the outside and a little
right rudder is enough to end the turn.
They've tried adjusting the rudder trim tab, but that didn't seem to do
any good. My friend is wondering what else might cause this. They're
assuming the wings aren't out of rig since there's no wing drop in the
stall. He wondered aloud if the rudder/tail structure itself might be
twisted? Any other thoughts?
Steve "The starboard TP-2 is out to get me" Genotte
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