Svein,
My aircraft has flown 620 hours and yes there is some play due to hinge
wear on ailerons and trim tabs. I know some other Europas with less than
200 hours which have developped the same problem.
I am not too much concerned about the play due to aileron hinge wear
because in flight the load is causing both the wing and the aileron to
flex and therefore the play is annihilated. You can (at least
partially) reproduce this on the ground: just lift the wingtip upwards
and move the aileron.
However I am concerned about the play in the trim tab hinges as it
cumulates with the play which has developped at the fork connecting the
T bar to the bellcrank TS03. Any suggestion (other than replacing all
those parts every 100 hours) would be welcome.
Remi Guerner
F-PGKL
""On the two Europa XS's in Norway with more than 20 hours flying time,
the outer hinge on both ailerons on both aircraft has developed
noticeable wear. When the ailerons were mounted, no play was noticed -
not-perfect alignment of the two hinges removed the play that exists in
these MS-hinges even when new. The ailerons were carefully balanced
after filling and painting, as per the BM.
No wear is noticed on the inner aileron hinges, nor on the rudder or
trim tab hinges.
We have both monitored this carefully, without discovering any increased
play over the roughly 50 + hours flown since first discovering this.
However, this does not rule out that wear may continue at a low rate.
The outer hinge is fitted a fair distance from the tip. Even with tight
outer hinge, the tip may be moved easily up or down without applying
much force due to the flexibility of the aileron's structure.
Could the cause of this be small vibrations in the outer, unsupported
part of the aileron when activating the aileron (i.e. not streamlined
aft of the wing)?
Even if the outer hinges were tight, the flexibility "does not look
right". I have not found any other aircraft design at my local field
where the ailerons flex like this.
I have now fitted an additional, third hinge on each aileron, at the tip
and of the same type and length as the original outer hinge (which I
have left in place)."""
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