Long speed brake trouble

[wolf.]

Dear Sirs, lately I am having more and more difficulties extending my speed brake (a plain vanilla O-290 Long Ez, which I did not build) even at 60-70kts I need both hands where before at 90 one hand was enough, on the ground it feels light. Am I just getting week or did something shift in the mechanic which I am to blind to see??

Any advice wellcome

 

wolf.

[saybeengineering]

Is there substancial friction when deployed on the Ground???? Is the cable assembly free from obstructions???? How is the tension of the cable?? You can also lift the nose to a higher angle of attack to reduce the speed, deploy and then lower the nose. Finally, you can convert the mechanical assembly to an electric one and forget about the struggle in final approach.....Wayne Lanza from Composite Designs makes a conversion kit. Contact him at wlanza@bellsouth.net.

 

Regards,

Afif Saybe

Long EZ HR-ATQ

Honduras

[Drew Swenson]

Sounds pretty weird. Are you sure that your airspeed indicator is correct? Check to see what speed the board auto retracts---needs to close at 95 kts.

 

Landing brake springs need to be adjusted so that you have a 40lb pull on the trailing edge of the brake to close it. If it pulls closed with less than 40 lbs, you need to tighten in up. If more than 40 lbs, you need to loosen it.

 

Seems strange that it is easy to operate on the ground---sort of eliminates any binding problems---unless you have stuff that can shift in there while airborne (is the opening in the side of your armrest such to get your coat or seat cusion caught in the device?

[wolf.]

Thats a good point I will check if something is caught in the mechanism.

wolf.

 

 

Sounds pretty weird. Are you sure that your airspeed indicator is correct? Check to see what speed the board auto retracts---needs to close at 95 kts.

 

Landing brake springs need to be adjusted so that you have a 40lb pull on the trailing edge of the brake to close it. If it pulls closed with less than 40 lbs, you need to tighten in up. If more than 40 lbs, you need to loosen it.

 

Seems strange that it is easy to operate on the ground---sort of eliminates any binding problems---unless you have stuff that can shift in there while airborne (is the opening in the side of your armrest such to get your coat or seat cusion caught in the device?

[TMann]

Thats a good point I will check if something is caught in the mechanism.

wolf.

I would also suggest having someone provide resistance to the panel to duplicate the forces you are encountering in flight. The fact that it seems to operate fine on the ground with no resistance would lead me to believe that something in bent just enough to cause problems when in flight.

 

When doing this have them apply pressure to the trailing edge of the panel and check to make sure the hinged area appears to be okay and that the panel does not distort when varying the pressure from one outside corner to the other.

 

Just a thought.

[wolf.]

Hi guys I resolved my speed brake trouble, it was the pilot I had 3 times surgery to get rid of a gut cancer and was just to weak for my speed brake, now after some time I regained my strenght and the speed brake can be deployed without much trouble:cool2:

[Phil Kriley]

Hi guys I resolved my speed brake trouble, it was the pilot I had 3 times surgery to get rid of a gut cancer and was just to weak for my speed brake, now after some time I regained my strenght and the speed brake can be deployed without much trouble:cool2:

That's good news - especially that you are regaining your strength after your surguries! I hope your health continues to improve!