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News
that Cliff had fitted flaps to his small BAe Hawk PSS machine
prompted me to ask him for further details. His speedy
reply will make interesting reading, particularly for those
fliers currently troubled by fast landing approaches over
small landing areas. Cliff's comments read as follows :
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"I
chose to use a separate flap/aileron system so as to maintain
full aileron control while deploying the flaps, especially
when being used to assist landing approaches. I have
other non PSS slope models which use a flaperon system, the
smallest being a 36" span 'Gnott', which I might add is
one hell of a fast model. However, the disadvantage of
using this system becomes obvious when making a landing
approach and a wing tip drops. The flaperons have to be
pulled up immediately to regain full aileron control before
another landing attempt can be made.
The
wingspan of my Hawk is 55", the ailerons being 18"
each and the flaps 6" each. I have found that the
flaps are very effective when making landing approaches as
mentioned in my previous letter.
My
reason for choosing to use 6" flaps was so as to leave
18" for the ailerons, which is still plenty, as the
performance has not suffered at all.
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Flap
arrangement drawing on the Hawk by Cliff Gottfried |
I
would strongly recommend anyone to take the extra time and
effort, and of course the additional expense of the extra
servo, to give this system a try. I can assure you that
you will not regret it. It can make flying what may be
just a 2-channel model into a very interesting and amusing
one. Just watch their faces when it comes to landing in
strong winds, when you bring your model down as if it were on
a wire, while everyone else is making repeated efforts and
overshooting or zig-zagging along the slope waiting for just
the right moment to put down!"
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