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pedals. If the pilot pulls’ his Legs up and leans back, the aircraft should become tail heavy, and if he extends his legs and leans for- ward the aircraft should become nose heavy. Use weights, if neces- sary (the battery is a perfect weight if electric start is installed) to obtain this condition. Following this procedure will insure that the aircraft has a slight nose heavy condition when the fuel tank is filled. Do Not attempt to fly a tail heavy aircraft!! This condition is dangerous because it greatly increases the stall speed and reduces the top speed of the aircraft. An extreme nose heavy condition can result in a tendency to spiral dive and poor control response or loss of control.
When rigging your FP-101 be aware that dihedral must be set into the wings when fitting the lift struts. The proper setting is a 6” rise from the wing root to the tip on the long wing FP-101 and a
4”
rise for the clipped wing version. Too little dihedral will cause the aircraft to be unstable in roll, which will result in a tendency to tighten up in a bank rather than maintain the desired bank or roll back to the wings level position.
Elevator travel should be adjusted to be approximately 15 degrees down and 25 degrees up from the neutral position. This translates into a vertical measurement of approximately
4”
down and 6” up from neutral, measured at the trailing edge of the elevator. It should also be noted that the FP-101, like all ultralights is a slow flying aircraft and, therefore, requires considerable control surface movement to gain the desired control response. Ailerons should be adjusted to move approximately 15 degrees to 17 degrees up and down, and the rudder through an arc of 10” to 12” either side of neutral. When rigging your FP-101 be sure that all control cables are free and not rubbing on any object which will chafe the cable. If the control surfaces do not move freely, correct this condition before flight to avoid unnecessary strain on the cables and a possible cable failure.
Before the first test flight, or your next flight if you have a problem in this area, the horizontal stabilizer should be adjusted so it is in the same plane as the wing. Refer to the rigging print
using the prescribed leveling procedure, and with a level check the horizontal stabilizer. Level with the bottom surface of the wing. During the next flight, careful note should be made of the amount
of forward or aft stick pressure required to maintain level flight at
cruise speed
. If any fore or aft pressure is required, block up the trailing or leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer in small increments, with a test flight after each adjustment, until the aircraft flies straight and level, hands off, at cruise speed. This will insure complete elevater control through the entire operating speed range.
Flying the FP-101
In my opinion, the FP-101 or any other aircraft should not be flown, at least in early test flights, without a functioning airspeed indicater. The accuracy of this instrument is not as important as
consistency. Several excellent instruments are available
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