Rudder modification?

[pistoncan]

Another question for you Gurus (and thanks) I have a dave Blanton set of plans for stretching a pacer from back in the 80's and in it he strongly suggests cutting the top balance section off the rudder and welding to the vertical Stabilizer. He contends that the balance section makes the rudder so light that it helps induce accidental spins. Have any of you wise ones ever heard of such a thing? Would it create any improvement or be detramental? Just curious.

[taildraggerpilot]

My thoughts are if you deleted that section, you will have less rudder authority (directional stability), so if you do enter a spin, it will be more difficult to recover. However, since with his mod the fuselage is lengthened, less rudder is required because a longer moment arm exists giving less rudder the same authority as a stock system.

[Frankenpacer]

Just like the limited elevator travel to prevent a stall in the first place, limiting the rudder sounds like a crutch for bad pilot technique. After all, you can't spin if you don't stall AND have a yaw input... Don't do that and you will be safe no matter how "light" the rudder is.

After flying a "squirly" taildragger with a powerful rudder and a sharp stall (the Hiperbipe), I can't imagine reducing the control authority on something as benign as a Shortwing.

[Bultaco Jim]

And let's not forget that our planes can land in a higher crosswind than all low-wings, and most high-wings. We wouldn't be able to lean that sucker over as much without all that rudder. I'd rather have more choices than less. Jim

[Steve Pierce]

It is hard to stall a Pacer. Rudder takes little input but doesn't run out like so many taildraggers. I only use brakes to stop.

[Airwrench]

After a dozen or so Producers, we haven't had any problems with controls, especially ridder control. I think that I would leave the rudder alone. If there is a problem I would look at other areas. Steve Bryant