how you hold your handle

[Chris Belcher]

Revisiting this earlier post cuz i learned something this weekend from Tom Farmer of Forerunner fame.
I (tried) trimmed, adjusted, tweaked several airplanes out because of tighter outsides than insides. I get to fly with Tom Farmer (Forerunner Designer) all the time at our local field and he saw me putting my thumb on top of the handle on outsides. He explained that that will make the response at the handle faster. Stopped putting my thumb up there and voila!!! he was right...it creates a lever and fulcrum type thing that causes outsides to snap faster. Now that's not a bad thing in itself but it does cause the ins and outs to be different. I leave my thumb right where it lives for the insides and it slowed the outsides down to match the insides. All that pushrod shortening and trimming tricks and like our experts all say...LOTS of the trimming is done at the handle. Those guys are right so much 

[Steve Helmick]

Oddly enough, I figured that one out for myself. Doesn't happen often!  Steve

[Chris Belcher]

i wish I had a thumb on the bottom of my hand to "flip" the insides like the outsides!!

[Steve Helmick]

More thumbs? That's not right...closer to being "all thumbs"!

I think you need more trimming. Maybe airplane, maybe handle. Equal turning I & O? Thrust or pushrod adjust? CG? Too much handle "overhang"? Too narrow handle spacing or too noseheavy? Keep after it! Ted always says that if it's windy, you need to move the CG back to reduce the control effort required. You got wind in DFW? I heard that you do, but maybe it was just rumor!  Steve

[Chris Belcher]

Yeah...I'm never never finished trimming...but moving my thumb off the top really helped a lot. YES we have wind here in DFW area. Comes in 2 forms...wet wind off the gulf all summer and cold wind off the rockies all winter. Best flying in Texas is Oct thru Dec...beautiful fall days , light winds and cool temps