Flitzer Sport Flying Association

The lower (drive) aileron cable just rubs the drag bracing wires close to the inboard fwd attachment. I did have concerns at the time of the first wing fitment before the drag bracing wires were fitted but thought I might get away with it. The last picture shows a possible fix using a fairlead to lower the cable but effect on the beautiful light control pressure may more than desired. Possible a better way would be to rotate the wire attachment fitting around its bolt axis about 10 degrees and weld it to the compression rib attachment bracket, which I opted to fabricate from steel. Then the cable can clear over one wire and under the other.

Your suggestions will be gratefully received.

I am thrilled by your image of mine in flight and am sold on the colour and scheme. Would it still work with the u/c in black?

What a shame. This didn't happen with the others.

I think your weldment method would work best, the other alternative being to have offset holes in the drag lug ends (ie, a new drag lug) which is actually easier, 'cause then you don't have to weld an offset, and it saves having to re-powder coat the whole fitting - merely replacing the drag lug. Does it happen both sides? Have you checked dihedral dead accurately? Would a small dihedral reduction improve things?

On the Falke, because the dragwires at the root have to pass through the tank, the guide tubes have to cross over each other within the tank. This means offset root drag fittings (adjustable on a slotted mounting hole) and 'joggled', ie. vertically-offset drag lug holes on the compression rib, offset one side (for the tank wires) and conventionally drilled on the other, for the remaining bay(s).

Situations like this, in a thin wing, are always dicey! This is why the short cable run is better with the two-aileron'd Flitzers. The four-aileron models have longer runs through the dragwires to the outboard aileron location, and they need offset draglugs throughout.

The colour scheme is the first version. Another with the dark blue/indigo trims to wings and tail surfaces would be next, and then the overall indigo wing with gold letters. However, the silver upper surfaces could still be used with indigo undersurfaces, including the wrap-around LEs and TEs. Yes the black undercarriage legs will still work - I used a picture of Tony's silver Flitzer, hence the wheel covers. The black leg colour will 'pick up' the black fuselage lettering. The spoked wheels might be better though, with the somewhat de-stabilising effect of the more powerful engine combined with the unknown quantity of the shallower vertical tail.

Imagine this with a 120 hp. 6-cylinder radial engine and an 84" propeller!

I have modified the existing attachment lugs since I do not have enough sleeves to make new drag wires. I have welded a strip on the front of the lug and another piece on the back for extra strength and to bring the back of the fitting flat. All very satisfactory and now there is good clearance. I can not imagine how other people have not encountered this problem. Adjusting the dihedral did not seem to make much difference to the clearance. The clearance or lack of was the same each side so I have modified both.

I cant wait to see the next colour scheme.

I still can't think why the aileron drive cable fouled the drag bracing, as it cleared on 'YZ, as far as I'm aware, and certainly cleared on 'FLIZ & 'AW.

Remember you said that the aileron lever was dragging on the underside of the seat base? This didn't raise my suspicions initially, but if there were small incremental errors on the aircraft centre-line, these would be considerably magnified with 2 degrees dihedral, and might have been enough to cause a conflict with the dragwires at some point, since the cables cross before they engage the pulleys. Rigging the pulley blocks ar -2 degrees is another clue to how careful I was trying to be in designing the aeroplane so as to avoid such conflicts.

Either way, your solution in lowering the drag lug is both effective and simple.