Thread: Electric Elevator Trim

My wife had trouble moving the Pitch Trim Wheel as delivered in our CTLS from FD Germany when moved away from all but the "central" setting.
After one attempt at a go-around while carrying out a practice flapless landing whereby she couldn't move the trim wheel and fly the aircraft at the same time - she needed 2 hands to roll the trim wheel, I approached our local FD agent (Shaun Siepel of Sports Aircraft Australia) and asked if he thought FD Germany would approve installation of an electric trim system for the Elevator. FD Germany were more than happy to accommodate my desire for electric trim after I submitted a plan of what modifications were intended to be carried out.
The installation of a Ray Allen servo and other modifications to enable the system to work satisfactorily is described in the Approval issued by FD Germany for my particular aircraft. I will attempt to make the document available as a download here.
The cost? Approx US$1000 and 3 days work at a relaxed pace.
The installation has made what is already a great aircraft even better and my wife now will not let me get into the pilots seat. We recently completed a cross Australia flight (from east coast to west coast and return) involving some 65 hrs flying ... and I was "allowed" to fly for about 8 hrs total such is the difference the electric trim has made for her.
I post the details here for others who may have a similar problem with pitch trim.
Waggles.

Wow, how cool is that and you beat Roger L to it!

Thanks for the post. Any thoughts on FD making this an option?

Roger H

Hello :

Very nice installation. Thank you for sharing. I believe the Ctls needs it a lot since if you fly after 220 kts it becomes very hard to trim it.

I also see the you have install the neuform prop. Im right now in the process of deciding about to install the neuform or the airmaster prop.

I will aprecited a lot your coments about your installation on prop. The only thing I don´t like is to send the prop every 500 hrs to neuform for a tbo.

Thank you Angel.

Great job. That stick is really neat. Now all we need is an approval for a fuel selector valve.

I haven't flown an LS, but that sounds like more of a friction / binding / spring problem somewhere in the trim system that needs to be resolved. The SW's trim can be high effort at times, but it always rolls with 1 hand.

Doug

That is a great job! Very professionally done. You could probably sell kits.

I haven't flown an LS either but the pitch trim on my SW is very easy to move. Usually just use my thumb while my fingers are at the base of the throttle. My aileron trim, on the other hand, is almost impossible to deal with.

I do not know if there is any consideration for giving an approval fleet wide for this particular installation.
Roger Lee is probably best able to advise this and while I am mentioning him, I would like to thank him via this forum for the help and advice he has given me personally from time to time. He seems only too willing to help fellow aviators of CT aircraft on any and all subjects.
FD Germany have asked for reports on condition etc at 25 hrs, 50 hrs etc. We did 65 hrs straight up with no problems and the installation is as tight and responsive as the day I finished the installation.
Many SLSA manufacturers supply electric trim as standard equipment. After my experience the fitting of electric trim must be a less time consuming exercise for them when on a production line. I do know that they have set a factory demonstrator up with electric stabiliser trim, so maybe they are evaluating this for the future.
In reply to Doug... yes it was a friction related matter Doug. The agents here in Ozz recommended certain things to try first to fix our dilema, but the friction inherent to the system with its cables, pulleys etc was not able to be made easy enough for my wife to work with unfortunately. I saw it as a straight safety issue when she flew the aircraft.
As an aside it removed around 3 lbs in weight compared to the cable system.
Waggles.

Hi Waggles,

Thanks for the Thank You.
Happy to help if I can.

From reading your approval letter it looks like they want to get a handle on this mod and make sure it preforms in the longer run. No reason it shouldn't and looks like a nice clean install. I can see for now it would be an individual approval request and I'm guessing here, but only a fleet approval if enough people made the transition or if they wanted to do it from the factory. Looks like the door is open either way. My pitch trim and rudder trim are very easy to move. My aileron trim is harder and when I move it I lay my entire hand flat on the wheel and roll it. This gives me more surface area to contact that wheel and more strength to move it. It's still not that hard to move, but easier that way. Some are certainly a little stiffer than others. Maybe they are taking a good look at doing an electric trim?