Saturday, June 20, 2026

RV-12 myth busted

 A few months ago I read a comment that you could tell your non-flying partner that in the event of pilot incapacitation, they could close the throttle and trim the plane full-up in order to achieve a controllable, low speed (and hopefully survivable) forced landing.

I had my doubts since the RV-12 has a very powerful stabilator and I can't recall ever getting close to full-up or full-down.  I took her up and tried it out.  Yep, it's not a good idea to put in full up trim. Even without power (prop wash over the stabilator), the plane was nearly in a trim stall with only 75 % trim.  I didn't push it any further and went home to continue building.

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