Keeping the Ball Centered

Paul-WI · Post by **Paul-WI** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 5:27 pm

Been a while since I posted but thought I would share an experience I had at my last annual. We removed the rudder as we needed to correct some play in the lower pivot bolt. Anyway, as we where installing the rudder I mentioned to my A&P that someday I will have to mess with the trim tab on the rudder as I always have to apply a little right rudder to center the ball. Been that way since I bought the plane 6-7 years ago. Well, as we where discussing what could cause this, he mentioned that we should run a level from side to side and verify plane is level and the instrument (T&B coordinator) was positioned correctly. Yep, you guessed it - I (or rather the plane) was half a bubble off. Repositioned and I am flying coordinated. Duh! Should have checked the simple things first. And yes, it felt wrong flying with a little right rudder and not centered. I though my butt needed to be recalibrated.

Paul