Tail on a Bee

[flightexpress]

Guys I was wondering if I could put a air command tail on a bee..Or any other tail would work...I called star bees and they have a tail but not in production yet...So looking for other options.......Kurt

[Timchick]

I remember seeing some photos of a bee that had the single place air command rudder and horizontal stab on it. Air command has a square keel mount available for their tails to mount on a square keel.

[Doug Riley]

Kurt, remember that the H-stab on a 'Bee must generate sufficent down-load at all throttle settings to offset the effect of the somewhat high thrustline.

The A.C. H-stab is smaller and weaker aerodynamically (because of its shape) than the Watson, by a fair margin. You will have to determine its power and work out an incidence for the H-stab that creates the right down-load. If you know how to do that, then have at it.

First, though, ask Air Command if they approve of putting intentional down-load on their tail structure. You need about 12 lb. of down-load. I would guess (only a guess!) that this would require at least -4 degrees.

It would be easier to use a setup that's already been figured out for you, such as the Watson tail with -2.5 deg. of incidence.

[gyromike]

Originally Posted by Doug Riley

It would be easier to use a setup that's already been figured out for you, such as the Watson tail with -2.5 deg. of incidence.

Doug,

Wouldn't a stab like the A.C. stall at about 4º, since it's pretty much a flat plate with a sharp leading edge?

The Watson tail has a proper airfoil shape for it's stab, doesn't it?

[Doug Riley]

Mike: The AC's HS span is so short relative to its chord that it probably won't behave like the "infinite aspect ratio" wings that are used to create those lift curves we see in aerodynamics books. So much air spills around the tips of "shorty" wings that they never really have a stall break. You might expect this HS not to stall at 4 deg.

OTOH, short wings also generate less lift per square foot.

A HS mounted on a cocked rudder is going to lose some power at the inboard end, too.

The AC stab is a little over 4 sq. ft. With luck, you might get about .7 lb. per sq. ft. of lift out of it for each degree of incidence, at 70 mph. I've never tested one to see if this number is actually achievable, though -- nor do I know how much AOA it can take before it (sorta) stalls.

Yes, the Watson HS is a NACA 0012 airfoil. It starts to lose lift (again, no sharp stall) at about 14 deg. of AOA). We did test that one.

[gyromike]

Gotcha boss.

[Rehan K.Janjua]

Hello All.

When we have the square keel type. This should be for the Larger H/S.

Which is an excellant tail for any gyro. Take a Look at : [url]www.aircommand.com/large horizontal.htm.

The Full flying tail is mounted on a round keel tube.
For the SxS A/C , it is a triple insert round tube which is quite stong.

The larger H/S are mounted on the square tube keel ONLY.

I too intend to get one, but then I must also change to square tube.

Regards.
Rehan

[gyroplanes]

Here is the 'Bee that Adam H. built. It uses a stock Air Command flying rudder and a 1/8" aluminum, keel mounted HS about 1/3 larger than the stock Air Command rudder mounted stabs.