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Michael Panek

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Hello everybody!
I am new to this site and I am encouraged to participate. I have a 1969 7KCAB (heel brakes and all!) that I have had for last three years. I am looking for a set of aileron spades for the wooden spar wings. Anyone have any idea where I can get some with the STC letter? ACA only has them for their metal spar wings. I have written the original creator of the spades, but not yet received a ersponse (is he deceased?) Any help is welcomed.

Thanks
 
Michael Panek said:
Hello everybody!
I am new to this site and I am encouraged to participate. I have a 1969 7KCAB (heel brakes and all!)..../
/...
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I love heel brakes and it was one of the reasons we've opted to buy a 1968 KCAB (with ACA metal wings and aileron spades).
 
I fly a Super Cub that has heel brakes and they are great, however, I flew an older Champ across the country a couple years ago (maybe late 50’s model) and the heel brake location was so far away from the rudder pedal that you had to take your toes off the rudder to apply the brake. Made xwind landings a wild adventure.
 
The heel brakes are no big deal after a few dozen flight cycles. After exploring this site I have learned the fate of the wooden spar spades. Too bad someone (with the time and $$) doesn't pick up the cause. I guess I'll keep the right arm "pumped" for the rollers...
 
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Goodyear said:
I fly a Super Cub that has heel brakes and they are great, however, I flew an older Champ across the country a couple years ago (maybe late 50’s model) and the heel brake location was so far away from the rudder pedal that you had to take your toes off the rudder to apply the brake. Made xwind landings a wild adventure.
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I learned to fly a PA-18-150 and had a PA-12 for awhile.

I have not found the heel brakes on the 7KCAB to be any different or any easier or harder to reach than in a Supercub.
 
I fly both. I far prefer heel brakes, even in ACA products. My Dec has toe brakes, and they work fine. I have no idea how I will be able to get the masters out to work on them. I may wind up converting back.

Spades don't do all that much for you - just lessen stick forces. The ACA aero airplanes are better flown gracefully than with wildly abrupt control inputs. Get good at really slow slow rolls. My spades, by the way, are Duane Cole STC. Probably only good for 8KCAB.
 
Spades are not about increasing roll rate or abruptness in applying the ailerons.

Comparing cubs and champs in general, one of the major drawbacks of the champs has always been a lack of control harmony due to high aileron forces compared to fairly light elevator forces. In my opinion adding spades is not about reducing aileron forces to allow more abrupt movement but rather to increase the control harmony where you get closer to an ideal where equal force and deflection of the stick fore and aft and side to side produces an equal amount of control response.

Based on my experience in all four aircraft, the control harmony of a spade equipped Citabria still isn't quite as nice as a Supercub or PA-12, but it's close, and far better than a non spade equipped Citabria.
 
This is funny...I started this post as an inquiry about aileron spades for a wooden spar 7KCAB. I mentioned that my airplane had heel brakes because when some people hear about heel brakes it invokes all kinds of interesting responses (and it didn't fail me this time either). Spades do nothing more than reduce the load to apply them. I have flown 7KCAB's with and without spades and there is a difference, not much, but a difference that I prefer. I do not have a great deal of time in the 7KCAB (only about 225+ hours, mostly flying "mild acro" during my lunch hour). I am fortunate to have found this site as it appears to be a treasure trove of knowledge for the airplane (as I stated in an earlier post about learning the fate of Olin Pasch's STC). I will continue on with my quest...
 
The Citabria I got my tail wheel endorsement in had Pash spades. I didn't realize what they did for me until I bought a Citabria without them. On my first take off I thought something was wrong with the aileron cables.

I had a set of Olin's spades in my hands last year but no paperwork to install them.

I did reverse engineer them before I returned them to their owner. I could make a set indiscernible from the originals. I wish field approvals were easier but I think that ship has sailed.

Stuff like this is what is driving me to experimental category.

Oh, and I like my heel brakes just fine
 
Thank you. Any chance of getting the drawings for those spades? Heel brakes are really not that bad, but it is interesting to see how people react when they alude to flying your airplane only to discover the heel brakes.
 
Michael Panek said:
...//...Heel brakes are really not that bad, but it is interesting to see how people react when they alude to flying your airplane only to discover the heel brakes.
Click to expand...

I've never understood the dislike / concern about heel brakes.

To be fair, I learned to fly with heel brakes and had issues adjusting to toe brakes, so I was probably ruined before my first solo. But I still prefer heel brakes especially on a taildragger. When I went to look at a Citabria I was semi-interested in buying, it suddenly shot to the top of the list. The fact that it already had spades was just gravy on the potatoes.
 
Why not try for a field approval? Explain to your ASI what happened to the orphan STC. Or maybe contact Dave in Maryland (dga on Supercubdot org) - I will try to get him over here. He is a VDER, whatever that is, and can make things legal.
 
We have Solidworks at work, however I doubt I could use it for this (Govt. stuff only). Do you have dimensions and a materials list? Thank you for this. I have a friend who got a field approval for a Brackett airfilter on a Ryan PT-22. He said it took over two years and was a PITA with the FAA, but he said it can be done.
 
Olin's spades mount to the inboard end of the ailerons. Not sure he differentiated between Citabria and decathlon, and I don't know if ACS does either but theirs mount on the outboard end.

And check your PMs
 
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