Overhead Flap handle Pics

stewartb said:

If I ever build another Cub it’ll have an overhead flap handle with pushrods. No cables, no pulleys. With the headroom in a Rev airframe there’s space for it. Anyone building a Rev 3? I’d like to see that flap control setup.

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Here is a picture of the REV last Spring. I was helping Joe Trujillo figure out the linkages, spacing and angles. The flap handle is totally out of your line of sight and head; even in the worst crash.
You don't have to move your arm way up and forward to get to it like some other designs. The handle is long. It has to be. The flaps go all the way to the rear spar and are around 12 feet.
Each flap is probably the area of 4 stock cub flaps, maybe more. The idea is to "throw the air at the ground, not just pat it" as John Ronce (Wing design for Rutan, Beech Starship and etc.)
said once, in an aerodynamics lecture.

The red arrow is the actuator rod that goes back to a torque tube running inside the flap cove. No air drag and no cable drag.

The blue arrow is the actuator arm that is outside of the fuselage in the wing root. Again, totally out of the way of baggage, your head. A very clean set up.

The yellow arrow is the I beam compression tube. The flap and aileron hangers are bolted directly to the compression tubes, which transfer the load to both spars. They are very light weight. The flap hangers are one piece CNC machined, aluminum parts, that are amazingly light. I have more pictures but since I don't currently work for Backcountry, I would want to get Bruce's permission to post more. Jonny O

So the cross tube pivots and the right wing linkage is a mirror image?

thanks Oli !!

Judging by the gouges and scratches all around my helmet after a crash where I flipped the plane, I don’t want anything else around my head than what is necessary. I like the idea and simplicity of the overhead handle, but all of them seem to be in the way if you go in with full flaps pulled.

Jonnyo said:

The idea is to "throw the air at the ground, not just pat it" as John Ronce (Wing design for Rutan, Beech Starship and etc.)
said once, in an aerodynamics lecture.

Jonny O

View attachment 39632

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Or as has been stated by the smart guy he was designing airfoils for.....Flaps are there to turn a good flying machine at altitude into a great "Ground effect machine" down low!

stewartb said:

So the cross tube pivots and the right wing linkage is a mirror image?

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Stewartb Sorry, I should have labeled the "cross tube". Yes, the tube that the flap handle is attached to spans across the fuselage, left to right. ( and is way behind the pilots head ) The linkage in the right wing is a mirror image.


CenterHiillAg The photo I enclosed shows the flap handle engaged or "down". In the Backcountry setup, everything is way behind your head. I will look for a photo with someone sitting in the cockpit for perspective.

Jonny O

Back in 2002 I saw fuel prices going up dramatically, I had a bushmaster that required 100 Oct fuel. It was getting so I couldn't afford to fly it.

I wanted something LSA that could use a small Cont. Or Lyc. I designed a plane that was slightly smaller than a cub (32') that I thought would weigh around 700 empty. Drew up some plans on the shop floor and went to work. I always loved flaps so my plane has them. I drove the flaps from an overhead handle with push rod to the left flap, torque tube just forward of the rear spar to drive the right flap. No cables or pulleys. I finished the plane in 2012. Ended up 800lbs., With o-320, Catto and 27" tundra tires. Flap system has worked just fine. Would make only minor changes if I was to do it agian.

Doubt the big spenders care but
Did it for less than 18K.

don d said:

Back in 2002 I saw fuel prices going up dramatically, I had a bushmaster that required 100 Oct fuel. It was getting so I couldn't afford to fly it.

I wanted something LSA that could use a small Cont. Or Lyc. I designed a plane that was slightly smaller than a cub (32') that I thought would weigh around 700 empty. Drew up some plans on the shop floor and went to work. I always loved flaps so my plane has them. I drove the flaps from an overhead handle with push rod to the left flap, torque tube just forward of the rear spar to drive the right flap. No cables or pulleys. I finished the plane in 2012. Ended up 800lbs., With o-320, Catto and 27" tundra tires. Flap system has worked just fine. Would make only minor changes if I was to do it agian.

Doubt the big spenders care but
Did it for less than 18K.

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Not to hijack this thread, but would love to see pictures as well as performance numbers if you haven’t already posted them elsewhere. Maybe start a separate thread.