Fixed Flaps for "Flying With Your Brakes On"

First of all, let me point out that I HAVE NOT tried this yet ! It's just another of the goofy "Why Wouldn't Work?" thoughts that bug me when I spend too much time on the Hill.

I hope to get my new/old Cox "Q-Tee" flying this coming week, and intend to use it as a test-bed for the engines that seem to be continuing their migration toward my shop.

They're various sizes, and the larger ones will just get bolted to my aged and faithful Lazy Bee, but the "middle ground" and smaller engines will have to go on the QT. Along with an easily switchable engine mounting system, I'm thinking about installing fixed, but "ground adjustable" flaps to add drag when I need to calm down an un-throttled engine.

When doing full-size aerial photography in a Cessna 150, I use 10 degrees of flaps with power and trim adjusted to make the plane a slow, stabilized platform. I figure that with some cautious experimentation, I should be able to trim the QT, and use the flaps' drag to keep it from trying to go to the moon.

I think that this simple mod wouldn't add much appreciable weight, and using strapping tape for hinges, would allow me to remove all convictable evidence if the experiment turned out to be another crazy idea.

Anyway, thought I'd bounce the idea of this crew to see what you thought. I'm sure it's been done somewhere, sometime before...but this is the first time I'm gonna try it.



Later! Kim