Yaw strings

iamtheari

iamtheari

Administrator
Management Council Member
PoA Supporter
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Messages
4,903
Display Name
Display name:
Ari
To make life easier for the owner of the Champ I sometimes fly, I want to put a yaw string on his windshield. I’m assuming a length of plain old yarn will do the trick, but what kind of tape is safe to use so I know it will actually come off clean later on?
 
3M electrical will be fine.

the prop wash will likely make the yaw string pretty useless but it will be fun to experiment
 
tonycondon said:
3M electrical will be fine.

the prop wash will likely make the yaw string pretty useless but it will be fun to experiment
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don’t know how helpful it will be, but it’s a cheap experiment before resorting to a bobblehead on the glare shield. :)
 
iamtheari said:
Yeah, I don’t know how helpful it will be, but it’s a cheap experiment before resorting to a bobblehead on the glare shield. :)
Click to expand...
It WILL work, with the caveat that you might have to move the attach point by trial and error. Also, make sure the string isn't long enough to reach the prop during taxi. BTDT. :oops:
 
3M has a residue-free duct tape available at Home Depot/Lowes and through Amazon, of course.

HD/Lowes keeps this in the paint department. Look for it - it's dark gray.
 
iamtheari said:
To make life easier for the owner of the Champ I sometimes fly, I want to put a yaw string on his windshield. I’m assuming a length of plain old yarn will do the trick, but what kind of tape is safe to use so I know it will actually come off clean later on?
Click to expand...

“To make life easier” C’mon now, be honest. To eff with........
 
I’m looking forward to doing the yarn trick on car someday. On the Cobra it’ll go all over the place I bet. :)

 
Of course, it’s easier in a glider or a pusher. I just used duct tape and a piece of yarn.

I’ve posted this before, but it’s a good drill to show students how aileron moves the plane laterally on the runway and rudder keeps the nose aligned with the runway:


I was surprised at first that the yarn moves opposite the ball, but on further thought of course it does.
 
FastEddieB said:
I was surprised at first that the yarn moves opposite the ball, but on further thought of course it does.
Click to expand...

Small thing we did was put a white dot directly above where the yaw string is connected. This way when the string moves left or right you can still "step on the ball".
 
FastEddieB said:
Of course, it’s easier in a glider or a pusher. I just used duct tape and a piece of yarn.

I’ve posted this before, but it’s a good drill to show students how aileron moves the plane laterally on the runway and rudder keeps the nose aligned with the runway:


I was surprised at first that the yarn moves opposite the ball, but on further thought of course it does.
Click to expand...

That took some concentration to get it right when I first flew gliders. I would ‘step’ on the end of the string instead of stepping on the knot.
 
Last edited:
Every glider that ever flew had a yaw string. I saw an F-14 that had one. Many oil field operators had AS 350 and 355 helos in their fleets. The type was certified with yaw strings. Had to have it. It had a part number in the parts catalogue. One manager found that his parts guy was ordering replacements from the dealer. I remember that it listed for more than ten bucks each. He stopped that and sent that guy to Walmart to buy a couple of balls of yarn.
 
Every glider except the space shuttle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top