ELEVATOR MOD COMPLETED ON TAIL BOOM – January 4, 2021
We finished installing the modified elevator control on the bottom of the tail boom. This is a temporary location, for flight testing only. Our production vehicles will handle this differently, but we needed to reduce deflection of the elevator controls before flight testing, and this was the best way to do it given the options available at this stage.
You can see the round topped bracket that holds one end of the control cable, with the pushrod going from there to the end of the tail beyond. The end of the pushrod connects to an arm going up into the tail where it will move the elevator to point the nose of the plane up or down as we fly. This assembly on the bottom of the tail boom will all be covered by a fairing (a smooth cover) to reduce the noise and drag of the bracket and cable that otherwise would be out in the slipstream.
