Pitch damper for turbulence?

[FoxbuilderWill]

I've been working on mods to increase the speed of my bird while maintaining good off airport capability. One of the problems with that is the very light wing loading makes Kitfoxes very susceptible to turbulence. So in the summer time when we really want to go out and play we get the trash kicked out of us by turbulence.

The idea occurred to me that Kitfoxes are tailor made for a pitch damper. The flaperon control could theoretically have a servo linked to it and tied in with the rest of the autopilot system. As the system detects up or downdrafts it adjusts the flaperons very quickly to smooth out the bumps. Could also theoretically be useful as protection against over stressing the aircraft in a turn. If it senses your are about to pull too many g's it reflexes the flaperons to unload the wing.

I know Garmin has programming built in for yaw dampers (those seem to be more prevalent on rv's than kitfoxes), so maybe there is already programming for a pitch damper? Since their equipment is used on business jets that seems plausible.

I'm personally more of a homebrew guy myself so I'm wondering what is available in say the rc world that could be scaled up.

I have no idea if the kitfox flaperon system even has the range to be effective, but as someone who's head has been smashed into the ceiling by a strong down draft, the idea of something to smooth that out is appealing.

[PapuaPilot]

Typically when turbulence gets really bad you turn off the auto pilot and hand fly the plane and let it ride up and down with the turbulence. This gives you a much nicer flight

I have flown with yaw dampers that work and ones that don't. If a yaw damper is not in proper sync it makes things even worse. I would not like to see that happen with pitch.

[Denalifox]

Bet you could get a gyro from say an electric helicopter that is flybarless and incorporate what you mentioned. That being said, you are adding a bunch of unneeded stress to the components trying to "fight" the direction the airplane is trying to go when blown around. We have some of the worst turbulence one could imagine up here in this moody state and when I hit it I just tighten my shoulder belts and hang on for the ride. Talking with some of the real Bush Pilots up here they told me to go fly around in the mountains and get the hell beat out of you until it doesn't bother you anymore. Working so far. Haha.

[FoxbuilderWill]

Bet you could get a gyro from say an electric helicopter that is flybarless and incorporate what you mentioned. That being said, you are adding a bunch of unneeded stress to the components trying to "fight" the direction the airplane is trying to go when blown around. We have some of the worst turbulence one could imagine up here in this moody state and when I hit it I just tighten my shoulder belts and hang on for the ride. Talking with some of the real Bush Pilots up here they told me to go fly around in the mountains and get the hell beat out of you until it doesn't bother you anymore. Working so far. Haha.

You seem to be inferring that we Americans are too soft and like our comforts a little too much and if so I do agree with you on that.

But I have to strongly disagree with you about adding stress. I was getting some training in a sail plane and we hit an updraft and my instinctive reaction was to immediately push forward on the stick. The instructor asked if that was intentional or not and then explained that what I had done was a very good thing. When you hit an updraft it puts more load on the wings and by pushing forward on the stick I decreased the AoA and thereby reduced the lift they were creating and also reduced the load on the wings.

Let's just say that the system I proposed is possible, it would probably be more accurate to call it a "Lift Damper" instead of a pitch damper since it's not connected to the elevator. If such a system were installed and reliable if you hit an updraft it would deflect both flaperons up reducing lift and load on the wings, making a smoother ride and not beating up aircraft or occupants as badly. Obviously you can get into situations beyond the capability of the pilot and/or aircraft, but for our purposes we'll just assume conditions aren't too bad.

Also one other factor for me is that I have a KF1 which weighs about half of what yours does and so gusts are a much bigger consideration for me.

I wonder if one of the reasons modern cars last longer is due to better suspension? The car simply doesn't get beat up as badly.

I am looking at rc gyro stabilization. That will be interesting to play with.