greetings from limoges. i hear claims and read online that there is up to 5knts to be gained from a properly rigged cessna. has anyone found that to be the truth and if so do you know a decent engineer who can do it for me?
There is a very knowledgeable guy based at Chambery called Jacques Raissiguer. He is both a ferry pilot and a licensed engineer and knows about Cessnas. His e mail address is: [email protected]. Give him a try.
I have a Peterson converted Cessna 182, converted into a King Katmai by Todd Peterson in Kansas. Todd says two identical 182's can vary as much as 8 knots in speed, it's just how they come out of the factory so you need to decide if spending the money is worth it, particularly if your aircraft currently flys well.
Finally, may I wish this forum well and I look forward to some really good information.
André,
you can easily determine whether your Cessna needs rigging: if you can trim it to fly straight and level with hands off and it makes book speed while doing so, then there is nothing to be gained.
Achim
The cams in the rear spar attachment allow the angle of incidence of the wings to be independently adjusted. While that adjustment is being made, there can be an unintended outcome: While moving the trailing edge either up or down at the up and down extremes of the travel, in the intermediate positions, the cam is also positioning the wing tip more forward or more aft.
You get to pick more forward or more aft depending upon which way you turn the cams. The worst selection is one forward one aft, as the collective "wing" is no longer pointed that same direction as the fuselage. The angles are very small, But effect is there.
A Cessna Tech Rep told me a long time ago to sweep the wings back for faster cruise speed, and sweep them forward for a slightly slower stall speed. My buddy and I experimented with our two otherwise identical C 150s (144 serial numbers apart from each other). The effect seemed to be only 1 or 2 MPH difference between the planes - which we determined by flying fast and slow in formation.
That said, I have seem more improvement in cruise speed from a wash, and a good coat of wax! But every little bit helps!
A video about rigging the controls and gear of a Cessna single
Made me realize the Cessna mechanics I know are good, but no experts.
Some of the planes I flew were badly wing heavy (couldn’t be flown hand free, would bank instantly).
The old-timers of the club will tell anyone they were built that way 
Is this a Parisian club? I ask because all the Paris based owners I know either come here for their maintenance or go to Troyes.
I have never heard any of them complaining about their aircraft being wing heavy or less than stable. In fact the stability is one of the major advantages claimed by Cessna pilots.
PS I am one of the old timers at our club and I would be one of the first to complain if hands free the plane banked instantly, and I most certainly would not accept others telling me that they were built that way. I’m pretty sure that Reims aviation would never never let an aircraft out of the factory with that sort of fault.
It is, a very big one.
TBH, one or two in the fleet would bank instantly, the rest would fly reasonably straight.
It makes flying to Portugal and back feel longer 
I know an owner from LFPN who even flies to Gray LFEV for their mx (170nm one way).
You are not this kind of old timer
I’ve been through all this process with one of the top guys in the world on our Cessna U206F. We spent 14hrs of shop time on rigging the wing flaps alone. The start position for the health of a Cessna rigging on the ground is the RH flap and you can tell where you are going from there. There is a huge amount of skill and experience at play, but the basis of it is all contained in the Cessna MM. The trouble is nobody wants to pay 14hrs of shop time to rig a set of flaps. We have full digital engine set up too, digital gauges for metered and unmetered fuel pressure, optical tach, digital mag timing gear etc.
I like all the original Cessna aircraft in the original paint that are in John’s video. Our next one will be like this. Fabulous, original and rigged to perfection.
I had a Piper Pacer once that had 50% of the required down elevator deflection. The ferry pilot luckily discovered this when he went to push over from a “low approach and go around” saying goodbye to the previous owner in France. That’s how far out some flying aircraft are, from book specs.
Rigging is a major issue in GA. You need only say a 2mm difference between the flaps and the result is a plane flying crooked.
