Matronics Email Lists Forum Index Matronics Email Lists
Web Forum Interface to the Matronics Email Lists
 
 Get Email Distribution Too!Get Email Distribution Too!    FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Wheel fairings

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Matronics Email Lists Forum Index -> Europa-List
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
kjburns(at)btinternet.com
Guest





PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 2:33 am    Post subject: Wheel fairings Reply with quote

Frans,
Reading your improving nose wheel fairing , did you achieve good results ?
Did you make more than one ? I am currently in need of a nose wheel fairing , Also need a full set of leg fairings , including transitioning to fuselage and main wheel pants / wheel fairing ..
I’m pressed for time so can’t make my own at moment , don’t see point of making fresh moulds when , improved ones are sitting on a bench somewhere ..
Regards
Kevin

Sent from my iPad

Quote:
On 19 Aug 2012, at 23:38, Frans Veldman <frans(at)privatepilots.nl> wrote:



> On 08/19/2012 10:41 PM, craig wrote:
>
>
> Frans, could you elaborate on the "correct length would be shorter" wouldn't
> the longer shallower transition
> Create less drag and thus make your longer fairing more efficient.

There is also something like skin drag. More surface creates more drag. So there is an optimum somewhere: for a 2D fairing (like for a strut or a wheel leg) the optimal width to length ratio would be 1:3.7, with the widest point at about 30% of the length. For a 3D fairing things get a bit more complicated. Shorter carries a higher penalty than longer, so if in doubt just make it longer.

Frans






- The Matronics Europa-List Email Forum -
 

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Europa-List
Back to top
arwel.pritchard(at)powerc
Guest





PostPosted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 4:48 am    Post subject: Wheel fairings Reply with quote

Gents

I have the speed kit fitted to my XS but I dont have any transitions to
the fuselage or wheel fairings. Are these available from Europa or are
they something each builder makes for himself?
Cheers
Arwel

On 18/02/2021 10:32, Kevin wrote:
Quote:


Frans,
Reading your improving nose wheel fairing , did you achieve good results ?
Did you make more than one ? I am currently in need of a nose wheel fairing , Also need a full set of leg fairings , including transitioning to fuselage and main wheel pants / wheel fairing ..
I’m pressed for time so can’t make my own at moment , don’t see point of making fresh moulds when , improved ones are sitting on a bench somewhere ..
Regards
Kevin

Sent from my iPad

> On 19 Aug 2012, at 23:38, Frans Veldman <frans(at)privatepilots.nl> wrote:
>
>
>
>> On 08/19/2012 10:41 PM, craig wrote:
>>
>>
>> Frans, could you elaborate on the "correct length would be shorter" wouldn't
>> the longer shallower transition
>> Create less drag and thus make your longer fairing more efficient.
> There is also something like skin drag. More surface creates more drag. So there is an optimum somewhere: for a 2D fairing (like for a strut or a wheel leg) the optimal width to length ratio would be 1:3.7, with the widest point at about 30% of the length. For a 3D fairing things get a bit more complicated. Shorter carries a higher penalty than longer, so if in doubt just make it longer.
>
> Frans
>
>




- The Matronics Europa-List Email Forum -
 

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Europa-List
Back to top
budyerly@msn.com



Joined: 05 Oct 2019
Posts: 280
Location: Florida USA

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:25 am    Post subject: Re: Wheel fairings Reply with quote

For those of you who missed extensive discussions in the past on cleaning up the Europa to get the performance you desire, let’s reflect.

In some previous writings I gave a summary of projects to improve the Europa Trigear speed kit and how I make my custom speed kits. See attachment below. I also summarized how I get maximum potential out of my own and customers aircraft. Again, it is somewhat detailed.

For those of you who expect to just clip on a bit of fiberglass and some rattle can paint and get huge jumps in performance, you will be sadly disappointed. Aerodynamic efficiency comes from hours of work, fairing, study and testing. Gary Leinberger has commented recently and to add to the discussion points I have the following comments on his N388SG:

1. The aircraft is a high top, wide body, fully IFR, full leather interior, dual autopilot, 912S equipped, Airmaster AP332 with my full Custom Flight Speed Kit (including hand done fairing) but with the wheel pants set higher than my 1.5 inch standard height for some grass strip operations. Empty weight was just over 1000 pounds.
2. The paint job is very smooth and even the exterior lighting is as small and clean as was available in 2006. The cooling drag improved somewhat following my Cooling 101 guidance.
3. We tried using an oil thermostat but in the hot Pennsylvania summers it was not allowing sufficient cooling. It was removed and a simple air dam butterfly was used to block oil/glycol airflow in the duct during taxi out and winter time cruise. I also has the hot water carb heat on full time.
4. The aircraft is well maintained, kept clean and polished, and its engine well serviced and repaired of any discrepancy.

Performance is more than adequate for a 912S. Especially considering its weight. I have found at approximately 6500 MSL at 5000 RPM and about 24 inches MP the plane was flying at 126KTAS, 5.4 GPH, without any leaning or modifications to the Bing carbys such as the HAC Man. If the HAC Man or similar was used we would get a bit of a boost. At high cruise at 5500RPM, and 26+ inches the aircraft edged up to just below 140 KTAS at 2500MSL and due to running a bit rich only about 135 at 6500. Above 7500 MSL one expects that 75% power can no longer be maintained. It has a somewhat inefficient carb air box arrangement where about 1” of Hg is lost.

What Gary’s aircraft has is an aircraft built with much attention to detail. It is well rigged/trimmed and frankly fussed over to keep it in top shape. His learning curve to maintain that has been quite high.

The 914/Airmaster equipped trigear aircraft benefit from turbocharging and cruise at or near 10,000 MSL is a comfortable 140 to 145 KTAS depending on weight and attention to detail following my speed kit, trimming, and cleanup guidance.

This guidance was not discovered by me or my clients. It is tried and true research and development carried out through wind tunnel tests years ago. If you want to make a fixed gear airplane cleaner you must pay attention to details:

1. Seal the gaps in the wing to root fairing. Tape is ugly, sticky and messy. Learn how to do it with gap sealing filler strips of weatherproof foam tapes and rigging and sealing is fast and repeatable.
2. Wheel pants alone do not add performance. Installation of a pant to be as low as practicable and each transition from pant to leg to fuselage must be made smooth and well faired. On my first LSA aircraft my original hack at my custom speed kit increased speed by 17 knots and added only 8 pounds total. (40 extra hours of work though then paint on top of that.)
3. Cooling drag is a big deal. Most aircraft drag is from poor duct sealing and flow control. Cooling 101 is my start on how to improve your cooling drag.
4. Trim is essential. Weight and balance should be near the center at about 60 inches. Too nose heavy and the stabilator will be creating a lot of downforce and drag. Balance the aircraft. Roll and rudder trim is essential.. Engine offset, proper wing incidence and trim tabs that are large enough to limit grossly large deflections help. I have papers on my website on how I do trimming, as well as on The Europa Club Website.
5. A clean smooth painted surface that is well polished will increase speed considerably.
6. Keep the engine at its full potential. If the engine is not running right or compressions are dropping, fix it. If you have tinkered with the induction system, and are seeing very low manifold pressure at full throttle (below 28 inches) you have an inefficient inlet system. Mufflers create back pressure. The Classic muffler has a bit too much and as a result the original 80 HP aircraft suffer a bit. But since the Classic is lighter, one doesn’t notice it as much. The XS has the CKT exhaust which is lighter and has less backpressure.
7. A constant speed propeller will gain you additional cruise at a weight and cost penalty. However, following the golden rule: “If it adds weight and it must increase performance”, is definitely at play here, it is a performance and safety enhancer.
8. Get the weight down. Weight is the main performance penalty to many very nicely built aircraft. Old vacuum instruments, heavy gyros, non-solid state radios, antiquated storm scope and navigation heads are no longer necessary or even cost effective. The vacuum pump also robs horsepower from the engine. Old heavy and draggy Whelen lights were high amperage units, and the wire was nearly ½ a pound a foot. That’s 12 unnecessary pounds with todays LED tip lights alone. Super heavy (but comfortable) cushions decrease payload and are somewhat easy to change out to our new fabrics and foams. Get rid of the golf cart batteries and put in lighter gel cell batteries, or even consider Lithium ion type batteries.

Following these basic rules is not easy or fast. Often it will require extensive rebuild of a used or already built aircraft. But if you have an older aircraft, and it is down for maintenance, tackle one or more of the above and in a few years, the plane will be like a new aircraft. I just takes a few minutes to review TheEuropaClub website to download more info and please look at the references for more ideas.

Bud Yerly


- The Matronics Europa-List Email Forum -
 

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Europa-List



Custom Flight Speed Kit Installation 2020.pdf
 Description:

Download
 Filename:  Custom Flight Speed Kit Installation 2020.pdf
 Filesize:  2.26 MB
 Downloaded:  149 Time(s)


Techniques for increasing Europa Performance 2020.pdf
 Description:

Download
 Filename:  Techniques for increasing Europa Performance 2020.pdf
 Filesize:  715.18 KB
 Downloaded:  136 Time(s)


Custom Flight Trimming 101.pdf
 Description:

Download
 Filename:  Custom Flight Trimming 101.pdf
 Filesize:  68.79 KB
 Downloaded:  128 Time(s)

Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Matronics Email Lists Forum Index -> Europa-List All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group