fklein(at)orcasonline.com
Guest
|
 Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:36 am Post subject: wing root fairing flight tests |
 |
|
A year ago, I brought a sample of an enhanced wing root fairing to the Rough River Europa Fly In. It was designed to allow for installation during construction or easy retrofit to flying XSs, and is compatible with the necessary clearances for transport on the standard trailer. Information about it and photos can be viewed at:
http://www.matronics.com/photoshare/fklein(at)orcasonline.com.07.21.2008/
Since that time, I’ve developed a companion molding for the underside, and secondary moldings for the voids which open when flaps are deployed. I’ve completed the installation on my aircraft which is still under construction.
After posting the photos which show a much cleaner fuselage / wing intersection, a number of builders have enquired about and wondered what effect, if any, the fairings have on performance of the Europa. Up until now, I could not answer that question.
However, after much discussion, I shipped a set of upper and lower fairings to Jeff Behrnes who is presently flying his XS trigear w/ 912S and Airmaster prop, “Baby Blue”. Jeff, through his business, is an expert on exotic tapes and adhesives, and he had proposed that he could temporarily mount the fairings on his aircraft and do a series of flight tests, then remove the fairings and fly the same profiles without the fairings in order to determine whether or not, and to what degree, the fairings affected flight characteristics. Those tests have now been completed.
On a preliminary basis only, I can say it appears that the L/D during low power-on glide with the fairings increases by between 11% and 14.3% at varying speeds.
Jeff's data shows modest improvements (between 2% and 4%) during economy cruise and climb; there are, however, some anomalies between Jeff's figures and data recorded by Justin Kennedy which we are attempting to sort out. When these issues are resolved, I will post all the data and methodology.
In the meantime, if anyone out there with an XS trigear, w/ a 912S, and an Airmaster prop would be willing to fly some simple profiles and record some baseline data, please contact me off list.
Cheers,
Fred
A194
[quote][b]
| | - 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 |
|
|
|
Get Email Distribution Too!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
