 |
Matronics Email Lists
Web Forum Interface to the Matronics Email Lists
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
MPPalmer(at)aol.com
Guest
|
 Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:33 am Post subject: Fairings, fairings and eye (cataract surgery) |
 |
|
Hi All:
IIRC, we picked up about 3 to 5 knots when we switched to Van's wheel pants on the main gear (only) of our FT. (160HP)
Part of the speed increase was due to crummy alignment of our OEM wheel pants on my part and also due to a crummy modification I made based on bad data from a KITPLANES article. (To Dave Martin's credit, when he found out I used one of their articles to mod our wheel pants, he had Barnaby Wainfain send me a correction.) When I installed the Van wheel pants, I did the plumb bob thing and got everything straight.
For Robin - You will be on your own making the intersection fairing for the gear. But don't use something that simply looks nice... oil it and see what the air is doing.
My first attempt at an intersection fairing was nice looking, like the OEM Glasair fairing, but it must have created a horrible vortex behind the strut, based on the huge gap and then an ugly 90 degree trail the oil was leaving. (Whereas on the outboard side of the Van fairings, the oil shows textbook laminar flow. Very nice.) It took two more tries to keep the airflow mostly attached and somewhat straight.
I used modeling clay after the first test and ended up with a longish fairing, a little like some guys use in the Glasair flap area. I have photos I suppose I should post to show you what I mean. (I was hoping to do a KITPLANES article on it years ago.) I'm not saying my design is optimal... more like it seems to somewhat work. My main point is, with a lousy intersection fairing, you'll probably kill any gain from the pressure recovery pants. It would be instructive to see what the guys claiming 10 mph increases are doing for their intersection fairing.
On the Aurora wing fairing... the SH guy I talked to (not sure who.... I may have an email somewhere) told me that the fairing they developed looked like an old Warbird fairing... can't remember if he said Mustang or Corsair. (And DC-3?) The gist I got was that it was a heavily radiused, bigish fairing to swamp out the intersection drag at the trailing edge of the wing. It faired back a foot or so into the fuselage? No rocket science.
On my eye... I could write an article about what I learned on cataract surgery, and had pitched such a thing several times to The Aviation Consumer. Instead, they gave it to a low time girl pilot. (Political Correctness / Affirmative Action?) Anyway, I decided I wanted to be -2.5D uncorrected. That way, I can see near without glasses. (Think "Mr. Bemis" in that Twilight Zone episode.) Corrected, I'm 20/15... which is better than I've ever been. (Although I did permanently lose some extreme peripheral vision from the Mormon gal's punch.) Considering I used to be -6.0, this is much better. I can go most of the day without glasses (don't need 'em to read or work at the computer) and the glasses I now wear when driving aren't nearly as thick or heavy
| | - The Matronics Glasair-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?Glasair-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
robin02(at)mindspring.com
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:32 am Post subject: Fairings, fairings and eye (cataract surgery) |
|
|
Hi All:
IIRC, we picked up about 3 to 5 knots when we switched to Van's wheel pants on the main gear (only) of our FT. (160HP)
For Robin - You will be on your own making the intersection fairing for the gear. But don't use something that simply looks nice... oil it and see what the air is doing.
My first attempt at an intersection fairing was nice looking, like the OEM Glasair fairing, but it must have created a horrible vortex behind the strut, based on the huge gap and then an ugly 90 degree trail the oil was leaving. (Whereas on the outboard side of the Van fairings, the oil shows textbook laminar flow. Very nice.) It took two more tries to keep the airflow mostly attached and somewhat straight.
[quote] Mike, I would like whatever photos of the finished product and test results you might still have. RObin [b]
| | - The Matronics Glasair-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?Glasair-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
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
|
Get Email Distribution Too!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
