This is a response from John Moran to one of the messages I forwarded from the
bounce bin.
----- Original Message -----
From: <JohnJMoran@aol.com>
>
> > With regards to the problem of getting air to leave the cockpit it seems
> > that with many Europas the positive pressure from the flap slots in the
> > rear fuselage prevents the use of apertures in the rear bulkhead as an exit
> > point. If I get this problem with my aircraft I am considering putting a
> >
>
> Hi John,
>
> I added little ear shaped layups on the inboard end of the flaps such that
> they cover the drive slots when the flaps are retracted.
>
> This was done with the wings in place and the flaps up by taping a piece of
> plastic on the fuselage as a release agent. A wetted out 2 layer piece of
> bid was placed appropriately by sticking it to the lower inside of the flap
> extension. The flaps were raised and the bid was squeegeed to the plastic on
> the fuse. After it cured, the bid was Dremelized to ear shape, resulting in
> a tight fit to the fuselage with about 1/4 inch overlap around the drive slot.
>
> In my Classic, opening the access door to the fuel valve with flaps up
> results in no apparent flow through this opening; another Classic I have
> flown in shows considerable flow under the same conditions. I also have
> minimal openings around the flap drive where it passes through the tunnel
> bulkhead plus the rudder cables are encased in Nylaflow which is glassed into
> the bulkhead. I intend to add a boot on the flap drive rod as suggested on
> the net recently. There is a noticeable flow from the cabin into the gear
> retraction slot in flight -- a piece of paper placed over the slot is
> definitely held in place. Another thing I did is add a 2X3 inch opening near
> the top of the rear bulkhead in an attempt to increase flow out of the rear
> fuselage via the rudder slot and the tailplane drive slots -- hard to say
> whether this is helpful but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
>
> If I were to become enthused enough to cut holes in my completed Europa, I
> would probably add a reverse NACA on the top aft of the fuselage and add a
> short piece of 2" aluminum tube faced forward. Plus add a 2" hole with al
> tube to the upper part of the baggage bulkhead, then connect them via SKEET.
> This would place the outlet (and any noise which comes from it) fairly far
> from the pilot. Plus, there would be enough of an uphill run to avoid the
> need to block it during the rainy season.
>
> Just some random thoughts for your consideration.
>
> (Please excuse the fancy e-mail format; I just upgraded to AOL 6.0 and don't
> know how to get it to send ASCII yet.)
>
> Regards, John N44EU
>
>
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