>The main causes of drag are the frontal area and drag from the aerofoils
>(wings and tailplane). The bits that stick out contribute a little then
>changing their drag coefficient does not have a big effect.
Jerry,
I am not convinced by your argument. IMHO with low drag aircraft like the
Banbi and Europa the interference drag of things like the flap hangers,
undercart and particularly cooling drag, forms a bigger percentage of the
total than on more common aircraft like C 152s etc that already have a
large built in headwind. Consequently the reduction gained with small
fairings can have a bigger effect than would otherwise be expected.
Detail improvements like these have an even bigger effect on high
performance gliders. Wish I was building a Europa with glider wings? Can
you persuade Christoph there is a significant market for motor gliders?
Graham
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