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@orcasonline.com.07.21.2008/
Since that time, I=92ve developed a companion molding for the underside,
and secondary moldings for the voids which open when flaps are
deployed. I=92ve 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, =93Baby Blue=94. 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
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