On Nov 24, 2009, at 9:28 AM, Raimo Toivio wrote:
> If I still were in a building phase, I would obviously have liked to
> get those Wing Root Fairings by UFACI
> (Uncle Freds Aviation Composite Industrial) LTD.
>
> Now it is too late I am afraid (only one life I have).
> But who knows, maybe there will be a future winter delay and nothing
> to do...how is that Fred?
> Raimo OH-XRT from Suomi
Raimo,
The truth is that the fairings would be a relatively easy retrofit to
a completed aircraft during a season when flying is curtailed and a
workshop or hangar is available where you can rig and de-rig the
wings. One would, of course, have to surmount the psychological
barrier of getting out the Dremel, sandpaper, some resin, etc. and
going back to the painters.
(The stock XS wing root fairings, if installed per the manual, would
have to be removed on the upper surface of the wing aft of the spar.)
Flight tests with and without the fairings by Jeff Behrens on his
trigear show improvements in L/D of 11 to 14% at various airspeeds and
3.75% increase in rate of climb; if you're interested I would be happy
to send you the documentation; perhaps I should post it somewhere on
the Europa Builders website...yes, I will do that.
Aesthetics are pretty subjective, but IMHO, they do improve the
Europa's appearance.
Fred
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