Recently I have put mylar seals on all the controls. I thought that if
it is good on gliders it would also be good on my Europa, and it also
enhances the look of my Europa, concealing the gaps and hinges (and
hiding some imperfections at the same time).
I vould not really find an increase in performance, or maybe it was too
small to measure in the rather unstable turbulent summer conditions.
Thinking back about my recent trip to the Alps, I suddenly recognized
that all my landings had an excessive flare. All of them. I also
remembered that on take off the airplane started flying while my Talking
Airspeed Indicator was still reporting speeds in the 30's.
Obviously I need to investigate my stall speeds, but I didn't think
about it during my last trip, not having realised that the mylar seals
could affect the stall speed of the airplane in some way. I just
contributed extended flares to sudden winds or thermals. Only when I was
back home I recognized the pattern.
Important here is that I also applied the mylar seals on the top of the
gap between the flaps and the wing. The idea here was to smoothen the
transition between the flaps and the wing and to prevent air from
seeping through when the flaps are retracted. When the flaps are
deployed the seals are just extending the wing 1.5cm (about 1/2 inch)
and I didn't think that this could affect the effectivety of the flaps
in some way.
So, my question is: Is it possible al all that mylar seals over the flap
gap are able to significantly reduce the stall speed? Or should I look
for some other reason?
I can make a picture to show how it looks like.
Frans
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