Please note: James' blog has moved to a Wordpress site. To access it, please visit http://jameswiebe.wordpress.com/. All posts have been transferred to the new site, and all new posts will only be accessible via Wordpress. Thank you for your interest!
Merry Christmas!!
One quick post on one of our development items, along with a new Belite video on YouTube --
I'll skip the analysis and just talk about the results --
After installing streamlined lift strut fairings on an airplane, I believe that we reduced drag at cruise speed by about 18 pounds. This increases cruising speed, with our smallest engine, by about 5 mph. That is very significant when we are talking about cruising speeds in the 50's with just a 28HP engine.
I borrowed Eric's plane for the installation and test of the new lift struts. The proof is in pictures and video. It's just a couple of minutes long, please watch this video!
Remember, I weighed 210+ pounds and the performance was just awesome. The plane was also configured with our new improved flaperons.
We've also upgraded to a new HD camera for our inflight videos. Just got it a couple of weks ago. I learned a lot about how to mount cameras on aircraft when I was working at Mythbusters on the Duct Tape Plane myth., and you'll see much more airborne ultralight HD video in 2012.
James Wiebe, EAA 2011 August Raspet award winner
"The Standard Pilot Blog"TM The Chipper and Radiant Blog for Experimental and Ultralight (Part 103) Aircraft (c) 2010 thru (c) 2020 by James Wiebe.
Are the streamlined struts the extruded teardrop style? If yes, I have some heavy dacron sewn teardrop sleaves. I wonder if they would have a value in this application?
ReplyDelete