sonex1374 wrote:I measured the effect of fairings and wheel pants during my Phase I flight test period, and found that the wheel pants were good for about 5 mph, the gear leg fairings for 5 mph, and the intersection fairings that I molded for maybe 1 mph (difficult to accurately measure the change). All told the change between bare and full-fairings was 10-12 mph.
Jeff
I agree with the total change of 10-12 mph. However, in my testing I found that the majority of the drag reduction was attributable to the addition of the gear leg fairings and to a lesser amount, the wheel pants. In any event, those who have chosen to fly their Sonex without either of these two additions are significantly sabotaging the performance otherwise gained with their use.
Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261