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Does anyone have a problem with blinding glare while flying their polished plane?
The other morning(about 8:30ish) I was flying my newly completed Onex in a northerly direction. Every time a glanced east I was getting blinded by the reflection off the wing, and my plane isn’t even polished yet. I could see certain times of the day(mornings and evenings) that this could be a problem. I’m having second thoughts about polishing vs painting.

Happens all the time. I block the glare with my hand when scanning for traffic in that direction. Or I stick up a little sunshade, like the static cling kind.

Yes! Don't like the glare. I find it worse when pre-flighting the plane. End up walking backwards around the plane sometime. Have thought about doing a wrap on the top of the wing.

GO WITH PAINT!!!

No down side, if you are sparing with the number coats (one is best if you can achieve a good coover). Use a high pigment commercial vehicle paint with elastizer on any part (cowling) that may flex.

Skippydiesel wrote:No down side,

Weight is the enemy. The painted look is only about 40% as cool.

What Brock says about preflight is right on.

I believe everyone should own a polished plane ... once.

My other concern (besides the reflections) was the fact that the polished aluminim would get very hot sitting in the noonday Carolina sun. Once at a fly-in while wearing shorts I crawled up on the wing to get something out of the plane and thought that I had cooked the meat on my leg right off the bone ...

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Tailwheel
2200 Paint Job

Hey Dale,

daleandee wrote:I believe everyone should own a polished plane ... once.

My other concern (besides the reflections) was the fact that the polished aluminim would get very hot sitting in the noonday Carolina sun. Once at a fly-in while wearing shorts I crawled up on the wing to get something out of the plane and thought that I had cooked the meat on my leg right off the bone ...

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Tailwheel
2200 Paint Job

I don't think that's right. If you do a good enough polish job, you can park the plane in the sun and it will be cool to the touch. Polished aluminum reflect infrared as well as visible light. Most of the heat that would have gone into the plane is reflected (onto your leg;-).

Wes

When flying, I just move a few degrees left or right to get rid of the glare. A bit like tacking in a sailboat. It usually doesn't take much of an offset, so it's not like it adds anything to my flight time. From most accounts, a Sonex after painting weighs about 25# more than before it was painted. With an 80hp AeroVee, it was a no-brainer for me to polish. That 25# extra payload is like gold to me! I've never found the polished metal to be anything more than just 'warm' to the touch in the sun. I did find that if you are tying down outside, wing covers are a must, to keep the bird poop off, and if you live in an environment where frost and snow are a thing, having wing covers allows you to snicker at everyone else scrapping frost and ice of their wings.

WesRagle wrote:Polished aluminum reflect infrared as well as visible light. Most of the heat that would have gone into the plane is reflected (onto your leg;-).

Wes

You have a point and I know that polished should be cooler but it sure didn't seem that way that day!

When I painted my plane I used refrigerator white (OK the whitest white available) to keep it as cool as possible and cut down the reflections. Seems to have helped. Another complaint I used to get with a polished plane was that it would quickly disappear in the sky.

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Tailwheel

PS: BTW ... you did good with your first video!

Hi Dale,

BTW ... you did good with your first video!

Thanks, but you are being kind. I did learn a lot. Like "Don't try to say too much". Anyway, I'll play with the software a lot more and hopefully the next one will be better.

Wes