I've read many different posts on the value, or non-value, of wheel pants and gear fairings. So, I've been experimenting and collecting some data and finally have a full report now that I finally have my wheel pants on, and the also made and installed main gear fairings with RV Bits intersection fairings. Noting that Van's says about 4KT for the pants; I can confirm that.
What I've found is that without any fairings on, I cruised at about 111 KTAS at 7500 feet at economy cruise power, averaged over about 100 hours of flying.
Then I installed the wheel pants and flew to KOSH and back this summer. I found I cruised about 115 KTAS for the same power averaged over the whole trip between 7500 and 9500 MSL.
And then I installed the main gear fairings and just returned from a trip to Nashville, down to Pensacola and then back home (C83). Over that trip I found I cruised at about 118 for the same power settings.
And at FT, well, she really gets after it.
And for the pundits, no, that's not calibrated data, it's just averaged flight time over about 250 hours. But a real set of data points no less.
I'm also finally figuring out this "posting photos on VAF work-around" thing.
Left gear
Right gear
All done (ok, done with installing the gear )
What I've found is that without any fairings on, I cruised at about 111 KTAS at 7500 feet at economy cruise power, averaged over about 100 hours of flying.
Then I installed the wheel pants and flew to KOSH and back this summer. I found I cruised about 115 KTAS for the same power averaged over the whole trip between 7500 and 9500 MSL.
And then I installed the main gear fairings and just returned from a trip to Nashville, down to Pensacola and then back home (C83). Over that trip I found I cruised at about 118 for the same power settings.
And at FT, well, she really gets after it.
And for the pundits, no, that's not calibrated data, it's just averaged flight time over about 250 hours. But a real set of data points no less.
I'm also finally figuring out this "posting photos on VAF work-around" thing.
Left gear
Right gear
All done (ok, done with installing the gear )
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