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Fly with gear leg fairings only?

D

dwranda

Well Known Member
I am 22 hours into phase 1 and want to put on the fairings and wheel pants. The issue I have is that I fly off a grass runway and the forecast coming up is all rain for like a week. I was wondering what I could expect from just having the gear leg fairings on until things dry up. The runway is really great usually. Should I not worry about it and just put them all on?
 
Just make sure they can’t twist. It is the wheel pant that keeps mine from any movement. The fuselage fairings help but the wheel pant is what holds it.

Have fun !
 
I've flown my -9A with main gear pants off (fairings only) for about the last 15 hours with no effect other than some loss of TAS. I did make sure that those fairings were secure from twisting. I conclude that flying with fairings only is no big deal.
 
rockwoodrv9 said:
Just make sure they can’t twist. It is the wheel pant that keeps mine from any movement. The fuselage fairings help but the wheel pant is what holds it.

Have fun !
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Other than the clamp at the top what can I do to resist the twist? Not sure if some tape at the bottom would do anything. I will have the upper intersection fairings on as well.
 
fl-mike said:
no problem.
Most of the drag reduction comes from the gear leg fairings anyway.
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What? I lost 14 knots on my RV8 by removing only the wheel pants and leaving the leg fairings. Those little bubbles are impressive how they cut through the air.
 
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