Flying in rain

[WDD]

At a certain speed, it rains as hard in the J-3 as it does outside.
Crappy door and window seals.
Sitting in the back seat. The focal point of all that woe.
Same for really cold air.

Nah. It’s just “Laminar Flow Leaking” designed to reduce drag.

 

[Half Fast]

Simple explanation:

When flying through rain, your plane is moving through a combination of air and water, thus it has to function as part airplane and part boat. Boats are slower than planes. If your plane is acting as, for example, 5% boat, it's not unreasonable for it to be 5% slower.

See how easy science can be?

 

[Jim K]

Simple explanation:

When flying through rain, your plane is moving through a combination of air and water, thus it has to function as part airplane and part boat. Boats are slower than planes. If your plane is acting as, for example, 5% boat, it's not unreasonable for it to be 5% slower.

See how easy science can be?

Does that mean a submarine will go faster if it's flying through rain?

 

[TCABM]

Does that mean a submarine will go faster if it's flying through rain?

Yes. See this one rotating for takeoff.

 

[Half Fast]

Does that mean a submarine will go faster if it's flying through rain?

Of course.

If you've ever operated a power boat, you undoubtedly learned that to get best speed you have to get the boat "on plane." That means you're getting it to act more like an airplane than like a boat, hence there is a speed improvement.

 

[UngaWunga]

There’s gotta be a blue ice joke here somewhere, but I’m just not coming up with it.