Your perfect airplane that does not exist?
- Thread starter Gmonnig
- Start date
ColinD
Line Up and Wait
Thanks for the thread necromancy, @WJG-GMT-RootBeer
With the RV-15 coming to fruition, it's funny to read all the high wing RV talk from late 2020 on page 1.
With the RV-15 coming to fruition, it's funny to read all the high wing RV talk from late 2020 on page 1.
Clip4
Touchdown! Greaser!
There is no such thing as the perfect airplane. Everything is a trade off.
unsafervguy
En-Route
I know this is an old thread, but I have not seen it before, and I'd like to input. I have an early Mooney Super21 M20E and I love it. But if I could make two little changes it would be the perfect airplane for me that doesn't exist.
I would like to have a slight droop in the nose of leading edge as described in Harry Riblets book for this wing style. This would result in a loss of top speed by about 1 knot, but the low speed performance envelope would be opened up and the stall characteristics would become much more docile and forgiving, more like my old Cherokee. My airplane has a nasty habit of stalling hard with full flaps in ground effect. I haven't been able to alleviate this tendency and have resolved to only land with takeoff flaps. I would benefit from this change because I fly into short airstrips regularly, but I am likely the only pilot on this site that would. This change could be done, but the time and expense of recertification is prohibitive.
The other thing I would do is make the main gear a little longer or the main tires diametr a little larger so the airplane isn't quite as nose high on the runway. This would reduce the AOA on roll out so as to apply brakes sooner and harder without skidding the tires. Both of these changes would make the airplane a better shirt field performer, not that it is bad now, but it would be a lot better.
These two changes would make my bird a fantastic short field performer, especially on the landing. These changes would
be best implemented by designing and building a new wing from scratch to get the best strength to weight ratio possible. It is possible modify the wing but doing so would add weight without increasing the strength. With the added expense and cost of recertification of the airplane it is unlikely to ever be done.
I would like to have a slight droop in the nose of leading edge as described in Harry Riblets book for this wing style. This would result in a loss of top speed by about 1 knot, but the low speed performance envelope would be opened up and the stall characteristics would become much more docile and forgiving, more like my old Cherokee. My airplane has a nasty habit of stalling hard with full flaps in ground effect. I haven't been able to alleviate this tendency and have resolved to only land with takeoff flaps. I would benefit from this change because I fly into short airstrips regularly, but I am likely the only pilot on this site that would. This change could be done, but the time and expense of recertification is prohibitive.
The other thing I would do is make the main gear a little longer or the main tires diametr a little larger so the airplane isn't quite as nose high on the runway. This would reduce the AOA on roll out so as to apply brakes sooner and harder without skidding the tires. Both of these changes would make the airplane a better shirt field performer, not that it is bad now, but it would be a lot better.
These two changes would make my bird a fantastic short field performer, especially on the landing. These changes would
be best implemented by designing and building a new wing from scratch to get the best strength to weight ratio possible. It is possible modify the wing but doing so would add weight without increasing the strength. With the added expense and cost of recertification of the airplane it is unlikely to ever be done.