Hi Ed, The major effect, in my opinion, is that the partly extended nose gear , with the fairing still attached, not only increases drag, but makes the nose gear assy a second rudder. This affects a properly rigged Coupe, by incresing the effectrive rudder action, thus upsets the "co-ordinated flight control system". If one wants to restrict the nose gear extension, suppossedly to gain an increas in airspeed, then one must surely remove the fairing. Notice, that later coupes were equipped with molded nose gear links, and no fairings.
Fly Safe - Have Fun Harry Francis ________________________________ From: Ed Burkhead <[email protected]> To: ety <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, November 1, 2009 11:40:33 AM Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Observation on snubber cable versus drag Fred Weick said in a recorded interview that having the fairing on the nose gear made almost exactly one (1) mph difference in speed. What we didn’t explore was, isn’t that 1 mph difference comparing the nose gear all the way extended with the scissors snugged up to the back of the strut tube? In that case, the scissors wouldn’t make much extra drag as it is hiding behind the tube. When the strut extension is limited, then you have some shortening of the tube, hence less drag. But you also have the scissors hanging way out where it commits drag all on its own. Could there be as much as two (2) mph difference between having the nose gear extended with the fairing versus having it 2/3rds down with the tube and fairing both providing their maximum aerodynamic drag? Just wondering. Ed
