Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:23 pm
#1876866
VGs can make an unsafe aeroplane safe.
The Ekolot JG05 has terrible stall characteristics with two of my acquaintance spinning in on the turn to final.
I was warned that stalling with the flaperons full down would result in a wing drop and a 2,200 foot loss of altitude so of course I went up and stalled it in this configuration. I lost only four hundred feet, but it was nasty...
Vortex Generators were experimented with starting from the wingtip.
A third of the leading edge was fitted at a time, the final third at the wing roots with the whole leading edge VG’d.
There was a massive improvement when the stall test was carried out after the wing tip span was done. It wasn’t the same aeroplane, hung there at the stall wings level as if to ask “what do you want me to do now?”
We’d done the same to an Allegro light sport aeroplane, this only needed the outboard VGs to make it also very safe and docile at the stall.
Tried VGs on a Mustang II, there was no improvement and at the same time there was a sense of danger!
VGs are not good for all airfoil sections.
I wouldn’t bother with VGs on an EuroFox or a Super Cub for that manner. The improvement is not enough to warrant the expense in my opinion.
If you want to win an Alaska competition then maybe.
I remember the Maule getting a bad rap in Britain for its stalling characteristics following an AAIB report into a crash in the 70’s. There is some merit in fitting VGs to a Maule.
In groundschool I saw an instructor gloss over the VGs shown on his slide projection, I wanted to step in and explain how they work...
MichaelP
Wandering the World