I just read an article in Kitplanes Oct 2010, by Baraby Wainfan, about the induced drag of not using fairings at wing roots. Great article.
For a 25 foot wing, a gap of a 1/4inch (1 percent) would create an induced drag of 28 percent and would degrade climb by 26 percent... but there wouldn't be just one there would be two.
I never realized that a few small fairings would have that much of an effect on drag. I always thought of getting the project in the air a little faster by flying it before I had all the fairing work done. I ain't thinking that way any more...
For a 25 foot wing, a gap of a 1/4inch (1 percent) would create an induced drag of 28 percent and would degrade climb by 26 percent... but there wouldn't be just one there would be two.
I never realized that a few small fairings would have that much of an effect on drag. I always thought of getting the project in the air a little faster by flying it before I had all the fairing work done. I ain't thinking that way any more...
