Cessna Skycatcher had the weirdest ?spoilers? or whatever they are
 grafted on to the end of the trim tab.  Any idea what they are about?
   s dorr



 They make the tab much more effective at the expense of a bit more drag.
 It is like a so called spoiler on the trunk of a car generating down force.

 Why they did not make the tab larger is a bit of a mystery.
 That may have caused a flutter problem. My guess is something like this may
 have added to the flutter potential.

 Paul Lamar

 Hmmmm, yes, flutter is always a potential problem.  It is fun to
 wander around a show like S n F and see all these weird little
 aerodynamic tweaks they come up with to fix problems that crop up in
 testing.  I saw another airplane with oddly shaped fence tabs on the
 ends of the ailerons .... obviously another afterthought patch to fix
 a problem that would otherwise have required a major redesign.

 Likely why an old friend used to refer to the subject as "aero-god-damn-ics!"

 SD

 SD, did you see any rotary powered airplanes on the flight line this year?
 They are usually parked on the first line on the left end. Facing the airshow.
 As I understand Tracy Crook did not make it but I can't get in touch with
 him. Anybody know what happened?

 Paul Lamar

 The economy has really hit the show hard.  It was most dramatic at
 the east end known as "Chopper Town."  They usually have at least a
 couple dozen exhibitors.  This year there was ONE!

 The main area was reasonably well filled but not packed as usual.

 The old ultralight area was also a ghost town compared to all
 previous years.  I wanted to see Pipistrel and that is where they put
 them ... along with maybe a dozen other vendors, half of them hang
 glider trikes...... where there usually are 50 or more.

 The exhibit halls were reasonably filled with vendors but not nearly
 as crowded as I am used to.

 I was impressed by the J model C130 .... 6 bladed propellers!  I
 wonder how many shaft HP they have now?

 And a trio of F16s was aurally impressive, definitely way above the
 normal control zone speed limit! and NOISY!  And they never even
 touched the after burners!  Made half a dozen T-6s in formation at
 full RPM sound like mosquitoes!

 I did not see any rotary powered airplanes in the display areas.  I
 did not get out onto the flight line because they started the airshow
 much earlier than usual and it ran to past 1800 so there could have
 been one or more out there.

 In the engine area, I saw all the usual suspects but what impressed
 me was the number of airplanes with this Viking engine .... a Honda
 I-4 flopped on its side and with lots of special parts to make its
 oiling work in that position.   I kept seeing them in many LS
 airplane vendors areas.

 There was a really neat 2/3 scale Spitfire with a Chevy LS3
 powerplant..... out of Australia and they are making their own gear
 reduction drive.

 SD



The weather last year, and the show's response to it has definitely
hurt attendance too.  A lot of airplanes were damaged, and then (so I
hear) Sun N Fun hauled the wrecks away (same afternoon / early next
morning - before insurance adjusters got a look), and then sent the
bill for hauling/storing the wrecks to the owners.  Bad press.

Certainly, $5-$7/gallon 100LL isn't helping.


Matt-


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