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-



 The advertisements lead one to think that this year was the highest
 attendance level in the show history. It sounds like this isn't correct.

 Kevin Alderman


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