Pants

[Olbod]

G,day and Happy new year.
On an enclosed Gyro, with all things being equal, at cruise,
will wheel pants add or subtract air speed ?
Or are they going too slow to make much difference ?
Tar.

[Aussie_Paul]

Rob, Dad and I had a Pier Colt back in the late 60's. The Colt cuised at 80kts with bare wheels and 85 kts with the 3 wheel pants, or spats as we called them, back then. We used to run around the farms without the spats and put them on if we were going on a major trip.

At the speeds below 80 kts, they don't make a lot of difference. It does, of course, depend on wheel and tyre size, BUT it is the "looking great" marketing aspect that is a winner for a manufacturer.

Aussie Paul. :)

[Olbod]

Thanks Paul.
I was thinking more along the lines of fuel economy on a long trip.
You know, same speed, reduced power, go further.
Probably not enough to even consider.
See ya.

[Brian Jackson]

At first I was planning to add wheel pants to my Gyrobee (still under construction,) but decided against because there is a good chance their weight (plus their mounting hardware) would push the ship over the UL weight limits. In addition, the extra weight would have been placed at the lowest point of the ship which further raises the thrust line relative to the CG. Granted not by much. For a higher performance machine though they do make some difference I'm told, and they look darn cool!

Cheers,
Brian

[Doug Riley]

Jim Eich wrote an article for the PRA magazine in which he related some before-after tests of streamlining on his Barnett gyro. He added both wheel pants and a tapering cowl behind the sawed-off cabin pod. The two combined gave him about a 3-4 mph increase in WOT level airspeed, which started out at 70 mph.