Slinging in the Rain

Joe Pires

star hoarder
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
2,901
Location
Geneva FL FD92
Aircraft
Aviomania GS2.
Total Flight Time
600 ish solo gyro and 190 ish two place
We got caught by the rain leaving the EAA breakfast at Arthur Dunn last Saturday. Charlie, my passenger made the most of it though.
 

Attachments

  • photo130713.jpg
    photo130713.jpg
    127.7 KB · Views: 26
that's interesting
o.png
 
Joe: Was the rain a light sprinkle on you? Or, heavy?
Notice any difference in how your machine reacts to rain? Rotor speed? Engine ran as usual? Any changes to your altitude?
Very colorful photo, w/ lots of contrast!
 
Thanks guys. Kevin, it was a light rain, everything was normal except I was hyper-vigilant listening for anything odd. I was only in it for about 5 minutes and by the time we landed we were dry.
 
Thanks, Joe. I asked due to my few experiences. I wasn't going out flying when it was raining, but got caught in a brief (and light) shower 2 times years ago while under power from the Rotax 503. I was immediately concerned for several reasons:

1. Possibility of water induction into engine through the two individual air filters.

2. Possible damage to both prop & rotorblades leading edges from impact of raindrops. I suspected flight in heavy, sustained rain would be far more of a worry than the light & brief rain-encounter would.

3. Reduced efficiency of wings, being flown into water vapor, possibly reducing lift due to changed air molecules as well as distortion of rotorblade airflow by water.

It turned out I had to slightly increase throttle to counter a slight altitude sinking upon entering the light rain squall. Maybe 100-150 engine rpms to stop the very gentle sink from cruising speed, level flight.

This was about the same as encountering a down draft. I've never encountered a violent downdraft while flying a gyro, only a gentle pressure downward, like a giant hand pushing down on the rotorblade disc. If I wished to maintain the altitude I was at, I added slight throttle to stop that gentle sink, which everytime was extremely brief.

I have encountered many updrafts that take my breath away because of the rapid, sudden elevator ride up. Usually combined w/ sudden, hard yaw changes left, and then right, or right, and then left, w/out any rudder pedal inputs by me. I believe those hard yaws are a result of entering a thermal's spinning in whichever direction it happens to be turning, and then exiting out it's other side.
 
I recently saw a couple of nearly circular rainbows while flying. No photo, though!
I've noticed that my rotor "whir", its normal sort of "wsh wsh wsh wsh" sound, almost completely disappears when flying through light rain. It was a bit unnerving at first. The normal sound comes back once the rotor has a chance to dry off, though (whew). I have not noticed any change in performance flying wet, though.
 
Top