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Spoke to a Reno Racer recently who substituted a
simple flush carbon hinge for the normal protruding aluminum hinges to
change the Fowler Flap on the Legacy to a split flap.
- According to him, this should be worth
about 6 knots at Reno Speeds due to the decreased parasitic drag caused by
removing the protruding flap hinges.
- Also according to him, the split flaps are 95% as
effective as the standard Fowler Flaps.
If the above facts are correct and the stall
speed/takeoff distance is not significantly affected, it would seem that
changing the standard Fowler Flaps to split flaps would be a good "speed mod"
for all Legacies.
I presume that this was considered during the
design of the Legacy and wonder if anyone has more information about why the
designer decided to go with Fowler Flaps. Also any predictions as to what
changing from Fowler to split flaps would do to takeoff distances and stall
speed.
D. Brunner
N241DB
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