Rob,

 

I struggled with the question about winglets when building my aircraft. I did install winglets on the aircraft and have flown it. The aircraft was flown by a professional test pilot during flight testing with the winglets. His impression that the winglets slow the aircraft's role by about 20%. This is not all bad if you're new pilot to a legacy. The other thing that the test pilot found was my legacy stalled at a slower speed compared to most of them out there. Unfortunately he did not explore the reasons why my aircraft had better stall characteristics. I have also heard the winglets will slow the aircraft's speed at low altitudes.

 

In the end, when I took the aircraft into the paint shop I decided to remove the winglets to help increase my aircraft airspeed. I didn't know the results of removing the winglets as she is still in the paint shop. So the jury is still out.

 

From my experience, I think the winglets if “properly installed” improve stability in role, improved climb rate and possibly reduce stall speed. The negatives, reportedly reduces airspeed because of increased drag and reduces the roll rate by 20%. The last item they look pretty cool!

 

Check back with me at the end of the month at that time I should have been flying my aircraft without winglets.

 

See you at Oshkosh!

 

Russell Steiner

N2AA legacy