Lowering ailerons to gain cruise speed
Moderators: GAHorn, Karl Towle, Bruce Fenstermacher
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- Posts: 12
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 5:01 pm
Lowering ailerons to gain cruise speed
Two of my friends with 1960-70 vintage C-172s have dropped their ailerons about 1/4 to 3/8” relative to the flaps and have seen a significant increase in cruise airspeed. Has this been done on 170s with positive results?
Re: Lowering ailerons to gain cruise speed
I would think, raising them would help more than lowering them .
Re: Lowering ailerons to gain cruise speed
Lowering them increases induced drag and results in slightly reducing stall speed... it does not increase cruise speed... but it may change the AOA and relative wind during cruise which may result in changing CAS/Instrument error and erroneously show an increase in IAS.
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
- ghostflyer
- Posts: 1406
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:06 am
Re: Lowering ailerons to gain cruise speed
The only way to ensure your aircraft is performing to its best is have all the flight controls rigged exactly as Mr Cessna requested . Every 100hrly that comes through our shop the controls are always checked and the high percentage that are incorrectly rigged is mind blowing. Also check your cable tensions also . They do stretch over time . Another point is check your rod end bearings . If the are worn and allow movement , a small flutter of the control surface can happen. The skin condition of your flight controls also has a big part to play on drag. Hangar rash and repairs not done correctly does have a big impact . While I am preaching , my aircraft Lh aileron has repairs to the hangar rash and looks like a dog has chewed it but the aircraft flies hands off and I do not want to up set the status quo.
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- Posts: 12
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 5:01 pm
Re: Lowering ailerons to gain cruise speed
Thanks for the info. My rigging looks great and it flies nicely hands off. Was repainted and everything rerigged and inspected about 4 years ago. I’m going to leave things as is. Sometimes these things sound great but in reality don’t gain anything.