Flight without spat

[Allison]

Hi everyone,

The nose wheel spat on my 6a is broken. I need to fly it home home for repairs. I read somewhere this is not allowed. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Bicyclops]

If you fly with the nosewheel pant on but the mains off, you would change the location of the center of pressure forward which would potentially be less stable. With the nosewheel naked and the mains covered, it would theoretically be more stable. I think you'll be OK. If you are worried, you could pull the mains and uncover all three. We know that hundreds of RVs have flown like that.

Ed Holyoke

[Ron B.]

Flew from coast to coast in an RV-10 without a nose wheel pant only thing noticeable , airspeed loss.

[xblueh2o]

Ask yourself this question,
With the removal of the fairing that covers the nose wheel, is there a solid way of retaining the fairing that covers the nose gear leg?
Can you fly it with both the nose wheel and nose gear leg faring removed? Yes.
I don't know what the regulations regarding that sort of thing in South Africa are though.

[KRviator]

I've flown the last 30 hours with the main gear fairing and spats on but the NLG pant and fairing removed after it was damaged towing the -9 with a flat NLG tyre.

Not a problem other than the speed loss.

[Allison]

Thanks for all your replies. 'Bullet' made it home for repairs. Perhaps one last question, the nose wheel spat mounting brackets are all broken, I want to fit something similar to what the later nose wheel models have, i.e. the 7a I saw today. But I can't find it on the vans website, I'd prefer to order ASAP. Can anyone help me with a part number or correct name. Thanks in advance.

[Raymo]

Assuming you have the -7 nose wheel fork, the following are the pant brackets.

U-713C-L NOSE WHEEL PANT BRCKT $17.00
U-713C-R NOSE WHEEL PANT BRCKT $17.00

You'll also need the associated hardware.

2 ea: 3/8 x 24 x 3/4 Allen screw
2 ea: AN960-616 flat washer
2 ea: 3/8 lock washer
8 ea: K1000-08 platenut
8 ea: AN507C832R8 screws

plus rivets for above platenuts.

The detailed parts list can be found here.

[j-red]

Pm me if you want those brackets cheaper. I bought them but couldn?t use them due to using an old style narrower wheel pant.