RVs terminal velocity

[aelkins]

I was reading about the different types of terminal velocity.
I ran across the amazing feats of 'Joseph Kittinger'.
It's a great 3 minute read, if you're interested.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Kittinger

That made me wonder.. what is the terminal velocity of an average RV?
Assuming 1100 lbs Gross, free-spinning FP prop, sufficient altitude available.
So, if you pulled the throttle to idle, pushed the nose straight down.. at what approximate speed would the drag equal gravity on a slick RV?

Just curious..

[FlyerJumper]

Best guess...
The wings would come off first!

[RScott]

Then terminal velocity might be even higher! At that point, I don't think I would care what the TV was.

[jonbakerok]

I took my folks up to Bartlesville for the Biplane fly-in once and there was guy giving rides in a "New Standard" biplane. I bought a rides for my whole crew. We had a great ride and my dad took pictures of us all in the cockpit.

Years later, I was reading about Col. Kittinger's exploits in some magazine and the story mentioned that in his retirement he did all kinds of things to stay active in aviation -- such as spending a summer barnstorming in a "New Standard Biplane". I thought, no, it couldn't be. But I got out the pictures and sure enough, there he was, with "Col. Kittinger" written right on the rear cockpit. Man, I got to fly with one of the great's and didn't even know it.

[tonyjohnson]

Col Kittinger lives in Orlando, the town where he grew up. For the past 25 years I have been proud to call him a friend. He is a great guy, a patriotic American, an man of integrity and honor, and of course a superb aviator.

Not only does he hold the record for the highest parachute jump, 102,800 feet, was the first and I think only, man to break the sound barrier without an airplane (during the jump), he is also the first to fly a balloon solo across the Atlantic. He did 4 tours in Vietnam, 3 as a pilot and the 4th as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton after his F4 was shot down. He was the senior prisoner, as a Colonel. He caused his captors so much trouble they transfered him to another area.

He is not barnstorming in the New Standard now, but still flies. He and I flew my Taylorcraft L2 about a month ago.

He and his wife Sherry, who is a lovely and sweet person, will be at Sun and Fun.

Col Kittinger is one heck of a guy. The world needs more like him.

Tony

[ScottSchmidt]

Does anyone know the coefficient of drag for an RV?
Once we have that number and I have a number for the surface area from an aircraft design book for an RV-4. We then need to plug that into the equation:
mg=1/2(Fl)(v^2)(S)(cd)

[keen9a]

Some of the CAFE reports have Cd. The reports are here:
http://cafefoundation.org/v2/research_aprs.php

[strahler13]

Ben, the Chief is gone. Illinois is a great school, but unfortunately it, like most schools of higher lernin' are governed by a bunch of "weenies". No backbone. More interested in being "PC" than caring about the wishes of the majority of their alumni. Sorry, just a little OT.
Mark

[rv6ejguy]

Dive tests with no prop were performed on a P51, towed aloft by a Black Widow. Reached something close to mach .75 apparently!

[gmcjetpilot]

Originally Posted by ScottSchmidt

Does anyone know the coefficient of drag for an RV?
Once we have that number and I have a number for the surface area from an aircraft design book for an RV-4. We then need to plug that into the equation:
mg=1/2(Fl)(v^2)(S)(cd)

where

Vt is the terminal velocity,
m is the mass of the falling object,
g is gravitational acceleration at the Earth's surface,
Cd is the drag coefficient,
ρ is the density of the fluid the object is falling through, and
A is the object's cross-sectional area.


m = 1,600 lb mass
g = 32.174 feet/sec^2
Cd =0.021 (zero lift)
A = 2.32 ft^2 (RV-6A)
ρ = 2.3768908 x 10^(−3) (slugs/Ft^3)

Plug and Chug and turn the crank

So V = ((2*m*g)/(ρ*A*Cd))^0.5 = 29,817 mph


One factor not included, besides Vne and wings coming off, the ground. The ground will come up and "Smite Ye Mightily".