[flyenforfun]

Was just curious of something. My skirt sits pretty well around the back of the canopy, but there is one area on each side that is slightly lifted. Otherwise the skirt sits down tight on the skin. I found out while flying in the back seat the other day and noticing the huge breeze hitting me in the back of the head that when I am in the air, the entire skirt around the back is lifted off of the skin, even the area crossing over the slider rail. Is this happening because of the gaps on the right and left side of the aft skirt? I thought air pressure pushed down on the canopy, not lifted it.

 

[Pat Hatch]

Matt, in the hope that this might help, I would point out that the canopy actually produces quite a bit of lift and thus a low pressure area around the skirt. In my case, this causes air to be pumped in from the tail area. The trailing edge of the tail is actually a relatively high pressure area and thus air can travel from gaps in the tail through the rear fuselage and the rear seat bulkhead into the cabin--and then out around the canopy skirt.

I solved my problem by sealing the aft baggage compartment bulkhead so that air could not enter from the rear fuselage. In addition, I added seals and stiffening to the skirt to prevent air from escaping from under the skirt panels. The RV-6 is different from the -8, but the principle should be the same. My friend who has an -8 also noted a rear skirt flutter which he was able to fix by stiffening the skirt.