[Bob Axsom]

Has anyone tried ground removable tie-down ring fairings? If so, what were your findings as far as performance (speed) is concerned?

Bob Axsom

 

[Mel]

Bob,
I leave my ropes attached to the tiedown rings (except for the tailwheel of course) and remove the rings for flight.
Mel...DAR

 

[Rick6a]

Bob,
I leave my ropes attached to the tiedown rings (except for the tailwheel of course) and remove the rings for flight.
Mel...DAR

Almost ditto. My 6A sports the Orndorff removable rear tie down ring and "Darla" flies without any of those protruding tie down rings catching the breeze or interrupting her sleek lines. They are stowed onboard for intermittent duty as required.
Rick Galati RV-6A "Darla" 71 hours

 

[Bob Axsom]

Three questions

Thanks for the feedback. I would like to probe this a little deeper.

1. I know about the practice of removing the wing tie-down rings before flight but I haven't seen any data on the difference. Do you have "with" and "without" flight speed data or speed difference on your specific aircraft?

2. On the "A", is there a removable ring available for the tail tie-down?

3. Do you leave the hole open when the ring is removed (fact only please, I can rationalize for myself)?

Bob Axsom

 

[Rick6a]

Thanks for the feedback. I would like to probe this a little deeper.

1. I know about the practice of removing the wing tie-down rings before flight but I haven't seen any data on the difference. Do you have "with" and "without" flight speed data or speed difference on your specific aircraft?

2. On the "A", is there a removable ring available for the tail tie-down?

3. Do you leave the hole open when the ring is removed (fact only please, I can rationalize for myself)?

Bob Axsom

#1 No data.

#2 Contact www.fly-gbi.com/ for removable rear tie down ring.

#3 I rationalize that the rear open hole (sans tie-down ring) doubles as one helluva drainage hole.

Rick Galati RV-6A "Darla" 71 hours

 

[Bob Axsom]

I should have been more specific on question 3

I'm rather sure the answer is "no" but in the wing tie down locations Oh well never mind if you have no data the answer to 3 is insignificant.

Bob Axsom

 

[Bob Axsom]

I should have been more specific on question 3

I'm rather sure the answer is "no" but in the wing tie down locations... Oh well never mind, if you have no data the answer to 3 is insignificant.

Bob Axsom

 

[sf3543]

On my -6, I always took out the tie down rings and replaced them with a stainless machine screw. It was a pan head that required a hex wrench. These are available at Home Depot and Lowes. They look neat and clean and keep bugs out of the holes. If you were worried about drag, you could put a piece of tape over the hole just as easily, or maybe a non-threaded plug from the electronics store. The only time I ever put the tie down rings in was when I was away from home over night, which was not very often.
As for the tie down rings, I used a stainless ring bolt that I got at the Hdwe store and threaded a nut onto it. After screwing the ring into the wing, I then tightened the nut up against the wing, which made everything nice and secure.

 

[Bob Axsom]

Yes drag is the only issue

I fly into other airports a lot and tying down is a necessity. To minimize drag I did not put holes in the nosewheel fairing for a towbar attachment so dealing with FBOs that want to provide the red carpet treatment is another one of the little awkward things to be dealt with when traveling and tying down. What you, Mel and Rick are doing with your special filler screw touch is probably the way I will go for the wings. I don't think the removable ring is going to work for the tail but building a slick fairing will be pretty easy. I can make it a semetrical airfoil shape and take it up to butt against the fuselage skin. Maybe a couple of alignment pins and a flat head screw and a threaded plug for installation. Did you perhaps notice a difference in speed with what you had done? Probably not if you used this setup from the beginning. I suspect the difference is so slight it will get lost in the noise but when I get some time in the future I will check it out.

Bob Axsom

 

[mark manda]

bob,

what do you think about this? been thinkin' of doing this for two years and bought the plastic fairings but need a 1" dia. titanium ring.

I was thinking that if I fly into airports and want to tie down; might as well have it there permanently. Got to have them in the plane anyhow.

but now that I'm close to the point of fabricating it; I'm thinking, "toss'em in a leather bag."

mark

 

[Bob Axsom]

The tail hook looks interesting

The other guys approach with the wing rings seem best but your fairing for the built in tail ring looks interesting. I would like to fully enclose the tail ring but that looks interesting.

Bob Axsom

 

[chuck]

Why isn't that big angle for the rudder cable clevis's faired in? It seems to me that is a big flat plate pushing through the air...

Chuck

 

[Bob Axsom]

That's another project

That was the discussed in another thread and it has been done on some airplanes. I'm thinking about that one as the only other real obvious area of drag reduction (the antennas stay as they are) on my airplane. It is a job that needs to be thought about a lot before settling on a design and implementation. The ones I have seen are rather bulky affairs with a constant radius (plan view) shell on the rudder that fits into a triangular (plan view again) shaped fairing on the fuselage. These two fairings cover the horn, the cable, the attach hardware and the rudder stop. You could easily end up with something unnecessarily big and with the expensive paint job complete you effectively only get one shot at it. As much as I want to reduce the drag there, I don't want to make the plane ugly in the process. Some of the thoughts that cross my mind include "is that triangular shaped horn stiffener hanging out in the breeze really necessary?" and "Would a bullnose before the triangle and a streamlined tapered fairing after the triangle gain most of the drag reduction available in this area?" Drag reduction in this area is worth some thought in my opinion as well.

Bob Axsom