Aircraft Speed Mods & Maple Leaf Aviation Ltd - Brandon

Aircraft Speed Mods

Aircraft improvements are usually measured in increased speed and efficiency.

Aircraft Speed Mods and R.S. Designs have addressed areas of clean-up on Cessna aircraft in the single engine line.

The first area dealt with is the nose gear structure on Cessna Skylanes and Cardinals. The product called “Fancy Pants” is a 2 piece telescopic fairing which closes in the shock strut assembly. In doing so the product offers a drag clean-up of the strut and offers total protection against stone and weather abrasions.

Also available for Skyhawks, Cardinals, Skylanes and Skywagons is the Exhaust Pipe Fairing. This fairing is constructed of heat resistant resins, improves stream lining in the cowl exhaust pipe area and provides a decrease in engine temperatures.

Exclusively for Cardinals is the Tailcone Fairing extension kit. This fairing extends the tailcone to lessen drag around the stabilator trim rod. As the stabilator cups air in this area in cruise flight, the extension fairs in the area and decreases drag.

Tips and addressing efficiencies:

1. An owner should first make sure the aircraft is exceptionally clean. In a walk around look for clues of un-required drag, namely: fairings cracked and broken; screws missing or sticking out; wing to fuselage gap seals out of place; doors out of adjustment, etc. This list can grow to a multitude of small things and create many problems in the drag department.
2. How does your aircraft fly? Make sure it really does fly hands off in most loading configurations and the ball does stay in the center. Discuss with your A.M.E. or A & P mechanical rigging issue’s and how to go about resolving them. As seen in the past, an “out of rig” aircraft can loose up to 5 – 6 mph in T.A.S. Rigging will help extend the efficiency and speed, lessen the strain on aircraft systems such as auto pilots, etc., and make the pilot’s workload easier.
3. When working with fixed pitch prop aircraft, owners must consider the manufacturer designed the blade pitch angle for performance through a wide range of speeds. Once you have reached your maximum engine and aircraft performance speed your increase will be shown in drag decrease and fuel economy increase instead of increased T.A.S.
4. Adding aircraft speed mods is not always cumulative. That is to say you can’t take kit improvement speeds and add them together to find a new total T.A.S. The mods are tested individually and then as a group. When grouped together they will probably have a yield of 60 – 80 percent of their total values.