REFLECTOR:Vortilons versus VG's - Battle of the "V's"

[Ronnie Brown]

THANKS Scott for your always insightful and enlightening contributions to
the Velocity community!!!!!

As I was finishing up my V, I decided that I really needed to add the lower
winglets to improve the handling after listening to the Reflector and
talking with the factory folks at the airshows and open houses.  Even Alan
Shaw finally conceded that the winglets shouldn't have been left off of the
long wings for the standard fuselage.  (He built my wings without the lower
winglets).

I would think the lower winglets are more important than the Vortilons due
to their size and the fact that they are stopping the "sliding" flow along
the wings.  I also added the VG's at the last minute after flying the
factory trainer, a 173 FG.

>From the snowy home of the PANTHERS!!!

Ronnie

----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Baker" <sbakr@comcast.net>
To: <reflector@tvbf.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2004 6:23 PM
Subject: REFLECTOR:Vortilons versus VG's - Battle of the "V's"


| After reading a few more posts on this subject, I thought I'd add a little
| more about the factory's perspective ...
| *  VG's - We are very pleased with the improvement in slow flight speeds
and
| handling with VG's.  This is more so on the Velocity Standard than the big
| wing 173 and XL (where we are still toying to find the best combination of
| spacing and VG layout to get optimum slow flight performance).
| * VG's and Vortilons - Impromptu flight testing of aircraft with VG's and
| Vortilons showed that there was no significant improvement versus VG's
| without Vortilons.  Since we have a hard time keeping vortilons from
| breaking when folks lean against them at the many air shows we attend
| through the year - we decided to leave the vortilons off (it also makes it
| easier to wipe the bugs from the leading edge of the wings).
| * Important note: the factory's "deciding to leave them off" does not mean
| that we are making this a "recommendation".  It just means we left them
off.
| * Another important note - there are many Velocity wings without lower
| winglets.  The first factory XL demonstrator (N97XL ...the one featured on
| the Velocity poster) was this way.  We have noticed an improvement in yaw
| and roll control at slow speeds with lower winglets.  What I'm trying to
say
| is ...performance with vg's and vortilons will be different for different
| wings - and that one person's decision to "go without" vortilons with a
wing
| with vg's and lower winglets might be different for another with a wing
with
| vg's and without lower winglets.  Dang, that sounds confusing.  But I
think
| you know what I mean.
| * Bottom line - (my advise) If you have vortilons, go ahead and put them
on.
| Scott B.
|
| ----- Original Message -----
| From: "Scott Baker" <sbakr@comcast.net>
| To: <reflector@tvbf.org>
| Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2004 5:52 PM
| Subject: Re: REFLECTOR:Trailing Edge Fences
|
|
| > Hello Ronnie,
| > I hope that no one at Velocity ever said that they recommended against
| > installing vortilons.  The factory is flying the XL-5 demonstrator
without
| > vortilons - but that is because we have not "gotten around" to
installing
| > them.  The aircraft will fly better at low speeds with vortilons - so I
| > would say, put them on.
| > Scott B.
|
|
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