"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
. ..

"ET" wrote in message
...
wrote in
ups.com:

snip

Which part of my post that indicated the fuselage of the Sonex is a
lifting body confused you??? Steve Wittman is said to have won a bet or
two with the same issue on the Tailwind. I have not done it, but plug
the same numbers in for the Tailwind and see what pops out.

--
-- ET :-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams

Can you find a credible test of the Tailwind's stall speed on the web?
I've
looked for one, but without success. The CAFE report in the "members"
section of the EAA site doesn't show the stall speed, although the text
discusses stall speed testing. I seem to remember that Tailwinds with the
stock pitot/static system have an inaccurate ASI at low speeds, showing
much
lower airspeed than actual.

A buddy who owned a Tailwind described it as a fast airplane, but with
"mean" low speed characteristics.

I don't buy into the theory that Tailwinds or Soni (?) gain much lift from
the fuselage. The aspect ratio of a fuselage is too small to generate a
lot
of lift.

KB





It is also possible that your friend's plane was poorly rigged.

Some years ago, I saw a BD-4 that a guy had purchased and was trying to
repair sufficiently to complete. The biggest problem was that the fusalage
had a substantial twist. There can also be problems with a very heavy pilot
in a very small airplane--Steve Wittman was only a little bigger than Ken
Rand.

Peter