Colonel wrote: ↑Sun Jul 10, 2022 5:17 pm
Imagine how good an airplane it would be, if it wasn't a fixed gear nosewheel trainer.
1) Chop off the nosewheel. Put on a (inexpensive non-retracting) tailwheel. Better ground clearance for the prop tips, less drag in high speed cruise.
2) Increase the diameter of the prop (with tailwheel) for increased climb performance. Nice at high density altitude!
3) Retract the main gear for massive drag reduction in high speed cruise. Faster, less GPH.
4) Get rid of that stupid airframe parachute. Reduce manufacturing cost and maintenance. Decreased weight for increased useful load and better climb performance and cruise at the same load. Increase baggage room. Win/win/win/win.
It could be such a better aircraft - cheaper, faster, lighter.
I suspect if you want all those changes, you'd have to start from scratch. I wouldn't bother making it retractable, I'd use the extra ground clearance to just shorten the gear for less drag. The airframe just ain't that slick that you'd get much more on the top end. Sort of like how the Arrow doesn't go much faster than a similarly powered Cherokee D. Not for the loss of 200 lbs payload so you can say you retract the wheels. The loss of the para, and adding gear retraction would make it a wash for weight. I mean the Cirrus just isn't as slick as its composite would lead you to think. If speed is your thing, the Columbia/Cessna 400 is a way cleaner airframe, and the speed is stunningly more for two planes with the same engine. The Cessna is already even heavier empty, and they both have the same maximum. So in other words the Cessna is already handicapped with weight, but still has like 30-35 knots on the Cirrus Without doing anything you suggest. In practice I found it was even more. The Cirrus I found with realistic power settings, cruised at about 160, while the Columbia seemed to effortlessly make 200 (I actually haven't flown the Cessna version, only had the luck to try the Columbia). For similar power settings at similar altitudes.
Fun fact, the Cessna version is certified in the utility category. The Cirrus isn't.
When it comes to the Cirrus, well, you can't polish a turd.
On the subject of Velocities, the only guy I knew that owned one got arrested for drug smuggling. You know something is up when a guy pays for fuel with rolls of twenties.
But forget about that, what's the taildragger behind the velocity?
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
