AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2013 - 90

P&E

EFFICIENCY

Ector County/Odessa Schlemeyer Airport
Now more than ever, Odessa, Texas, is the right place for business. Ector County/Odessa Schlemeyer Airport recently received a $6.2 million renovation to the terminal, runways, taxiways and information systems. Also included in the improvement is a new master-planned hangar area, which was developed for aircraft owners who wish to build and own personal hangars.
Odessa Development Corporation www.odessatex.com 877-363-3772

For more information on the airport, please call 432-498-4100.
Schlemeyer Field’s Federal Aviation Administration identifier is ODO.

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Offering Airline Quality Ground Schools for Over 35 Years

inputs, the airplane recovered on its own after about two turns. I returned to the airport, tucked the airplane in a hangar, and got busy installing the VGs with guidance from A&P mechanic Carlo Cilliers. The VG kit is complete with aluminum VGs, stick-on templates for the top of the wing and the bottom of the horizontal stabilizer, two-part epoxy, masking tape, measuring tape, knife, thread, cotton swabs, and even a sharpened pencil. With two of us working, the job was done in less than three hours. I flew again in the evening to measure the changes. Ground roll on a normal (not short-field) takeoff was about 750 feet instead of 900. Climbout at 100 KIAS was unaffected, and cruise speed at 7,500 feet was unchanged (142 KIAS or 163 KTAS at 2,350 rpm, 22 inches mp, and 8.0 gph). Power-off stalls were preceded by pronounced aerodynamic buffeting followed almost immediately by a sharp, straight-ahead break at a 17-degree pitch attitude with flaps up, and 20.5 degrees nose-up with flaps down. The ASI registered 31 KIAS at the stall break with flaps down and 33 KIAS with flaps up—erroneous readings resulting from instrument error at the unusually high AOA. (Using GPS groundspeed and correcting for winds and altitude, the actual stall speeds were 44 KIAS with flaps up and 39 KIAS with flaps down, a reduction of five and six knots respectively.) Two-turn spins with VGs behaved the same as without them. The airplane still tended to recover on its own in about two turns. Recoveries in less than two turns were nearly instantaneous using opposite rudder followed by forward stick. A series of loops, rolls, and other positive-G aerobatic maneuvers showed no changes in stick forces or roll rates. I had been concerned that the addition of VGs on the bottom of the horizontal stabilizer might make elevator forces too light, but the elevator felt normal, and the stick pull gradient remained smooth and linear. The only difference that I noticed was that the former aileron “chatter” that used to take place at full aileron deflection went away when VGs were installed. (That chatter or buffet takes place when airflow over the fully deflected ailerons begins to separate—and VGs apparently keep the airflow attached.)
90 | AOPA PILOT January 2013

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http://www.SagetechCorp.com/AOPA http://www.SagetechCorp.com/AOPA http://www.odessatex.com http://www.aviationseminars.com/pilot

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2013