Fun Wing Tip Experiment (uploaded for Skywagon)

[skywagon8a]

Do you have Edo's fibreglass fairings on your float spreader bar attachments ?

Yes, they are actually made of some type of heat formed plastic. They have only been off once in 50 years when the floats were repainted and have stood up very well. still in good shape.

[teenahlake]

Had the madras tips on a pacer w/floats. One decided to part ways, flew back holding about 1/4 of aileron displacement. My thoughts are drooptips improve lift, even if it maybe due to the extra 12" of span

[skywagon8a]

Had the madras tips on a pacer w/floats. One decided to part ways, flew back holding about 1/4 of aileron displacement. My thoughts are drooptips improve lift, even if it maybe due to the extra 12" of span

I agree they do improve lift, primarily due to the extra 12" of span. The droop portion does help with reducing the span wise flow and consequently an improvement in aileron authority. At least this is what I observed with the Ferguson tips on my 7GCB.

[skywagon8a]

An observation. Now that it is bug season and hardly a flight is made without there being any bugs to clean off the wings after a flight, I have noticed something. I seldom find a bug on the swept back portion of the wing tips. Apparently the airflow over the swept tips is such that the bugs miss hitting the leading edge. I guess that's another plus for these tips.