(Thomas Borchert wrote)
plus maintenance. Plus the weight of the mechanism. All for 5 or 10 knots,
with well designed wheels as in the Cirrus or COlumbia.


Lets talk about those 10 kts (I'm calling them 10 mph)

Most flights are under 2 hours

Cruise speed (I'm calling it 240 mph. Vrrroooom!)

10 mph (x) 2 hrs = 20 miles

20 miles @ 4 miles per minute = 5 minutes (saved)

.....per every 2 hours of flight

http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/content/specs/2004/lancair_columbia400_n143lc.html
Columbia 400 specs

Same: ....2 hour flight (for the retract)
With: ...... a 10 mph speed difference
And: ....... a cruise speed of (only) 180 mph
That's: .... 20 miles (extra flying) for the fixed gear
At: ...........3 miles per minute (approx. @ 170 mph)
Saves .....7 minutes on a 2 hour flight

Plus insurance
Pus initial costs
Plus complexity
Plus "not if - but when"

Thank God LSA saved us from all of that :-)


Montblack
Retract Cri-Cri. How cool would that be? VERY!!!!