Flying through rain

What really does change when you fly something like a Skyhawk through
thick rain?

I just do sims, and all that happens there is a lot of noise and pretty
raindrop smears on the the windshield but the performance seems unchanged.

What happens in real life?

Some Other Guy wrote:
What really does change when you fly something like a Skyhawk through
thick rain?

I just do sims, and all that happens there is a lot of noise and pretty
raindrop smears on the the windshield but the performance seems unchanged.

What happens in real life?


About the same thing that happens when you drive fast in thick rain without
windshield wipers except you don't have to worry about hydroplaning until
you land.



--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

Some Other Guy wrote:
What really does change when you fly something like a Skyhawk through
thick rain?

I just do sims, and all that happens there is a lot of noise and pretty
raindrop smears on the the windshield but the performance seems unchanged.

What happens in real life?


depends upon how well you polished the canopy

In article ,
george152 wrote:

Some Other Guy wrote:
What really does change when you fly something like a Skyhawk through
thick rain?

I just do sims, and all that happens there is a lot of noise and pretty
raindrop smears on the the windshield but the performance seems unchanged.

What happens in real life?


depends upon how well you polished the canopy

Another effect happens with laminar-flow wings. You slow down! I had
this happen with a 180 HP Comanche, flying through light rain. I lost
about 5MPH IAS in the rain and gained it back when I flew out of the
rain.

Another effect has happened to some of the Rutan Eze designs.The rain so
disrupted the flow over the canard stabilizer taht it lost
effectiveness, causing a dive.

Another effect is that rain will destroy a wood prop, if it doesn't ahve
leading edge armor.

Yet another effect is that rain will strip away the leading edge paint
-- even the modern polyurethanes. The old enamels and lacquers would
really strip away! When I started flying 50 years ago, I would see
Bonanzas land with whole sheets of paint missing from their leading
edges.

"Some Other Guy" wrote in message
...
What really does change when you fly something like a Skyhawk through
thick rain?

As a VFR Skyhawk pilot, my biggest concern with rain is loss of visibility.
Second concern, especially in the pattern, is whatever wind changes accompany
the rain.

Vaughn

On Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:48:26 -0500, Orval Fairbairn wrote:

Yet another effect is that rain will strip away the leading edge paint
-- even the modern polyurethanes. The old enamels and lacquers would
really strip away! When I started flying 50 years ago, I would see
Bonanzas land with whole sheets of paint missing from their leading
edges.

I wouldn't believe this had I not seen it for myself. Bizarre...and
really damned annoying in terms of cost.

- Andrew

On Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:19:37 -0000, wrote:

About the same thing that happens when you drive fast in thick rain without
windshield wipers except you don't have to worry about hydroplaning until
you land.

Thanks for the pedoimages, Jim, I thought my email would cough them
up.

I Cum A Lot In Camelot! http://tinyurl.com/4yj3dkj

It doesn't affect you any more than it would your car