Timeline for How do insects decrease aircraft performance?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 18, 2015 at 6:52 | comment | added | David Richerby | @curious_cat I'm sure they would, if it was important. Perhaps the difference is that you can afford to mess up the aerodynamics a little bit by having regular bumps over some of the body, but you can't afford to have irregular bumps all over it. In particular, I suspect you won't find any rivets on the leading edge of the wing, which is where a lot of insect mess accumulates. | |
| Jul 18, 2015 at 5:21 | comment | added | curious_cat | @DavidRicherby: Can't they use countersunk rivets? Those wouldn't protrude. | |
| Jul 17, 2015 at 12:33 | comment | added | David Richerby | @Stan Those "pin heads" are rivets. They're what holds the plane together! | |
| Jul 17, 2015 at 11:29 | comment | added | Stan | This is the reason I have always wondered how come commercial planes are always covered with those "pin heads", as in the picture goo.gl/M3hiqS Apparently their engineers don't think these uneven things would worsen the flow too much. Weird. | |
| Jul 17, 2015 at 9:18 | comment | added | Peter Kämpf | Now I am happy with the answer. | |
| Jul 17, 2015 at 7:31 | comment | added | SentryRaven | @PeterKämpf You are right, I edited my answer. Does this sound better now or would you rephrase? Feel free to edit... | |
| Jul 17, 2015 at 7:31 | history | edited | SentryRaven | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Corrected
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| Jul 17, 2015 at 7:30 | comment | added | SentryRaven | @TBBT Unless you fly through a dense swarm of insects, the buildup will not be significant enough to cause issues. For GA aircraft, they are mostly cleaned at the end of day. For commercial aircraft, it's sometimes not a bad idea to take them through a small shower. But commercial aircraft are cleaned as well, from time to time. | |
| Jul 17, 2015 at 7:29 | comment | added | Peter Kämpf | Please! Turbulent and laminar is one thing, and attached and detached/separated flow is a different thing altogether. Both laminar and turbulent flow are attached (they separate only at the trailing edge). Flow separates ahead of the trailing edge only close to stall, and mostly after the laminar-turbulent conversion, but not in regular flight. | |
| Jul 17, 2015 at 7:27 | comment | added | TBBT | So, how serious this problem is in typical flights? | |
| Jul 17, 2015 at 7:25 | history | edited | SentryRaven | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 329 characters in body
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| Jul 17, 2015 at 7:14 | history | answered | SentryRaven | CC BY-SA 3.0 |