Cowl-flap as speed brake?
Hi,
Has anyone seen examples of an over-sized, over-extendable, cowl flap that also doubles as a speed brake?
As I was driving into work yesterday, it occurred to me that an oversized cowl-flap might work as a speed brake. Hinged at the front, the rear could have a linkage so it could be pushed down, normal to the direction of flight, to increase drag and steepen the approach. I was remembering a belly-board, speed brake seen on a Velocity. I tried a Google search but no hits, yet.
Speculation on my part, an over-extended, cowl flap might add some up-pitch to the plane. My thinking is to contact the owner(s) to see if they have any pilot reports on other flight characteristic and lessons learned about the cabin control and latching mechanism.
Thanks,
Bob Wilson
This post is laughing at the "lighter" side (yes, bad pun intended)
... As for the landing light, here are a couple suggestions.
1) Mount it on a 2-axis swivel; it could turn into the relative wind all the time. (... please don't think about this too hard; it doesn't work in a crosswind)
2) I thought the only reason for a landing light is to be able to turn it off if you don't like what you see.