Wheel covers, Petton or otherwise

[vh2q]

I am the current owner of Petten's (175mph) Cruisair N86826 equipped with his gear fairings They seem sturdy enough, although we did experience a fatigue failure of the leg extension cable on one side so we changed out both sides and found some frayed strands on the other side as well (right at the top). I also own N77AY (Kenneth Tekut's plane) and am considering putting a set of fairings on that plane. It currently has the Cessna 150 wheel pant but only on one side (I think the prior owner passed before he got to the second one). What I may do is complete the Cessna job and then compare the two planes. From what I have seen so far, the biggest speed differentiator is the Aeromatic prop vs the McCauley metal prop. When I got 86826 it had the metal prop and with that prop it's rather slow in cruise. AY has a Tarver F200 prop, the Petten plane now has an F200H Koppers. On my next cross country trip we will pull out the stops so to speak on that prop at altitude and see what we get for cruise speed and fuel burn.

 

[ronm]

A tidbit of history to the Petten gear cover subject: About 60y ago I suggested the retractable gear for Art Scholl's super-duper Chipmunk aerobatic show plane. He installed the 14-19 gear along with the Petten fairings. However, G's would cause the wheels to pop out during maneuvers since the gear is held up only by retract hydraulic pressure. So, I designed and built some fancy up-locks for him to cure the problem. The locks did the trick and all were happy.
Incidentally, I believe that aircraft is now displayed in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum with those Petten wheel covers(and my up-locks) .
ron