a picture for your paroosal

[matt]

notice the left hand landing ger door of the bear

http://www.aafo.com/gallery/02-05-02.htm

[Leo]

Beyond the obvious drag issue, what structural problems are caused by a slightly open door?
The early P-51D's had an uplock design problem that, combined with loose tolerances in the adjustments and hydraulic system, allowed the doors to creep open in flight. The airflow would then force the gear out and the spar would fail.
Howie Keefe once commented in Air Classics that he had reviewed old photos and it was sobering to him to see Miss America's doors slightly ajar in turns.
I've noticed it in a lot of pictures of White ligthnin' too, with the nose door open.

Leo

[Unregistered]

Matt

In our never ending quest to update the Bear to commercial grade. After an intense gear rig (with a very complicated gear) with several gear swings and yet another modification. We think we have solved the gear hanging down problem.

Cross your fingers
Scott Litster
Bear Tech

[matt]

good news scott, on the bear i don't know how big a problem it would be for the gear door to hang down some, but to me, it seems like it would be less dangerous than on a mustang, any info on that?

how did air creap under the door? the bear has a thin layer of rubber surrounding the gear well and door.

do you mind if i ask what the diameter of the spinner and cowl opening is? i'm doing a model of the bear and can't be absolutely sure just how large they are.

i do have to say, i was humbled this year, i didn't think the bear would do aswell as she did. well, you showed me.

good luck in '04

[AAFO_WSagar]

Matt, the photo you linked to is from 1999 and really does well show the problem the bear *had* with her gear doors...

Here's a shot from John's qualifying run 2003, note the difference between the photos.. The guys down in Reno spent COUNTLESS hours pulling hair and finallyfigured out a fix to a problem that had obviously stumped those looking for a solution before...



Nice Job Bear Crew!

Wayne

[BadIdea]

repeat offender

The pocket door actuator is on the engine mount.
So the gear door rigging is best done with the engine in place.
The engine was removed not to long after "Matt's" picture was taken.
So without an engine there was no looking nor being stumped by anyone.
Only waiting for an engine to get to one more item on a to-do list.

Nice try Wayne.
You can go back to your fluffy PR.

Excellent job New Bear Crew.

Matt, Pick a different subject, and don't be a troll.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: repeat offender

Originally posted by BadIdea
Nice try Wayne.
You can go back to your fluffy PR.

Hummn need some sour grape wine to wash down the taste of that BearBQ'd crow Don??

Wayne

[BadIdea]

I repeat, I will offend again.

Ah, once again you have missed the mark.
The bear is the subject but NOT the issue.
Tis not grapes nor crow, but Bu-- Sh-- leaves the bad taste.



As always,
Best of luck to the New Bear Crew

[Leo]

OOOOOOOOOOO!

BadIdea, Wayner, cage of steel.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!

[AAFO_WSagar]

[Leo]

Sorry Wayne.....

[AAFO_WSagar]

to all.. in re-reading my initial post, I see that the way I worded it, it tends to throw mud on *everyone* who ever worked on the Bear, ever..

That was not my intention and for that, I apologize..

My point was and is.. I got to hear a LOT of stuff aimed at the new crew that was simply totally off base. They worked as hard as any crew ever and did a fantastic job at getting that airplane in the air and competitive for Reno..

The gear door "fix" was a good example of how they just did not stop going and going and going.. They were the Everready Bunny team this year and deserve nothing but praise..

But, MANY people have worked on the Bear in the past and they have also done amazing things with the airplane..

So.. that said... It's good to see her back in the air and healthy again and I hope to see it continue to just get better and better with the help of everyone now involved and all who were ever involved..

Wayne

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by matt

how did air creap under the door? the bear has a thin layer of rubber surrounding the gear well and door.

I don't think that its necessary for air to "creep" under the door. The wing is full of air that is stationary relative to the airplane's skin and the inside surface of the door. The exterior surface of the door has air blowing over it at 4xx miles per hour. Bernoulli's principle alone says that the air inside the wing will exert a greater pressure on the inside of the door than the moving air will exert on the outside, therefore the door tries to pop open.

Yes, the air moving across the TOP of the wing exerts even less pressure than the air moving across the bottom, but the air *inside* exerts the most pressure of all. The whole wing tries to swell in flight. Remember the infamous picture of the "Voodoo bubbles" where paint/bondo was separating from the skin? Those were on the bottom of the wing, too.

[without a clue]

The Rare Bear evecuates the wheel well areas with an augmented reverse scupper system, this lays down a layer of relatively cool air along the fuselage extracted from the accessory section, at speed this area tends to create a low pressure area in the wheel wells which helps keep the gear door closed. Now the part that Bad idea was eluding to, Don is correct the problem has not been completely fixed. But it is better than it was. At higher speeds the cowl ring starts to go out of alignment from the torque effect, and moves the entire front end of the gear door actuator system out of alignment. now the seal for the vacuum is gone and pressure starts to leak back in. Therefore you have these rather dramatic gear door to center lower panel interference problems like she had the last the few times out prior to 1999. ('99 she didn't go fast enough) The new bears are doing a great job but they still have a couple of items to work out, but they have a great start don't you think?

[matt]

badidea, this was just a picture i came across while searching for pictures i could use on the model, i just thought it would be interesting to hear people's thoughts on it.

how was i trolling?