Mike Arnold wrote:
>Hey guys I hear BELLY BOARD AND flaps almost interchangeably . Do you have and use both ? My KR2S N56ML has some fairly huge wing flaps on it, while my KR2 N891JF has the belly board. They are two different things, but accomplish the same goal...steepening the approach considerably, while slowing the plane down quickly to get it out of ground effect (exacerbated by the low-drag shape and the low wing), and onto the runway. Flaps do this with more lift, and belly board does it mainly with large amounts of drag. I used to think that belly boards offer no lift, but this one lowers the stall speed by about three MPH, while "real flaps" help more like 7-8 MPH. Slipping the plane is also helpful (with flaps or belly board). Those who say you can simply slip it and get the same effect as a flap or belly board are missing the point, and likely don't have either one to compare with. All three methods are helpful, however. The beauty of the flaps on N891JF is that they are huge "split" flaps, famous for good lift and lots of drag as well. See the bottom end of http://www.n56ml.com/owings.html for more on those big flaps. Belly boards are far easier to implement though, especially if the plane is already built, and do a pretty good job slowing the plane down... Mark Langford, Harvest, AL ML "at" N56ML.com www.N56ML.com
