Dustin, don't overestimate the aerodynamic benefits to this. For one thing, the form drag of the fuselage is only a portion of the total drag. You have to consider that the KR2 is already a pretty slick airplane. Induced drag from the wings accounts for a fair bit, and then you have skin friction. You are probably going to end up with an increase in wetted surface which will remove a lot of the benefit from the reduced form drag. Also, the structure is going to end up heavier (almost inevitably, you are carrying more load further from the spar) which increases wing loading, leading to higher induced drag.
As everyone else has pointed out, the CG issue will be relevant - but it matters to drag in another way too. You are going to have to optimize for one condition, meaning that in other conditions, you end up with a considerable amount of trim, and the resultant extra drag. (If you put the passenger on the CG, the passenger won't change the trim that much... but now your pilot is way behind so a change in pilot weight will have a larger effect) I'm not much good with this aerodynamics stuff, so if I've messed things up, I'm sure those who are will clear up my mistakes. James <snip> >1. I feel like the decreased width of the airplane will benefit in making >it as slippery as possible. obviously something 44" wide is gonna be harder >to push through the air than >something 30 inches wide. > <snip>
