eightyknots Posted March 16, 2012 Posted March 16, 2012 I was reading -on another website based in the USA- that there appears to be a brittle Vortex Generator (VG) problem with aircraft over 300 hours. The VGs in question are ones supplied by the Savannah factory. Question 1: Has any Savvy owner of 300+ hours vintage experienced any problems with their VGs breaking off like the ones in the picture below? This seems to be an issue particularly where aircraft operate in temperatures below +5 degrees Celsius. This leads to another question: has any Savannah builder decided to chuck out the ICP-supplied VGs and use the Stolspeed-made ones instead? (see stolspeed.com for comprehensive details on Australian made VGs)
Ultralights Posted March 16, 2012 Posted March 16, 2012 our VG now has 800 hrs on it, and the only ones broken are in front of the fuel fillers, caused by fuel lines and jerry cans hitting them.
Tony Garrett Posted March 16, 2012 Posted March 16, 2012 Anybody know why ICP uses two VG'a side by side? The Cessnas, Pipers, etc I have seen with add-on VG's have single VG's spaced along the wing.
eightyknots Posted March 19, 2012 Author Posted March 19, 2012 Source: http://www.stolspeed.com/ [home page] It's clear that John (JG3 on this forum) thought of fitting vortex generators to ICP Savannahs first. Following his success, ICP decided to fit them to all their Savannahs ...I understand that ICP did this without acknowledging John for doing all that legwork and flight testing to prove how successful VGs are compared to the Zenith-style leading edge slats that came with Savannahs in its first production series. As you can see, stolspeed uses single, evenly spaced VGs. I reckon the stolspeed.com site is worthy of a good look for all who are interested in the benefits of vortex generators. 2
rankamateur Posted March 19, 2012 Posted March 19, 2012 Worth checking but the more recent kits have more flexible VG's, than early VG kits, I believe.
dave66 Posted May 30, 2015 Posted May 30, 2015 I was reading -on another website based in the USA- that there appears to be a brittle Vortex Generator (VG) problem with aircraft over 300 hours. The VGs in question are ones supplied by the Savannah factory.Question 1: Has any Savvy owner of 300+ hours vintage experienced any problems with their VGs breaking off like the ones in the picture below? This seems to be an issue particularly where aircraft operate in temperatures below +5 degrees Celsius. This leads to another question: has any Savannah builder decided to chuck out the ICP-supplied VGs and use the Stolspeed-made ones instead? (see stolspeed.com for comprehensive details on Australian made VGs) [ATTACH=full]16820[/ATTACH] I made a mould and made my own using a hot glue gun,my VG has 380 hours but I believe its UV that makes them brittle then when its windy the covers break them off
Marty_d Posted May 31, 2015 Posted May 31, 2015 Why use plastic? The Zenith VG's used (optionally) on the elevator are formed aluminium and riveted on. 1
facthunter Posted May 31, 2015 Posted May 31, 2015 Can't see why glue wouldn't be good enough, as long as it's a quality glue and the preparation is done. You can still fly OK with a few missing. Nev
Ultralights Posted May 31, 2015 Posted May 31, 2015 i replaced the stock ICP VG's with Stolspeed ones. the originals lasted 1000Hrs, and had a few broken ones, probably every one from around the fuel caps, to the wing root were broken, no noticeable reduction in performance. i used a heat gun to remove the old ones, as they were stuck on with sikaflex, then lightly sanded the paint, cleaned and degreased, and stuck the new stolspeed ones in the same locations. (i pre-painted them with polyeurethane while they were on the backing sheet) 1
dave66 Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 Anybody know why ICP uses two VG'a side by side? The Cessnas, Pipers, etc I have seen with add-on VG's have single VG's spaced along the wing. I think its because it directs the air flow diagonally across the top surface, since they only appear to work at stall speed it does not seem to do a lot in flight, I took mine off to change the broken ones and flew in between and to be honest I never noticed any significant difference, but since I always touch down at 55/60 MPH that could be the reason
Ultralights Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 the pattern on my wing from the VG's after a flight of over 3 hours from Sydney to Lightning Ridge on a high humidity summers morning.
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