Original Posted By: "Skip Gadd"
Subject: Pietenpol-List: Pietenpol has drag written all over it I enjoyed reading Shad and Oscar's no-nonsense posts to the list about how Pietenpols fly and stall. (or sometimes don'tstall even at high AOA's with full power--- I concur exactly with Oscar's findings that unless I whip stall my Piet with fullpower-she doesn't stall at all but just mushes.)Anyway, there is so much drag that is inherent to the Pietenpol with all of those cables, turnbuckles, cabane struts, windshields,bodies sticking out, jury struts, landing gears with (sometimes) two sets of cables and turnbuckles it simply bleeds off speed morequickly in the landing flare than a Cub or Champ. You approach more steeply power off in a Piet than you do in a Cub or Champ.....thusthe reason you'll hear and see quite a few Piet pilots on short final with a tad of power still in there to flatten out the approach---watchsome of Jeff's videos and you'll hear power reductions just before flare in many of those landings at Brodhead-very typical.If you come in completely power idle in a Piet vs. a Cub or Champ-you'll float in a Cub or Champ compared to a Piet.Shad is right on regarding cruise too. Even if you have an 0-200 or 0-235 you'll get more cruise speed (but not enough to write home about)but the airplane starts to talk to you (not pretty like either) at around 80 mph and up. At 90- 95 the airplane is really screaming andyou feel like you're going 160 trying to pull all that drag thru the air. If you're looking for increased cruise speeds---don't count on aPietenpol to get you there faster. You can fair all the fittings and struts, you can do little things to reduce drag but that isn't the pointof a Pietenpol. You'd be better off to build an RV if you want to cruise faster.Takeoff on warm days with a full size adult is where you want (in my opinion) MORE WING area.....and perhaps MORE power. Mostly-----don't add bunches of weight, bells and whistles, and if you're 265 pounds---build something else or go on a diet-seriously. I am amazedat why huge guys are so attracted to such a limited, small airplane but they are. (I know---they are chick magnets and you want to besurrounded at fly-in's:) ) Enough of my editorializing but Don Emch is RIGHT on the money-built light, built closely to plans with a good65 hp, Corvair, or good-power outputting Ford (Ken Perkins, Lowell Frank, Howard Henderson) they do great.Mike C.________________________________________________________________________________