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Old 29th Jun 2007, 10:51
  #14 (permalink)  
IO540
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: EuroGA.org
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V-tail = extra speed.

With a T-tail, you have 3 big things sticking out into the airflow. 2 of which do something useful; the 3rd just gives you yaw stability.

With a V-tail, you lose the 3rd one. You also get less yaw stability, but with a plane in this class (price) you will have a yaw damper anyway.

I don't know how much extra speed this is worth but it will be a LOT. Looking in my TB20 POH, each antenna is worth about 0.5kt, and I have about half a dozen of VHF, UHF etc ones sticking out. The vertical stabiliser is vastly bigger and must be worth 10-20kt - at 150kt. At 300kt (TAS) the stabiliser must be costing many more knots.

I would have a rough stab around the 30kt mark, and that is a helluva lot on a sales brochure which is trying to draw in a few hundred position holders, each paying a big enough bundle to buy an SR22
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