I'm brand new to this forum and also a new Long-EZ owner. My aircraft is an older Long-EZ with an O-200 and is based at RAF Kinloss in Scotland. The previous owner installed MicroAero vortex generators just prior to letting the PFA (Private Flying Association) permit expire and never got around to renewing it. That's left me with the task of convincing the PFA engineers that the mod is safe as BKXO is the first UK-based Long-EZ to be equipped with the Micro VG's. As I understand the UK certification system is quite a bit different to that in the States; I need their OK to go flying but they are under no real obligation to help me prove my case!
At the moment they are not going to give me the go-ahead and the only option they've left me is to chisel the VG's off the wing. Their experts are concerned with the differences between the Micro installation (just in from the leading edge on both the mainplane and canard) and the more usual VG installation meant to deal with the effects of rain which I understand is only applied to the canard. Their concern is that in a dynamic stall entry the mainplane might stall prior to the canard resulting in an unrecoverable situation.
I don't know enough about aerodynamics or the Long-EZ configuration to discount this theory. That said after speaking to the owner of MicroAero I'm confident that the PFA are wrong. According to him a large number of American Long-EZ's have the Micro VG's installed including Jim Price's in which he set an altitude record. I would think that at the extremes of the flight envelope a fundamental problem like the one they are worried about would become immediately apparent. I've been reading some of the threads on this forum and a number of the members obviously have a great deal of knowledge of aerodynamics. I would appreciate any input you might have. I've owned BKXO for five months now and I really want to get it off the ground!
