ORIGINAL: HO-229
Can someone explain the reduction of lift-induced drag while in the ground effect. I have read that while in the ground effect region that drag can be reduced by 75% I do not fly my aircraft at any AMA functions or do I know anything of the AMA other than some basics but if what I am reading is accurate then I can see that staying in the ground effect region would make for one fast aircraft. I have experienced this phenomenon first hand with a few of my all wings
When I bring them in for a belly landing they do not want to land.
I've noticed when making the transition from tailed aircraft to tailless the landings are much more soft with the tailless aircraft & the landing speed is much less
The distance that is needed to land is so short that it is almost like hovering down to the landing spot. I have landed some of my 36" span electrics in less than a couple feet..
HO-229,
I don't think you could get much of a speed advantage from ground effect. Ground effect does indeed reduced induced drag, but induced drag is negligible at high speed. I think that if a plane is build for speed, and flown fast, trying to take advantage of ground effect would have a bigger effect on the life span of the plane than the speed.
banktoturn