Brief Description: Attempting to Level the Gear Leg Fairing
Attempting to Level the Gear Leg Fairing. I say attempting because I am trying to devise a easy yet accurate method of aligning the gear Leg Fairings with the least amount of drag. The instructions say to measure the top and bottom distances between the trailing edge and a tautly draw string that has been run from the aft fuselage area, around the leading edge and back to the aft area point. The X-Y (lateral displacement from the centerline - Height above the floor) coordinates for the leading edge point and the Aft reference point need to be equal. When the top and bottom gap between the string and the trailing edge are equidistant. the fairing is aligned. With this method, there needs to be a tight control of the aft and forward points of measurement. I believe that the use of a lasar level can help to minimize measurement errors in the placement of the points placed on the X-Y axes control.
To do this, I marked several distances, out from the centerline, on tapes layed perpendicular to the centerline. One tape near the tail, one aft of the gear and one forward to the gear. The lasar level was on the floor aligned with a similar distance marks on each tape. An aluminum ruler was held in the lasar's path and the line was aligned with the middle of the ruler lengthwise. Once the lasar was aligned on the ruler, the contact points on the ruler from the trailing edge and the high point of the leading edge were noted. The fairing was moved until the front and aft numbers were the same. The leg fairing clamp was tightened to hold the position. Tomorrow, I'll check the alignment with a sting to verify this method of alignment.
