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Modifications

Speed on a Budget: Which Go-Fast Mod?

The implacable laws of aerodynamics mean it costs money to make an airplane faster. Fortunately, there are speed mods that won’t break the bank.

Rick Durden
Verified

Edited By:

Omar Filipovic

It’s the legs and feet. Our review of speed mods revealed that the most effective drag-reducing change that can be made to fixed-gear airplanes is an aerodynamic fairing over the gear leg and tire. Shown here is the Speed Pant fairing from Laminar Flow Systems, on a Piper Cherokee. On the bottom of the wing to the left of the Speed Pant is Laminar Flow’s fairing that covers the draggy flap hinges.

The late aviation author Gordon Baxter was often heard to opine that when it came to airplanes, speed was what truly mattered. He put his money where his mouth was, owning an early Mooney, one of the fastest, most efficient flying machines that could be wrapped around a 180-HP Lycoming engine.

We think Baxter spoke for a hearty majority of pilots—after all, we think that every one of us has said at least once, “It’s a really good airplane, I just wish it were a little faster.”

Rick Durden

Senior Editor Rick Durden has written for Aviation Consumer since 1994 and specializes in aviation law. Rick is an active CFII and holds an ATP with type ratings in the Douglas DC-3 and Cessna Citation. He is the author of The Thinking Pilot’s Flight Manual or, How to Survive Flying Little Airplanes and Have a Ball Doing It, Vols. 1 & 2.