I got breezy to 40 in Fairbanks today. It's not a windy place but sometimes can kick up from the SW if a cold front passes. The only wing covers still in place were those made of solid material with a full length vent strip along the leading edge, and fabric mesh covers with a spoiler strip. The rest, even a few new ones with solid material and spoilers but no vent blew up and back. Pretty worthless.

Once the wind gets under the rear of a solid cover it flows forward underneath and they balloon up and roll back around the wing. A vent strip or mesh lets the undercover wind escape and they stay tight to the wing.

Gary

Good information!

Here's a company and description of vented and spoiler wing covers. That vented strip can be added to tail covers to keep them flat in wind.

http://www.alaskawingcovers.com/WingCovers.html

I have no commercial interest in the company but have bought and used their products successfully.

Gary

I've found the vented strip covers are good up to about 20kts. Depends on what direction the wind is coming from, or if you're going to experience changing wind directions during the big blow.

Above 20kts I try to use Full meshys. They work great at the high velocities, but lack the freeze/thaw protection that the vented strip and/or solids provide.

Combining the solids with the full meshys can work really well in some impressive winds. The meshys somehow keep the solids down and prevent ballooning and the result is a clean wing after the big blow. It's important to use all the bungees, including the one that shoots across the skylight, and you might get a little ballooning if the wind is strong (>30kts) and swinging on ya, but it works pretty well for us hangarly challenged people. It's also important that the wing cover bungees are fitted correctly. With two sets of covers on each side you can have a lot of hardware, or tennis balls bouncing around. Good to keep things taught on the underside.

It's sad, IMO, that Kennon pulled back their product line. Made good wing covers with high quality pieces that didnt break in the cold, and if you needed an honest no BS engine cover that was bulky and heavy but kept ya warm for impressive time periods they were who ya called. AK Wing Covers seem pretty good too. Are there other companies out there producing good wing covers right now? Doesn't seem like a huge market, but real important for those who need them.

Thank you for the update on Kennon. I've used their covers on a number of planes. Too bad they are no longer making them.

Good discussion from Arctic Flyer. I've used Kennon spoiler mesh, Alaska Wing covers with solid vents, and for many years prior Alaska Tent and Tarp's products.

Eventually AT&T's fabric (coated nylon?) would succumb to UV and exposure and did not like wind as they balloned badly. Then I tried the Kennon mesh and was very happy providing it didn't rain or get warm and melt then refreeze. A few times I doubled them up like Arctic notes. Lately I've used the Alaska Wing products made of polyester with the mesh strip. They held tight in gusts to 40 yesterday but not sure above that. Airframes Alaska bought AT&T last October so maybe they'll change their aircraft covers. I have a set of Kennons for big blows out in the woods.

Here's a Citabria I owned that had AT&T's early covers. I got ten years out of the fabric before they were compromised. There's better material today.

Gary

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I had a Cub wing collapse on me. Nothing I could do to save it. There were 3 planes that got damaged during that storm. This was maybe 6-7 years ago in Nome. I did not have the lifetime struts at the time. Sucks to talk about that stuff but maybe somebody learns from others mistakes.

I second your comment about the ATT wing covers. I think those are great solid wing covers but those metal hooks beat the heck out a guys plane. I bought some of that liquid rubber stuff and dipped all the hooks in it so at least the hooks have a softer red coating on them now.

I did not realize that Kennon was discontinuing its GA covers. I have an example of most of the things that Kennon made, including a winter cowl cover, mesh wing covers, a windshield cover, a custom cowl plug (because the P172D opening is entirely different from any other cowl opening), pitot cover, even a custom AOA probe cover, and of course the full window sunshields. Always high quality, and always great customer service. One time, for instance, I needed a large "stuff sack" for my Rollacots, so I contacted Kennon, and they made one for me. Truly a superb company.

Cary

Solid covers that balloon in a good wind have damaged Cessnas and others for years. Take a look at the top of the ailerons for example and see if they are bent in or concave. Tension from the tight covers pulls on the rear edge of the controls and does the deed. Flaps can be more resistant if they have that anti-diamond cutter insert. As fabric aircraft age their trailing edges corrode and can get deformed from covers as well. Don't use them in a breeze without some sort of way to reduce the problem.

Gary