Well, Santa must have thought I was pretty good this last year (or Dee just didn't want to do any birthday, Christmas, and Father's Day shopping!) because she let me get the VG kit for our 205. So, the week of Christmas, I got them painted and, on New Year's Eve Day, I got them on with help from Allen and Stan from Adventures on the Fly. I bribed them to come help with lunch and the idea to shoot some footage for an episode on aircraft modifications. Ends up Allen is an epoxy master! Without their help, it would have taken me all day, so a big thanks to them!

On New Year's Day I got out for a quick 30 minute flight. It definitely has a different feel to it and in some phases of flight the controls do feel a bit more stiff from the increases airflow. On takeoff, it did feel like it wanted to get off sooner, but I need to go play with it some more. Slow flight had a little bit of the same feel as the 182 I used to fly with the STOL kit. Stalls are still very docile, but if I was aggressive with them at full flaps, it would fly right up to stalling and then break sharply. At 50 mph indicated, full flaps, it would stall at 30 degrees of bank with good roll authority up to that point. As for stall speed, it's hard to say since the airspeed readings are inaccurate at those pitch attitudes. With that in mind, full flap stall speeds as indicated were around 3 mph less with a forward CG and 8 with no flaps. They publish a 5% decrease in stall speed with a forward CG and 8% with an aft CG. We were very far forward. I'll probably need to go out on a calm day and see what kind of ground speed it shows on the GPS. Previously, I'd fly the approach at 70 mph. I flew this one at 60 mph. With some adjustments, I believe it can be flown slower...maybe 50-55 mph. The one annoying issue is that the stall horn comes on at 65 mph, so that needs to be adjusted.

Anyway, it is hard to really tell or define the changes after only one short flight and one landing. I can definitely see improvement in performance, but it will take some flying, practice, and getting used to the new norm to really get my head around what the differences are. I'm looking forward to getting back to some familiar strips where I can get a better feel for the increase in performance as well.

Overall, I'm really happy to have them on and am excited to explore the increased performance. The install was quick and pretty straight forward. They send you just about everything you need for the install and, it can easily be done in a day with a couple of people working on it. I'll post an update as I get more time with it and get a better feel for the new numbers I'm seeing.


Putting the VGs on painters tape, attached to cardboard for easy moving.


After the first coat was applied. They come treated with alodine and are ready to paint. I took an inspection plate to a paint shop for them to match the paint and put it in an aerosol can.


Templates and paper laid out to avoid overspray. One wing done!


Allen cleaning up the edges while removing the templates.


Stan filming Allen for Adventures on the Fly.


The vertical stab template and VGs.


The horizontal stab template and VGs.



The end result!

Very nice!!

Right on Cory! Next mod: Sportsman STOL!

It's definitely on the list...but as much as I'd like, it won't be the next one. Got to save my pennies for that one!

Just curious, isn't the price for VGs and sportsman about the same? Which is a better improvement? I would think sportsman? Not to mention the VGs have to come off and be re-applied when installing sportsman?
It does look great, just curious how you decided which mod to do?
David

VGs are about $1500 and the Sportsman kit is $2000. The real difference is in labor, the Sportsman takes 35-40 hours while the VGs can be done in 8? Maybe less.

Ok. Thanks Rob. I hope you dont take my post wrong Cory. Its a serious inquiry as I plan on doing the same on a Cessna wing some day...

Wow, what a nice Christmas gift!

Nice work, Cory. Looks great and hope you enjoy the new benefits!

Scott

Hey A1,

No problem. Glad you asked. Rob is spot on. You're looking at a $4K+ upgrade for the Sportsman STOL because of the labor. The VGs are a one day mod that, if you have an A&P that will work with you, you can install yourself. I decided to have my A&P help a little more than I originally planned, but now having done one, it's really straight forward and simple. I had mine help me lay out the templates and shoe me how to glue them on. Then he left us to do the rest. I figured it was worth a few hours of his time so I didn't screw anything up. It's the best bang for the buck...and I had a friend that highly recommended them...he had them on his 205. Plus others that recommended them as well. There are some good threads on here where we discussed the options. Do a search for them and you should easily find them. Let me know if you have any more questions.

When I do the Sportsman, you just pay $200 to get the wing VGs and put them in your new leading edge.

Thanks Rob. I do have VGs on the Citabria and they are well worth it. Was just curious on the cost/installation. Thanks
David

Maybe I'm a slow learner, but after putting vg's on my first S-7 (450 hrs on it at the time) and test flying it for a couple hours I pretty much figured I knew how they had changed the flight characteristics. But, it wasn't until a couple hundred hours later that, looking back, I realized that their effect was more complex then I first realized, and it took me a little time to fully exploit the new and improved handling. Not that there was any difficulty or anything, but it took me a while to really wring out how they had changed things, and then to put that change to habitual solid practical use. Much slower landings with increased control being the major benefits, being able to maintain higher AOA's with full control took a while to do routinely and then I got the full benefit of them. I can see how if a plane was flown the same old pre vg way, a pilot may not get his max bang for the buck. If you like them now you'll love them in a year or so!

Thanks for the insight CG! From what little I've seen, I'd say you are spot on.

i agree with cg for sure corey, i have both the stol and vg's, which were on it when i got it, and compared to my old 182, it is much better and more controllable in slo-flite...50mph turns work real well as well as any steep ones too..nice installation work u guys!

Very nice, Cory. So if I understand correctly, the actual VG's are $200 and the paper work is $1300?

Dang, I need to invent something for certified aircraft!!!

Well, $200 gets you the 80 VGs for the wing. Then there are the 76 on the other end of the plane! But yes, mostly paying for the paperwork.

A week or so ago I got a link from Allen of a video of the VG install. Thought you all might like to see it. They did a great job editing the day's work. Thanks again Allen and Stan!

I really enjoyed the video Cory and it looks like Allan was a big help.

good video...enjoyable to watch this process.

Well, VGs have been ordered and are waiting at home to go on...again. I'll post again here and let you know how it goes. This time I opted to spend the $200 and get the pre-painted ones.

Today I had someone pm me asking me how I liked them now that I had a few years operating with them, so that prompted me to update the thread. After having them for the last few years, it's amazing how sloppy the new plane feels without them. And I definitely can not fly as slow as I did with them on. So I'm anxious to get them on the new plane.

Also, last Fall AOPA had this article in their magazine. I thought it would be good to include it here for those looking into VGs.


P&E: OWNERSHIP
DO VGS WORK?
September 5, 2015 By Dave Hirschman
A REAL-WORLD PERFORMANCE TEST
P&E Ownership

Two nearly identical Cessna 172S models take the runway side by side for a real-world test of whether vortex generators make a measurable performance difference. The pilots release the brakes together, and add full power.

Both airplanes have full fuel tanks, and the pilots each weigh about 180 pounds. The only difference: One airplane has a set of Micro Aerodynamics vortex generators (VG) installed on the wings. The other airplane has a stock “clean wing.”


The two airplanes accelerate together with wing flaps up, and after a ground roll of about 600 feet, both pilots start to pull back on the yokes, increasing the wings’ angle of attack and generating lift. The VG-equipped airplane breaks free of the pavement at about 900 feet, its stall warning horn chirping momentarily. The clean-wing airplane stays on the ground for about 150 additional feet.

Observation one: VGs provide a clear takeoff distance advantage by shortening the ground roll by about 15 percent.Climbing at best-rate airspeed, the two airplanes are well matched, and there’s no noticeable performance difference. We level off at 3,500 feet and keep the throttles wide open to measure cruise performance. The two airplanes stay even at redline rpm.

Observation two: The VGs have no discernable speed penalty at high cruise.We slow the airplanes side by side in level flight with wing flaps up. At about 50 KIAS, the clean-wing airplane stalls and the nose drops about 25 degrees. The VG-equipped airplane continues decelerating, and a stall break never happens. It simply mushes and buffets in a nose-high, wings-level descent of 1,000 to 1,500 fpm. An accurate airspeed is difficult to discern because the angle of attack is so high that the airspeed indicator reads zero.

Observation three: VGs lower the power-off stall speed and virtually eliminate a power-off stall break. At cruise power, the pilot of the VG-equipped airplane makes a series of 60-degree-bank, 2-G turns at airspeeds as low as 70 KIAS and the wing doesn’t stall. The clean-wing airplane stalls at about 74 KIAS in a 60-degree bank turn.

Observation four: VGs lower the accelerated stall speeds (and reduce turn radius).At cruise power, the VG-equipped airplane performs a series of departure stalls. The stall break is slightly right-wing down and is preceded by the stall warning horn and moderate aerodynamic buffeting. The angle of attack at which the wing stalls is so high that the airspeed indicator reads zero at the break. Also, the ailerons remain effective during and after the stall break.

Observation five: VGs reduce power-on stall speeds and keep the ailerons effective during and after the stall break. We return to the airport together for landing and set up a long, two-mile final approach at full (30 degrees) flaps. The clean-wing airplane slows to 60 KIAS with a 500-fpm rate of descent, and the VG-equipped airplane matches it.

On one-mile final, the VG-equipped airplane slows to 55 KIAS and remains stable and fully controllable. The VG-equipped airplane touches down at 50 KIAS, about five knots slower than the clean-wing airplane, and stops well short with light braking.

Observation six: VGs allow slower approaches and touchdowns that result in shorter landings.

In sum, the VG-equipped airplane delivered noticeable performance improvements and no speed penalty at cruise. But VGs also enhance handling qualities in ways that are more subjective and harder to quantify. Ailerons feel more effective at low airspeeds and high angles of attack. The elevator seems more authoritative and lighter in the landing flare. A reduced final approach speed doesn’t bring that “elevator shaft” sense that the bottom is about to drop out from beneath you.

The cost of the VG kit is $1,450 and installation at Advanced Helicopter Concepts in Frederick, Maryland, including an IA signoff, was about $700. Whether the benefits are worth the cost will vary depending on how and where you fly. If you carry heavy loads to short or rough high-altitude airstrips, the VGs could be a big plus. If you fly light loads to long, paved, low-elevation runways, you may not need them.

But when pilots get to choose between which of these 172s they want to fly, I suspect they’ll pick the VG airplane just about every time.