Aircraft fairing

On aircraft, fairings are commonly found on:

Belly fairing

Also called a "ventral fairing", it is located on the underside of the fuselage between the main wings. It can also cover additional cargo storage or fuel tanks.^[3]

Cockpit fairing

Also called a "cockpit pod",^{[citation needed]} it protects the crew on ultralight trikes. Commonly made from fiberglass, it may also incorporate a windshield.^[4]

Elevator and horizontal stabilizer tips

Elevator and stabilizer tips fairings smooth out airflow at the tips.^{[citation needed]}

Fin and rudder tip fairings

Fin and rudder tip fairings reduce drag at low angles of attack but also reduce the stall angle, so the fairing of control surface tips depends on the application.^[5]

Fillets

Fillets smooth the airflow at the junction between two components, such as the fuselage and wing.

Fixed landing gear junctions

Landing gear fairings reduce drag at these junctions.^[6]

Flap track fairings

Fairings are needed to enclose the flap operating mechanism when the flap is up. They open up as the flap comes down and may also pivot to allow the necessary sideways movement of the extending mechanism which occurs on swept-wing installations.^[7]

Spinner

To protect and streamline the propeller hub.^[8][9]

Strut-to-wing and strut-to-fuselage junctions

Strut end fairings reduce drag at these junctions.^{[citation needed]}

Tail cones

Tail cones streamline the rear extremity of a fuselage by eliminating the base area, which is a source of base drag.

Wing root

Wing roots are often faired to reduce interference drag between the wing and the fuselage. On the top and bottom of the wing, this consists of small rounded edges to reduce surface and friction drag. At the leading and trailing edge it consists of much larger taper and smooths out the pressure differences: high pressure at the leading and trailing edge, low pressure on top of the wing and around the fuselage.^[10]

Wing tips

Wing tips are often formed as complex shapes to reduce vortex generation and so also drag, especially at low speed.^[11]

Wheels on fixed gear aircraft

Wheel fairings are often called "wheel pants", "speed fairings" in North America or "wheel spats" or "trousers", in the United Kingdom, the latter enclosing both the wheel and landing gear leg. These fairings are a trade-off: they increase the frontal and surface area but provide a smooth surface and a faired nose and tail for laminar flow, in an attempt to reduce the turbulence created by the round wheel and its associated gear legs and brakes. They also serve the important function of preventing mud and stones from being thrown upwards against the wings or fuselage, or into the propeller on a pusher aircraft.^[2][12][13]

• Bicycle fairing
• Motorcycle fairing
• Payload fairing