On Jul 26, 8:03 am, Stealth Pilot
wrote:
On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:29:46 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:
Recent problems mentioned here brought me a lot of mail on a variety
of topics. Within the sphere of Flying on the Cheap and low-cost
methods of construction, someone asked if I'd ever considered some
kind of Last Ditch airplane, an absolute minimum flying machine for
people who are determined to build and to fly their own airplane...
until Fate steps in.
Airplanes are usually defined by their mission and powerplant and even
a simple machine can be fairly complex. But in this case the
'mission' need be no more than a single safe flight of the builder/
pilot and the powerplant was assumed to be something made from VW
components and would probably be of stock displacement.
We swapped a few messages defining such a machine and its fabrication
but there were no surprises; it is a doable thing. Then the guy sunk
the hook: “I wonder what it would look like?”
That's the easy part: Form follows function. A minimum flying
machine would look like a Chuck-Bird, Chuck Beason's delightful
little parasol. There are a other designs that could serve as your
precursor but all fail the 'minimum' test at one point or another.
-R.S.Hoover
surely the best simplest 'last aeroplane' would be the open framework
Legal Eagle ultralight by Leonard Millholland.
it would have to be the most competent minimalist aircraft going.
http://www.ultralightnews.com/plansb...e-aircraftplan...
Stealth Pilot
IF you can weld, or come up with the cash for a pre-welded fuselage.
And I think 1/2 VW engines are a waste of time, me. Better dreamers
build the Double Eagle, IMHO.
http://www.doubleeagleairplane.com/
But if you don't weld, the Texas Parasol makes SOME sense. And if you
ignore the lift strut attachment details in the plans, and make the
front spar 2.25"...the wings look very quick to build. If you have a
DSL connection and about 2 hours, you can download the plans for
free. This package is sort of an easter basket, but includes a lot of
details that developed AFTER the initial plans release, and is, IMHO,
worth the time to download it an look it over. This is NOT, again,
IMHO, a First TIme Builder's project. Too many details are left
undeveloped.
http://www.matronics.com/photoshare/...et.02.11.2006/
Finally, Graham Lee's Miranda bears looking at. The aluminum tube
with gusset construction well proven on blizzards of his Nieuport
replicas in a cabin biplane. To the best of my knowledge though, no
one has yet built this design, and it is not exactly "minimal". I
haven't seen the plans for this one yet.
http://www.nieuports.com/index.asp?page=miranda