Airplane design.

Stuart Grey wrote:

Aircraft design seems to be an iterative process.....
Chicken and egg thing. For this reason, they use regression analysis
of existing working designs.

Correct. This is a good thing, if you know what you're doing, because
it lets you easily determine what a new airplane is going to look like,
weigh, etc. On the other hand, you never get breakthroughs by using
this method, since whatever you design will be very similar to what's
come before.

I have found, since I started working at Scaled last September, that we
use a mix of "do it just like that" and "don't do it anything like
that", depending upon need :-).

--
Marc J. Zeitlin
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2006

"Marc J. Zeitlin" wrote

I have found, since I started working at Scaled last September, that we
use a mix of "do it just like that" and "don't do it anything like that",
depending upon need :-).
\
Cool stuff going on at Scaled; I would love to be qualified, and to get a
chance to work there.

I know you have posted what you do there, but I have forgotten. What is it,
again, if you would?

That philosophy you posted above, about says it all, huh? g
--
Jim in NC

Morgans wrote:

I know you have posted what you do there, but I have forgotten.
What is it, again, if you would?

I don't think that I have - maybe you're confusing me with someone else,
but I don't know who that might be - Scaled is not a big place :-).

I'm a mechanical/aeronautical engineer. I design stuff. Sometimes I
build it, too, and test it :-).

--
Marc J. Zeitlin
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2006

On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 06:08:14 GMT, "Marc J. Zeitlin"
wrote:

Morgans wrote:

I know you have posted what you do there, but I have forgotten.
What is it, again, if you would?

I don't think that I have - maybe you're confusing me with someone else,
but I don't know who that might be - Scaled is not a big place :-).

I'm a mechanical/aeronautical engineer. I design stuff. Sometimes I
build it, too, and test it :-).

mark is the isolation of the mojave desert one of rutan's best aids to
invention?
if he worked in the bustle of LA, for instance, do you think he'd be
anywhere near as innovative or productive?

me, I just love working in my workshop without any television in
earshot.

Stealth Pilot

"Marc J. Zeitlin" wrote in message ...

I don't think that I have - maybe you're confusing me with someone else, but I don't know who that might be - Scaled
is not a big place :-).

I'm a mechanical/aeronautical engineer. I design stuff. Sometimes I build it, too, and test it :-).

--
Marc J. Zeitlin
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2006


Stuff is cool, unless superheated, then it is steam?

--
Dan DeVillers
http://www.ameritech.net/users/ddevillers/start.html


..

I don't think that I have - maybe you're confusing me with someone else,
but I don't know who that might be - Scaled is not a big place :-).

I'm a mechanical/aeronautical engineer. I design stuff. Sometimes I
build it, too, and test it :-).

Cool! What projects have you had a hand in? Some of the "big" ones?

I love all the innovation that has come out of Scaled. Being close to White
Knight and Space One definitely will go down on the list of things that will
stay with me for a long time.

I am not a mechanical engineer, but had I gotten a better start with math
while in Jr. High and High School, I might have been one. I was in the "new
math" debacle. My dad was a M.E., and he taught me many things of the
mechanical world. I like nothing better than getting an idea, coming up
with a solution, then building the device, or system, or whatever, and
seeing it work, as I pictured it in my mind's eye. I would like nothing
better than designing and building my own plane, but I'm a bit away from
seeing that happen.
--
Jim in NC

Marc J. Zeitlin wrote:
Morgans wrote:


I know you have posted what you do there, but I have forgotten.
What is it, again, if you would?


I don't think that I have - maybe you're confusing me with someone else,
but I don't know who that might be - Scaled is not a big place :-).

I'm a mechanical/aeronautical engineer. I design stuff. Sometimes I
build it, too, and test it :-).


I know he won't remember me, but I got to work with Burt at Bede way back
when. I made a honeycomb-paper-core/Glass/Epoxy I-Beam sample for him, but
he already had foam on his mind. I didn't understand it then, but the trade
off between weight and work was obviously the right one.

Tell him "Hi", and "WoW!!!" for me, will ya?


Richard

On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 19:20:18 -0500, "Morgans"
wrote:


I don't think that I have - maybe you're confusing me with someone else,
but I don't know who that might be - Scaled is not a big place :-).

I'm a mechanical/aeronautical engineer. I design stuff. Sometimes I
build it, too, and test it :-).

Cool! What projects have you had a hand in? Some of the "big" ones?

I love all the innovation that has come out of Scaled. Being close to White
Knight and Space One definitely will go down on the list of things that will
stay with me for a long time.

I am not a mechanical engineer, but had I gotten a better start with math
while in Jr. High and High School, I might have been one. I was in the "new
math" debacle. My dad was a M.E., and he taught me many things of the
mechanical world. I like nothing better than getting an idea, coming up
with a solution, then building the device, or system, or whatever, and
seeing it work, as I pictured it in my mind's eye. I would like nothing
better than designing and building my own plane, but I'm a bit away from
seeing that happen.

Jim you are only limited by your self doubt. I admit it is hard to
find decent aero engineering references that are understandable but
keep trying. we'll both get there one day.

Stealth Pilot

Montblack wrote:
("Richard Lamb" wrote)

Design an airplane within the 254 pound weight limit.

Clean sheet of paper.
254 pounds empty weight.
Your choice of engines, design, materials.

Where would you start?



Cri-Cri type
Twin diesels - torque, torque, torque
Wings that rock - "control wing" "free wing"

http://www.flyingflea.org/docs/SprattControlwing.htm

http://www.airandspacemagazine.com/ASM/Mag/Index/1995/DJ/ssfw.html

Original CriCri's weighed approx 150lbs, that included two 9hp engines.
150 lbs - total!

150 lbs - (15# engine + 15# engine) = 120 lbs - 20 lbs other stuff = 100
lbs of plane building material.

So I'm thinking ...how much would (guessing) 60lbs of Titanium cost?


Montblackium


So, why did they put two engines on that small of of an airplane?
Was it to get around the 61 kts stall speed requirement? (I believe two
engine airplanes don't need to meet that...) Or was it just because they
could?

"Stealth Pilot" wrote

I admit it is hard to
find decent aero engineering references that are understandable but
keep trying. we'll both get there one day.
\
Of that, I have no doubt. g
--
Jim in NC