F
fly scared!
Last week another engine-out in a field I know... pilot injured, aircraft burned...
What's SO wrong with multi-engines in light aircrafts?
If I think of the typical two-seater ULM pusher, I can't see why a redundant engine could not be mounted in front of the aircraft.
A small two-stroker would weight maybe 50 kg (including the beefed up forward structure), and that could be easily balanced by the main aft engine, boom et c..
Strengthwise, it would lower maybe 10% the one-engine specs (say 4 g rather than 4.4 g)
50~60 HP would easily keep altitude (and probably climb) at Vy.
It could be turned off at altitude to lower noise and fuel burn, if desidered.
It would probably add some 10,000 USD to the price, if keeping the "standard" (Rotax...) rear engine.
It could even possibly cost less, by selecting a lower-cost rear engine (say a VW) due to the increased global redundancy.
Yeah, I know... "you should always be ready for an engine-out"... easy to say at 3.000 ft, much less at take-off, or at the maximum ceilings (500 ft in Italy) imposed to ULMs.
I guess I'm missing something...?
What's SO wrong with multi-engines in light aircrafts?
If I think of the typical two-seater ULM pusher, I can't see why a redundant engine could not be mounted in front of the aircraft.
A small two-stroker would weight maybe 50 kg (including the beefed up forward structure), and that could be easily balanced by the main aft engine, boom et c..
Strengthwise, it would lower maybe 10% the one-engine specs (say 4 g rather than 4.4 g)
50~60 HP would easily keep altitude (and probably climb) at Vy.
It could be turned off at altitude to lower noise and fuel burn, if desidered.
It would probably add some 10,000 USD to the price, if keeping the "standard" (Rotax...) rear engine.
It could even possibly cost less, by selecting a lower-cost rear engine (say a VW) due to the increased global redundancy.
Yeah, I know... "you should always be ready for an engine-out"... easy to say at 3.000 ft, much less at take-off, or at the maximum ceilings (500 ft in Italy) imposed to ULMs.
I guess I'm missing something...?
