As the old rock'n'roll song "All the Young Dudes" by Mott the Hoople winds down, there's a wonderful lyric that sounds almost like an after-thought: "I've been wanting to do this for years..."
Well, I'm taking the first tentative step, finally letting this oddball idea out of my head and into the strange, thriving world of public discussion on HBA.
One of the ideas in my head that won't go away is a very small, inexpensive, minimalist E-ticket ride using a 25-40HP engine of some sort. A low wing miniature airplane with the pilot in a reclined or supine position. You guessed it... like riding on an Olympic Luge or small single place bobsled.
This is intended to be smaller and more simplified than the Jeanie's Teenie, Watson Windwagon, etc. About the size of the Davis DA-11 but even less complex and probably slab sided for ease of construction. And probably even lighter. Like so many of the daydreams of experimental airplane enthusiasts, this idea started out as me trying to create a Cri-Cri size aircraft but with a single tractor engine on the front, and a more reclined pilot for drag and "fineness ratio" aesthetics. If the San Diego guys who did the Wee Bee pilot-lying-on-top airplane did something similar with the pilot reclined in a tub or trough... that's what I'm aiming for.
Unlike the Cri-Cri it was always meant to be a simple and stress-free build. Colomban started with the idea of minimal engine power, something like 9HP per side. That drove a lot of the complexity and weight-reduction in the Cri-Cri. My goal was not to fly on 9HP engines, I'm willing to use the small block Brriggs engine (28-33HP) or the Polini 2-stroke (36HP). This will allow me to greatly simplify the build compared to Colomban's highly engineered masterpiece.
My goal would be very simple flat-wrap sheet metal and pop rivet construction except for the main spar caps, which would be better off using AN rivets. The original idea is that this would not require tooling, molds, or messy composite fabrication, sanding dust, etc.
One of the hoped-for parameters is that the fuselage would be less than 12 feet in total length, so the sides can be cut out of 12 foot lengths. The upper and lower wing spar caps for the one-piece main wing would be 12 foot lengths of aluminum angle. Add two 12 inch tapered wingtips, yielding a total span of 14 feet. I'm thinking something like 60 square feet of wing, with a decent but not exotic airfoil.
My hope was to use a little cleverness and have a monowheel landing gear like the Monnett Moni. This saves weight and drag, as well as a little cost and build time.This is not an off-road big tire bushplane, it will be happily limited to reasonably smooth runways more or less the same as a club class glider like the 1-26, Ka-8, or L-Spatz.
I've gone back and forth between an open bathtub/bobsled layout, a reclined sailplane canopy style layout (FFA Diamant sailplane / Monnet Moni), and the "open cockpit" with half-windshield (Watson Windwagon). This would be a fair weather "toy"; you'd fly it in conditions appropriate for a Quicksilver or Airbike.
So with that description, I'd love to see any ideas, sketches, renderings, technical obstacles, and spirited discussions on this concept.
PART of my interest in this rather exotic idea is based in actual real-world reality, believe it or not. I have a small space under the wing of my 172 in my hangar. Not enough space for a KR or Hummelbird. Enough for a Cassutt-sized airplane at best. So if I can come up with something cheap, small, and doesn't take too much time or skill to build safely, it could actually happen.
Well, I'm taking the first tentative step, finally letting this oddball idea out of my head and into the strange, thriving world of public discussion on HBA.
One of the ideas in my head that won't go away is a very small, inexpensive, minimalist E-ticket ride using a 25-40HP engine of some sort. A low wing miniature airplane with the pilot in a reclined or supine position. You guessed it... like riding on an Olympic Luge or small single place bobsled.
This is intended to be smaller and more simplified than the Jeanie's Teenie, Watson Windwagon, etc. About the size of the Davis DA-11 but even less complex and probably slab sided for ease of construction. And probably even lighter. Like so many of the daydreams of experimental airplane enthusiasts, this idea started out as me trying to create a Cri-Cri size aircraft but with a single tractor engine on the front, and a more reclined pilot for drag and "fineness ratio" aesthetics. If the San Diego guys who did the Wee Bee pilot-lying-on-top airplane did something similar with the pilot reclined in a tub or trough... that's what I'm aiming for.
Unlike the Cri-Cri it was always meant to be a simple and stress-free build. Colomban started with the idea of minimal engine power, something like 9HP per side. That drove a lot of the complexity and weight-reduction in the Cri-Cri. My goal was not to fly on 9HP engines, I'm willing to use the small block Brriggs engine (28-33HP) or the Polini 2-stroke (36HP). This will allow me to greatly simplify the build compared to Colomban's highly engineered masterpiece.
My goal would be very simple flat-wrap sheet metal and pop rivet construction except for the main spar caps, which would be better off using AN rivets. The original idea is that this would not require tooling, molds, or messy composite fabrication, sanding dust, etc.
One of the hoped-for parameters is that the fuselage would be less than 12 feet in total length, so the sides can be cut out of 12 foot lengths. The upper and lower wing spar caps for the one-piece main wing would be 12 foot lengths of aluminum angle. Add two 12 inch tapered wingtips, yielding a total span of 14 feet. I'm thinking something like 60 square feet of wing, with a decent but not exotic airfoil.
My hope was to use a little cleverness and have a monowheel landing gear like the Monnett Moni. This saves weight and drag, as well as a little cost and build time.This is not an off-road big tire bushplane, it will be happily limited to reasonably smooth runways more or less the same as a club class glider like the 1-26, Ka-8, or L-Spatz.
I've gone back and forth between an open bathtub/bobsled layout, a reclined sailplane canopy style layout (FFA Diamant sailplane / Monnet Moni), and the "open cockpit" with half-windshield (Watson Windwagon). This would be a fair weather "toy"; you'd fly it in conditions appropriate for a Quicksilver or Airbike.
So with that description, I'd love to see any ideas, sketches, renderings, technical obstacles, and spirited discussions on this concept.
PART of my interest in this rather exotic idea is based in actual real-world reality, believe it or not. I have a small space under the wing of my 172 in my hangar. Not enough space for a KR or Hummelbird. Enough for a Cassutt-sized airplane at best. So if I can come up with something cheap, small, and doesn't take too much time or skill to build safely, it could actually happen.
