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Reverse Engineering an Existing Commercial Design

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Nims11

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Nov 8, 2014
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There are several great composites airplanes out there such as the Cirrus, Diamond, and Flight Design. All these planes new are well over $100k, I believe. I was wondering how difficult it would be to copy the design for the purpose of building ones own airplane for personal use. The raw materials for the airframe should only be a fraction of the total sticker price and then you could add the engine and instruments to meet your budget, I know some of these planes have very expensive instruments.

Would it be difficult to copy the design from existing data? Would you need the actual plane to somehow make a mold from? Is this a doable exercise for someone with skill in composite building?

Regarding the legality, yes I know it is not legal. But if I was to build this for myself, and not for sale, and since I could never afford to buy one otherwise, I don't have any moral reservation about doing this.
 
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