Monty
Well-Known Member
Lately I have been pondering whether a very light aircraft could benefit from the combination of Fabric and aluminum Semi-Monocoque construction.
For example:
Use fabric for all of the control surfaces.
Use fabric for the aft portion of the wing with an aluminum leading edge D cell to take all the cantilever loads.
Construct the fuselage with aluminum monocoque type construction instead of a welded tube frame.
Anybody looked at this? Any savings to be had? Or is it just a lot of complexity with no real gain?
For example:
Use fabric for all of the control surfaces.
Use fabric for the aft portion of the wing with an aluminum leading edge D cell to take all the cantilever loads.
Construct the fuselage with aluminum monocoque type construction instead of a welded tube frame.
Anybody looked at this? Any savings to be had? Or is it just a lot of complexity with no real gain?