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Carrying a lot with a little

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cluttonfred

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
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Getting away from my usual focus on LSA/microlight aircraft...how would you tackle carrying four or five adults on as little power as possible? Set aside STOL operations or blistering performance, I just mean airport operations and VFR tourism. Here is one example:

dynaero_4s-en.jpg

The Dyn'Aero 4S weighs in at 370 kg empty with a gross weight of 750 kg. That leaves about 280 kg for passengers and baggage with the standard 130 liters of fuel and about 230 kg with the extended-range 200-liter tanks. With a 115 hp Rotax 914 Turbo it will cruise at 240 km at 75% power burning 20.7 liters per hour for an absolute range of 1,565 km with the standard tanks and 2,300 km with the extended tanks.

How could you do better than that? One idea I have simmering on the back burner is something like the old Hurel-Dubois types with their long, strutted wings for minimum induced drag at low speeds. Below is a Miles Aerovan fitted with an H-D wing for testing, and the results of those tests eventually influenced the design of the homely Shorts Skyvan which has a shorter but still fairly high aspect ratio wing for a flying boxcar.

3885L.jpg

Cheers,

Matthew
 
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