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  1. T

    Icon A5 Update - No Deliveries!?!

    It was a way of saying you would go broke and out of business . . . like most aviation start-ups do. You were just talking about staffs of engineers and all their salaries. Now you are talking about a five year hobby project for one guy. Which is it? Actually we did just fine. Profitably...
  2. T

    Value of elevator trim in ultralights, plus adding to an existing kit.

    I haven't mounted the horizontal stab yet, but I hope I'll do it correctly. This is where the flight envelope of ultralights vs. anything I have flown may be causing me to over think problems. I'm used to trimming out stick pressure all the time. Leveling out for cruise? Trim. Engine dies...
  3. T

    Budget

    I'm not saying the design is bad or wrong or anything of the sort. It's just that my most casual first approximation of a structural analysis is to knock a point off for any polygon with more than three sides. It is a cheap and dirty approach that usually works, but that design makes it hard by...
  4. T

    Budget

    OK, I have a question which I hope isn't too dumb. How was the structure of Pops' SSSC determined? That is far from my engineering wheelhouse but it seems to switch between fairly understandable structures (e.g. the lattice truss used in the fuselage) and things I can't intuit quite so...
  5. T

    Budget

    I think you could build a BeLite UltraCub kit for $15k if you wanted. Mine is going to end up at around $18k but that's with a new (and expensive) engine, and (rather expensive) Oratex covering. Go with a used half VW and Dacron with minimal coatings and you could probably shave $3000 without...
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    Value of elevator trim in ultralights, plus adding to an existing kit.

    This is what BeLite was delivering in April of this year as an UltraCub. I am not sure how much value previous builder experience would be since BeLite changes the designs frequently. A plane from 2015 wouldn't necessarily have the same parts. Some of the design differences must have aerodynamic...
  7. T

    Value of elevator trim in ultralights, plus adding to an existing kit.

    I am just wrapping my mind around this subject.... I've never flown a plane that didn't have elevator trim, and - going back all the way to my first discovery flight - I've never flown without actively using elevator trim. From adjusting for a hands-off cruise to making a stabilized landing...
  8. T

    Drone to Tow Sailplane

    May as well dream big. Start with a quadrotor drone that is mostly a flying battery pack. Maybe 40lbs of battery, 15lbs of drone. Design it with a landing pad charge dock so it can quickly connect to a charger. Have a pass-through so that the drones can land on top of each other and all...
  9. T

    I know this must exist...rivet chart

    I have a pneumatic squeezer that squishes 4-4 solid rivets without much fuss. I normally wouldn't consider 1/8" except that's the size of the pre- drilled holes. Most of the pop rivets aren't really candidates for substitution because they are either legitimately blind or are close enough to...
  10. T

    I know this must exist...rivet chart

    My search foo must be off today. I know this must exist andthe right search would find it, but I'm all near misses today. I am looking for a chart that shows the strength and weight characteristics of different types of rivets within the same broad family, arranged by size. So it might have...
  11. T

    Rocket airplane building cost

    My understanding is that it is fairly straightforward to get a home fuel production permit to produce limited quantities of fuel alcohol (about 5000 gallons of 96% per year) for personal use. It must be made poisonous by the addition of a few % kerosene or gasoline. I have never done it so this...
  12. T

    Rocket airplane building cost

    No. The restrictions on production of ethanol come from a tax collection framework. It is a revenue issue because ethanol is highly taxed and the government wants every dime of their tax money. Restrictions on hydrogen peroxide production would be coming from a safety or environmental...
  13. T

    Icon A5 Update - No Deliveries!?!

    I had a long reply written up but hit a wrong button, so you'll have to suffer with this.... From my point of view what you are proposing sounds like a good way to turn a $5m initial investment into a shot at $200k/yr in revenue. I don't see that as practical. I think you need to work within...
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    Icon A5 Update - No Deliveries!?!

    I do. The smaller the operation, the bigger the issue. Many small businesses have run out of cash with a closet full of unsold inventory. The bankruptcy courts generally order the inventory liquidated to pay creditors and that's that, no more business. That was exactly my point. Even Boeing...
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    Crashes in the News - Thread

    That's what I was referring to when I mentioned Stick & Rudder. I read "not able to maintain altitude" and "stall warning" as the pilot pulling back unconsciously/instinctively to avoid the ground. I'm going from memory but S&R has a section about that scenario and how hard but necessary it is...
  16. T

    Crashes in the News - Thread

    Was the pilot instrument rated? If the preliminary report quoted in this thread is accurate it sounds like an instrument pilot could have trimmed best glide and glided through IMC to be over the airport he was vectored to and then circled down on instruments, but instead the pilot tried to get...
  17. T

    Icon A5 Update - No Deliveries!?!

    BTDT. I used to design parts for consumer and vertical niche products and went through the whole gamut from local shops to having products built in the PRC. I would in-house it if I was making airplane kits. Why? Comes down to consistency in just in time production of what will likely be very...
  18. T

    Icon A5 Update - No Deliveries!?!

    If I ever design a homebuilt I will put $5k or so into a CNC router/mill/hole placing machine (DIY if need be) before building the first prototype, because while I'm not the worst in the world with a pair of aviation shears I like the idea of going straight from CAD to part. . .and if i can't...
  19. T

    I have to ask about the plane

    I have one. Well, in a sense I have four, but I am on tract to finish one, and what happens after that is gravy. My one is an ultralight. I have the engine/firewall on a workbench now working out mounting details. No big deal when the engine weighs 40lbs. I think 3 monts and it will be...
  20. T

    My Struggle

    I think he was referring to the reason some of us find this thread title more than a bit jarring. In 1925, in Germany, a book was published. The title, translated to English, was "My Struggle". The author later shot himself, but not before causing the development of numerous airplanes...
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