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Your thoughts on tenets of safe design.

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yankeeclipper

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2009
Messages
47
Location
Northeast.
I hope this is the right forum for this question--my apologies if not.

If you were designing and constructing a light, amphibious aircraft (not necessarily an LSA but, say, under 1000 Kg), with a Vne under 150 kts, and with safety as your primary goal, what features, considerations and/or configurations would you design into it (or at least weigh heavily)? Naturally there are different opinions and different circumstances, but as an absolute neophyte I'd love to hear what your thoughts are.

Considerations I've come across (though not necessarily with solutions) are Bird strikes, floating obstacles, various engine failures, glide ratio's (i.e. decision time!), fire hazards, instrumentation, and control reliability. What caveats would you consider, and how might you meet those challenges?

A specific example:

It would seem to me that--all else being equal--a healthy climb rate is a significant safety feature. In the event of an engine failure steep climbs can buy a pilot some time to find options, or even return to their original runway.

Another:
Leading edges and control surfaces should be sturdy enough to endure bird strikes, but without being so bulky as to significantly reduce L/D. (Which do you value more?) Twin engines could potentially be a very nice-to-have in such a case too.
 
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