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Airplane for the Common Denominator

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Tiger Tim

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2013
Messages
7,065
Location
Thunder Bay
Alright, it turns out the ‘common man’ is an impossible target to pinpoint so how about boiling it down to a common denominator. The most affordable practical airplane that tosses out all special lifestyle cases. I think it needs to at least do the following:

-Comfortably seat one pilot
-Travel faster than driving
-Use a common enough reliable engine that’s mogas-friendly and not a never ending science experiment
-Be easy enough to fly, capable of straight-forward pilot transition from a common type
-Be resilient enough to survive outside tie down in any US state without needing major refurbishment
-Designed for scratch building using common tools and ordinary raw materials and hardware

Does that sound about right? The idea is that making it is very much pay-as-you-go, and keeping and operating it once finished are reasonably straightforward. I can actually think of three designs off the top of my head that probably fit the bill but I’m curious what input others may have.
 
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