High Altitude
Well-Known Member
In the spirit of cubcrafters carbon cub do you guys think there are any plans for highwing homebuilts that might be similiar?
I was thinking about a high wing, probably tube and fabric, that could take a 0-320, empty weight around 850lbs, built to take 1500lbs that could be registered at 1320 and flown as a sport pilot. Later on, if you upgraded to a PP cert, you could change the gross to 1500 and get full use out of the aircraft.
One possibility I can think of would be the Zenith 750. The original design was changed to take a 0-320 with a gross weight increase to 1440lbs. I have no idea what the empty weight would be with a 0-320, to see if it would even be useable at 1320, but lots of aircraft are coming in at 750-775lbs with rotax/jabiru, full paint, nice panels and interiors. A bare to the bones was built with UL engine, no paint, basic panel and interior and came in at 701 lbs. The weight spec is very accurate, which is a nice change compared to most kitplane manufacturers.
How much more weight would you add with a 0-320 with light weight starter/alternator with electronic ignition? Maybe going with a no electric setup would work out.
Can you guys think of any other designs that might work?
I thought about the Bearhawk patrol. From looking at a few completed patrols it is too heavy, but designed for up to 200hp with a 2000lb gross. Maybe the design could be changed to work.
I could even imagine a tube and fabric design that if built bare to the bone, only absolute necessary with basic interior, vfr day, no electric, basic analog panel or single glass would work for a LSA but if built heavier would still have plenty of gross to be flown PP.
Basically, I think someone needs to design the poor man's carbon cub that could be built from plans.
I was thinking about a high wing, probably tube and fabric, that could take a 0-320, empty weight around 850lbs, built to take 1500lbs that could be registered at 1320 and flown as a sport pilot. Later on, if you upgraded to a PP cert, you could change the gross to 1500 and get full use out of the aircraft.
One possibility I can think of would be the Zenith 750. The original design was changed to take a 0-320 with a gross weight increase to 1440lbs. I have no idea what the empty weight would be with a 0-320, to see if it would even be useable at 1320, but lots of aircraft are coming in at 750-775lbs with rotax/jabiru, full paint, nice panels and interiors. A bare to the bones was built with UL engine, no paint, basic panel and interior and came in at 701 lbs. The weight spec is very accurate, which is a nice change compared to most kitplane manufacturers.
How much more weight would you add with a 0-320 with light weight starter/alternator with electronic ignition? Maybe going with a no electric setup would work out.
Can you guys think of any other designs that might work?
I thought about the Bearhawk patrol. From looking at a few completed patrols it is too heavy, but designed for up to 200hp with a 2000lb gross. Maybe the design could be changed to work.
I could even imagine a tube and fabric design that if built bare to the bone, only absolute necessary with basic interior, vfr day, no electric, basic analog panel or single glass would work for a LSA but if built heavier would still have plenty of gross to be flown PP.
Basically, I think someone needs to design the poor man's carbon cub that could be built from plans.