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Is there a cheapest/lightest/simplest wing structure other than aluminium tube and fabric?

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oriol

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
1,473
Location
Barcelona, Spain.
Hi!

Always that I think about the thrill of building your own airplane. I realize that there is nothing simpler than buying a second hand glider/paraglider and then build a little charriot. This solution seems to be the most practical and cheap, since it spares the cost of hangar rent, if you come up with a package that can fit inside your car. The driving factor here is weight penalty considerations, the equivalent of part 103 category in here is the sub 70Kgs. This makes very hard to use conventional sport/certified airplane building techniques.

In any case to dream is for free, and I always wonder about a possible wing structure solution that might allow for a very light aircraft. Particularly something that would be very straighforward to build. I am worried about getting stuck in a long build, like a composite moldless wing.

In any case, it is fun to see that probably if I come up with an incredible solution, I would probably have spent more time thinking instead of sanding/rivetting a kit that would probably fly much better.

Getting back to the <70Kg dilemma. This weight is very hard to achieve, even the Aeros nano trike weights more than this, the Sandling Goat with engine also weights more than that.

This picture below is from what I believe is a Lil Bitts. I think that this combination of plastic and alu for the rib and that of the Goat, are perhaps the simplest and lightest builds, please correct me if I am wrong?

I believe that it would be possible to 3d print in composite the plastic part that joins the Lil Bitts rib, so that you are able to get the profile you want. Perhaps building something like this would allow to reduce the weight of a wingspan similar of the Goat?

Thanks,

Oriol

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