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Open Source Kit Aircraft pt2: $20,000 Amphibious Lifting Body LSA

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Noah

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
23
Location
California
I have $20,000 and 4 months with which to build this plane. I have a lot of experience in automotive design, racing, and practical structural knowledge, as well as a few actual engineers from craigslist lined up to help that are experienced with actual stress analysis. It will stay open source because intellectual property rights create statists who pay for lawyers, politicians, and physically violent people subsequently creating all terror in the world today. I will ask for donations for plans when I'm done as well as charge for my time helping people with the 49% if they so wish.

The plastic plane will cost very little with a motorbike engine, basic avionics, and only 7 moving parts (flaps and canards +landing gear). It will NOT have seats, linkages, gears, belts, wings, spars, or anything you might expect on a normal plane. The prop will be DIY stainless small diameter, high speed, with no twist. Seatbacks will be plastic and slide in. Seat bottoms are part of the plane. No dashboard, just a plastic pod. All controls like pedals, throttle, and canard bearing housings are glued directly to the inside of the body.

Prices:
Prop ~$150
Lifting body ~$2500
Engine ~$5000
Landing gear ~$3000
Electronics ~$500
Avionics ~$8000
Misc ~$850

Six design points
1. The entire plane structure will be vacuum formed and glued plastic and plywood. No welding, riveting, time-consuming wings or fiberglass. Good visibility.
2. Canarderons directly controlled from the pilots seat require no linkages and allow the use of flaps on what is more or less a delta wing.
3. The plane will be of a pusher configuration with long chines allowing maximum efficiency along the 96sq foot lifting area.
4. Low loading should mean low weight/high strength and exposed frontal area will be almost nothing.
5. The plane will have a rounded bottom like a supercritical airfoil, jet ski, or other amphibians, and have retractable gear for efficiency and water landings.
6. The first five points add up to a highly efficient aircraft with a high top speed.

warrior2.jpg

Downsides:
Potential Stability/Control issues from the small plane will be negated by using modular canarderons, nose cover, flap/trimmers, and rudder/winglets. These parts will bolt on in a minute and be optimized during testing. It is still 2ft longer than the BD5. There will be a very low CG which should help.
Stol of 51, top speed of 130 will be a challenge. The plane may come with LSA/Private options with differing engines/canards/flaps.

Both of these aircraft had no computer control and were aerodynamically stable. The wernicke had a stall of 70 so I'm assuming this is going to be my major issue in meeting LSA requirements.
bop1.jpg

Plane%20against%20flying%20lake(1).jpg
 
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