niwatori1
New Member
Hi everyone
I am brand new not only to the forum but to aviation period and as a lot of newbies do, i have a lot of questions
i have a friend that built his own aircraft (single engine, fixed winged, etc) that i have spoken to so i'm not completely lost just mostly.
The plane i want to build is a JDT miniMAX 1600R with a half VW engine and custom avionics
that (to me) sounds like the perfect plane however the old adage "easier said than done" still holds
now there are basically 3 things that hold me back from dishing out 200 dollers for the plans.
1. according to my friend you dont need a private pilots license to fly this plane, which could be a relief considering that getting one here is a 10k expense.
however with a little wikipedia surfing i discovered that to fly it i need a "sports license" something i wouldn't know how to get...
2. avionics..... every time i hear that word it kills the whole idea of owning an aircraft, whenever i do research on the price of even a compass i wind up gasping and saying to myself loudly "How can they charge that?!!"
not really but you get the idea....
then i began thinking to my self there must be a better way than it hit me...
Computers
Desktops ( especially the old Pentium 4's) can be had for a song these days
in addition the parts of a computer are light, reliable and efficient
i figure with Pressure, 3 axis accelerometer, GPS module sensors only getting cheaper and more accurate, DIY avionics would become common, but no...
i figure a pressure sensor could input both VSI readings and altimeter
The three axis accelerometer could be the artificial horizon and turn coordinator
an airflow sensor could be the airspeed indicator
as for voltage supplied to to computer, you can get decent 12v power supplies designed for cars for about 50 dollars
the only real problem i see with it is the radios
i haven't the faintest clue what frequencies aircraft Nav/Com, VOR, Transponder or any other Aircraft radio works at and unfortunately they don't make a One-Size-Fits-All transmitter receiver combo (to the best of my knowledge)
To make matters worse my friend uses the mantra "buy it and use it till it breaks" and also "keep a spare"....... and has no clue what frequencies it uses...
(it being his nav/com radio)
so my question is what frequencies does aircraft radio use?
3.the engine and monitoring systems, this is somewhat of a complex issue because i'm not "set in stone" with it i looked at a half VW and it looks a little ghettoed but then again experimental aircraft don't have the most spectacular safety record ... also what engine monitoring do i need?A fuel level, temp sensor, tachometer, and oil level was all i was thinking...
anyway... sorry this thread dragged on
I am brand new not only to the forum but to aviation period and as a lot of newbies do, i have a lot of questions
i have a friend that built his own aircraft (single engine, fixed winged, etc) that i have spoken to so i'm not completely lost just mostly.
The plane i want to build is a JDT miniMAX 1600R with a half VW engine and custom avionics
that (to me) sounds like the perfect plane however the old adage "easier said than done" still holds
now there are basically 3 things that hold me back from dishing out 200 dollers for the plans.
1. according to my friend you dont need a private pilots license to fly this plane, which could be a relief considering that getting one here is a 10k expense.
however with a little wikipedia surfing i discovered that to fly it i need a "sports license" something i wouldn't know how to get...
2. avionics..... every time i hear that word it kills the whole idea of owning an aircraft, whenever i do research on the price of even a compass i wind up gasping and saying to myself loudly "How can they charge that?!!"
not really but you get the idea....
then i began thinking to my self there must be a better way than it hit me...
Computers
Desktops ( especially the old Pentium 4's) can be had for a song these days
in addition the parts of a computer are light, reliable and efficient
i figure with Pressure, 3 axis accelerometer, GPS module sensors only getting cheaper and more accurate, DIY avionics would become common, but no...
i figure a pressure sensor could input both VSI readings and altimeter
The three axis accelerometer could be the artificial horizon and turn coordinator
an airflow sensor could be the airspeed indicator
as for voltage supplied to to computer, you can get decent 12v power supplies designed for cars for about 50 dollars
the only real problem i see with it is the radios
i haven't the faintest clue what frequencies aircraft Nav/Com, VOR, Transponder or any other Aircraft radio works at and unfortunately they don't make a One-Size-Fits-All transmitter receiver combo (to the best of my knowledge)
To make matters worse my friend uses the mantra "buy it and use it till it breaks" and also "keep a spare"....... and has no clue what frequencies it uses...
(it being his nav/com radio)
so my question is what frequencies does aircraft radio use?
3.the engine and monitoring systems, this is somewhat of a complex issue because i'm not "set in stone" with it i looked at a half VW and it looks a little ghettoed but then again experimental aircraft don't have the most spectacular safety record ... also what engine monitoring do i need?A fuel level, temp sensor, tachometer, and oil level was all i was thinking...
anyway... sorry this thread dragged on
