superhornet59
Member
Okay, first and foremost I'm in Canada so that might affect the rules, so if your giving me US regs, just let me know.
Okay, so some of you might know I've decided to build myself a top secret homebuilt plane from scratch. But here's the thing, I figure if I ever want to go long distance, I can attach external fuel tanks. After some tedious math, I realised my airplane will weigh about 1000lb empty, but will be able to carry approx. 1500 lb of fuel!! thats great and all but my wing size is a mere 100 sq feet. that means im going to have a wing loading of 25 lb/sf. Canada's regulations say that I can have only a maximum wing loading of 13.3 p/sf flaps up and 20.4 lb/sf flaps down.
so i cant fly my plane, its just to heavy.
but heres the thing. 1500 of those pounds are external!! so technicaly I could fly my airplane at the usual 10 lb/sf well within legal limits, but from what I think I understand so far, external storage (gas in this case) does not count towards the limit. So I COULD fly at 25lb/sf, which is beyond the legal limit but it doesnt count to my plane's wing loading because its external. right??
Plus keep in mind that I want to have a low camber thin wing design for high performance, so 25 lb/sf might not even be achievable except at high speeds, which frankly I dont mind, it isnt designed to be a STOL aircraft anwyay.
So I figure, seeings as external storage (by external I mean in detachable compartments/ tanks) does not affect the gross weight of the plane, even though im flying with a way high wingload, its not counted so technicly I'm flying well within my limits. right?
When canada's regulations say a max wing load of 13.3 lb/sf, does that mean that thats the highest load the wings can lift, or is that the highest load you apply to your wings.
Because theres a difference. if its the highest wingload of the aircraft it means the wings can physicaly not lift anymore then 13.3 lb/sf, or it could mean thats the highest they can lift legaly, but could theoreticly carry more.
The regulations just seem hazy and I really dont want to break the law with this, but i dont want to compromise the spirit of the project either.
i could, by the way, have a higher wingload then those specs by specifying it as a high performance homebuilt, but i would require 200 hours of flight experience to fly in my own airplane. thats ridiculous i dont want to have to endure all that in some other plane and pay for it. i want to go out there and learn in my own machine!!
Thanks for the help guys
-Matt
Okay, so some of you might know I've decided to build myself a top secret homebuilt plane from scratch. But here's the thing, I figure if I ever want to go long distance, I can attach external fuel tanks. After some tedious math, I realised my airplane will weigh about 1000lb empty, but will be able to carry approx. 1500 lb of fuel!! thats great and all but my wing size is a mere 100 sq feet. that means im going to have a wing loading of 25 lb/sf. Canada's regulations say that I can have only a maximum wing loading of 13.3 p/sf flaps up and 20.4 lb/sf flaps down.
so i cant fly my plane, its just to heavy.
but heres the thing. 1500 of those pounds are external!! so technicaly I could fly my airplane at the usual 10 lb/sf well within legal limits, but from what I think I understand so far, external storage (gas in this case) does not count towards the limit. So I COULD fly at 25lb/sf, which is beyond the legal limit but it doesnt count to my plane's wing loading because its external. right??
Plus keep in mind that I want to have a low camber thin wing design for high performance, so 25 lb/sf might not even be achievable except at high speeds, which frankly I dont mind, it isnt designed to be a STOL aircraft anwyay.
So I figure, seeings as external storage (by external I mean in detachable compartments/ tanks) does not affect the gross weight of the plane, even though im flying with a way high wingload, its not counted so technicly I'm flying well within my limits. right?
When canada's regulations say a max wing load of 13.3 lb/sf, does that mean that thats the highest load the wings can lift, or is that the highest load you apply to your wings.
Because theres a difference. if its the highest wingload of the aircraft it means the wings can physicaly not lift anymore then 13.3 lb/sf, or it could mean thats the highest they can lift legaly, but could theoreticly carry more.
The regulations just seem hazy and I really dont want to break the law with this, but i dont want to compromise the spirit of the project either.
i could, by the way, have a higher wingload then those specs by specifying it as a high performance homebuilt, but i would require 200 hours of flight experience to fly in my own airplane. thats ridiculous i dont want to have to endure all that in some other plane and pay for it. i want to go out there and learn in my own machine!!
Thanks for the help guys
-Matt
