Those of you who follow VAF have seen that the tapered carbon fiber wings we've been developing for RVs have finally flown. Test pilot Bob Mills reports good handling and benign stall characteristics. Envelope expansion to follow.
Steve Smith did the design and engineering, Steve and Bob Mills did most of the fabrication, and I did a lot of the original tooling design and provided moral support.
The wings have carbon fiber spars based on pultruded strips. The wing spars attach to aluminum stub spars at two large pins separated laterally by about two feet. The aluminum stub spars attach to the airplane's original wing attachment points. Steve has designed stub spars for RV-6, RV-7, and RV-8.
We originally started this project in 2013, and thought we'd be done in a couple years.
Steve Smith did the design and engineering, Steve and Bob Mills did most of the fabrication, and I did a lot of the original tooling design and provided moral support.
The wings have carbon fiber spars based on pultruded strips. The wing spars attach to aluminum stub spars at two large pins separated laterally by about two feet. The aluminum stub spars attach to the airplane's original wing attachment points. Steve has designed stub spars for RV-6, RV-7, and RV-8.
We originally started this project in 2013, and thought we'd be done in a couple years.
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