Willzilla
Active Member
Some people here might remember me from a while ago, asking for advice and designing and building my own ultralight. I never gave up on that and I know a bit more now then back then when I posted a thread. If you look back please excuse my bad wording! It makes me look like an idiot! It was from staying up too late being excited about airplanes ive course!
Flying is addicting and im aiming to try get a scholarship for lessons at the end of this year which my club is running. They base it on interest mainly because they want more younger people to be involved with the club. I think I am the only person my age hanging around (apart from my friend who is also interested that I introduced) and I think I have a great chance of winning the scholarship! Im pretty excited about that.
Since then I have been on a few fly away with my local aeroclub and im getting in with the people there and learning alot. I even got a fly in a gyro for my 16th birthday which was pretty awesome! I have a tiny bit of stick time, just keeping the plane heading the right direction and at the right altitude and doing some turns. Ive seen a fair few airplanes now and ive had some work experience helping a guy build kits in his workshop! I havent got myself any books yet but im going to start with this; Simplified Aircraft Design for Homebuilders Amazon.com: Simplified Aircraft Design for Homebuilders (9780972239707): Daniel P Raymer Ph.D: Books
then probably:Amazon.com: Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach (Aiaa Education Series) (9781563472817): Daniel P. Raymer: Books
Amazon.com: Stress Without Tears: A Primer on Aircraft Stress-analysis Requiring No Advanced Mathematics (9780961523411): Tom Rhodes: Books
(people on here have told me to get these)
Anyway the actual design starts here:
I am trying to keep this plane AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE! That means easier to build, cheaper and light weight. Also easier to design! This plane I am planning on it being around the same size as a cri cri, maybe a bit bigger or smaller if I can! I am 16 and I weigh just under 60kg right now.
The plane has one seat, and im aiming for something around 20hp to power it. On each side of the plane it has 2 girder sort of longerons that go from the front to the back and curve around the cockpit. These are made by having 2 wooden spars with a zigzag in between so it would be kind of like a lightweight plank. Please keep in mind pretty much everything on my design can be changed and will be as I learn more and find out what will work better. The wings have one big LE spar (maybe 1 for each wing meeting at the middle of the fuselage). They will run right through the fuselage for strength and so will the TE spars and I will probably make some way of disassembling them. The whole plane will be a typical wood construction but modernized a bit. Im not sure what the best way for me to do ribs will be but right now I just think out of wood but very basic (not ply ribs). About where the CoG should be on the wing it will have a strip of wood running along the bottom and maybe top of the wing for strength and for the under carriage/ struts I have planned which I hope wont put stress in the wrong places. The tail assembly is pretty much as basic as it can get. I dont really have any particular shape for them yet.
The seat is leaned back a bit and sort of sits between the leading and trailing edge spars. From the back of the seat at the top a bit of wood runs down to the bottom of where the vert stab starts on top of the fuse. Im thinking that if I make the LE of the vert stab 90 degrees to this bit it could work quite nicely. On the sides of this length (running from the seat to the end of the fuse) there are small bits attaching it to the longerons, forming a triangle. I will pretty much just make this is a decent strength structure which shouldn't be too hard because its a pretty strong shape already. Under the whole fuse there are 2 more longerons running from front to back and simple structure will hold these on. The whole thing will end up looking a bit like a kayak I think! Maybe I could name it the Skyak
When you sit in it your legs go over the LE spar down to the rudder pedals, which might be like bicycle pedals attached onto these longeron plank things, hanging down for your feet to go on. The engine would be at the very front and I might have the fuel tank just behind the engine but close to the CoG if I end up having the room. I just find it more simple than in the wings, which would probably be better. There probably would be room for it under or around the LE spar if not just in front of the panel. On top of the fuse running from the front to the start of the cock pit is a length of wood (or 2) going up on a slight angle so its high at the cockpit. Then somewhere in front of the cockpit is another length sticking out on an angle as part of the frame for a wind shield, that would be pretty straight forward I think! And the last thing I can think of is the under carriage is attached onto the longeron planks on each side, under the wing. They extend down and out quite a bit, and somewhere on them struts attach onto the wings for strength and to help hold its dihedral. I know about wash out and some form of that will be on there!
Things that I think are too early to think about are vortex generators. I don't know if they would be needed or wanted. But if this plane is a success I would be flying around travelling not too far and slow flying is something I like and landing in small areas etc. Im not into going that fast but a bit of speed is good when you are going places. I also had ideas of doing some photography, but I dont know if a not too big speed difference matters very much for that. I dont know alot but generally do you think I would get better fuel consumption without vortex generators as just a general small plane?
Please tell me what you think from my description! I will get pictures as fast as I can which should give a much better idea. 2 sketches are up now. They arnt great so im going to make some better ones tonight and post them tonight too hopefully.
Flying is addicting and im aiming to try get a scholarship for lessons at the end of this year which my club is running. They base it on interest mainly because they want more younger people to be involved with the club. I think I am the only person my age hanging around (apart from my friend who is also interested that I introduced) and I think I have a great chance of winning the scholarship! Im pretty excited about that.
Since then I have been on a few fly away with my local aeroclub and im getting in with the people there and learning alot. I even got a fly in a gyro for my 16th birthday which was pretty awesome! I have a tiny bit of stick time, just keeping the plane heading the right direction and at the right altitude and doing some turns. Ive seen a fair few airplanes now and ive had some work experience helping a guy build kits in his workshop! I havent got myself any books yet but im going to start with this; Simplified Aircraft Design for Homebuilders Amazon.com: Simplified Aircraft Design for Homebuilders (9780972239707): Daniel P Raymer Ph.D: Books
then probably:Amazon.com: Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach (Aiaa Education Series) (9781563472817): Daniel P. Raymer: Books
Amazon.com: Stress Without Tears: A Primer on Aircraft Stress-analysis Requiring No Advanced Mathematics (9780961523411): Tom Rhodes: Books
(people on here have told me to get these)
Anyway the actual design starts here:
I am trying to keep this plane AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE! That means easier to build, cheaper and light weight. Also easier to design! This plane I am planning on it being around the same size as a cri cri, maybe a bit bigger or smaller if I can! I am 16 and I weigh just under 60kg right now.
The plane has one seat, and im aiming for something around 20hp to power it. On each side of the plane it has 2 girder sort of longerons that go from the front to the back and curve around the cockpit. These are made by having 2 wooden spars with a zigzag in between so it would be kind of like a lightweight plank. Please keep in mind pretty much everything on my design can be changed and will be as I learn more and find out what will work better. The wings have one big LE spar (maybe 1 for each wing meeting at the middle of the fuselage). They will run right through the fuselage for strength and so will the TE spars and I will probably make some way of disassembling them. The whole plane will be a typical wood construction but modernized a bit. Im not sure what the best way for me to do ribs will be but right now I just think out of wood but very basic (not ply ribs). About where the CoG should be on the wing it will have a strip of wood running along the bottom and maybe top of the wing for strength and for the under carriage/ struts I have planned which I hope wont put stress in the wrong places. The tail assembly is pretty much as basic as it can get. I dont really have any particular shape for them yet.
The seat is leaned back a bit and sort of sits between the leading and trailing edge spars. From the back of the seat at the top a bit of wood runs down to the bottom of where the vert stab starts on top of the fuse. Im thinking that if I make the LE of the vert stab 90 degrees to this bit it could work quite nicely. On the sides of this length (running from the seat to the end of the fuse) there are small bits attaching it to the longerons, forming a triangle. I will pretty much just make this is a decent strength structure which shouldn't be too hard because its a pretty strong shape already. Under the whole fuse there are 2 more longerons running from front to back and simple structure will hold these on. The whole thing will end up looking a bit like a kayak I think! Maybe I could name it the Skyak
When you sit in it your legs go over the LE spar down to the rudder pedals, which might be like bicycle pedals attached onto these longeron plank things, hanging down for your feet to go on. The engine would be at the very front and I might have the fuel tank just behind the engine but close to the CoG if I end up having the room. I just find it more simple than in the wings, which would probably be better. There probably would be room for it under or around the LE spar if not just in front of the panel. On top of the fuse running from the front to the start of the cock pit is a length of wood (or 2) going up on a slight angle so its high at the cockpit. Then somewhere in front of the cockpit is another length sticking out on an angle as part of the frame for a wind shield, that would be pretty straight forward I think! And the last thing I can think of is the under carriage is attached onto the longeron planks on each side, under the wing. They extend down and out quite a bit, and somewhere on them struts attach onto the wings for strength and to help hold its dihedral. I know about wash out and some form of that will be on there!
Things that I think are too early to think about are vortex generators. I don't know if they would be needed or wanted. But if this plane is a success I would be flying around travelling not too far and slow flying is something I like and landing in small areas etc. Im not into going that fast but a bit of speed is good when you are going places. I also had ideas of doing some photography, but I dont know if a not too big speed difference matters very much for that. I dont know alot but generally do you think I would get better fuel consumption without vortex generators as just a general small plane?
Please tell me what you think from my description! I will get pictures as fast as I can which should give a much better idea. 2 sketches are up now. They arnt great so im going to make some better ones tonight and post them tonight too hopefully.
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