ToAirIsHuman
Member
Hello,
I have been reading these pages for quite some time. A few years ago I had an account and was full of ideas but I stopped posting because I ran into some difficult times. This is my first post with a new ID and continuing my project.
The best advice I ever read on getting started building an airplane was to build the wing ribs first.
So I did. I had a nice time with these. I used spruce, and brass nails and tite-bond wood glue from aircraft-spruce. The gussets are aircraft grade spruce. I built 22. The chord is 2.5 feet. What my idea is is to build a tandem wing WIG aircraft. This is a rough drawing of my idea.
I hope the drawing is clear. This is a very small airplane. The pilot will lay on his back on the backbone/fuselage of the plane between the forward and aft wing. There will be a light-weight non structural fairing that covers his/her body. The plane is powered by 2 ducted electric fans placed above the back wing behind the pilots helmet.
Question 1.
I have read as much as I can about tandem wing craft like the Rutan Quickie and Flying Flea. Is itsufficient to have the front wing bear 55-60% of the flight loads and have a 1-2 degree greater angle of attack. Would this be enough to insure the front wing stalls first and also that the wings auto stabilize in pitch?
Question 2.
I want to power the airplane with 2 electric ducted fans. The ones I have looked at are for large RC airplanes and produce 18lbs of thrust each. Is 36 pounds of thrust enough? I calculate a wing loading of about 3lbs and a very light weight for the airframe; maybe 100lbs. Since the airplane will be operating in ground effect, lift will be increased and drag reduced. Thats 36lbs of thrust on what I hope will be a sub 250lb take-off weight. A 0.15 thrust to weight ratio. A 747's thrust/weight is 0.26. Do I have enough power to get off the ground? And can I think of electric ducted fans thrust ratings as being equivalent to a tubojet?
I know this project is "pie in the sky". But I have been thinking about it for a while. I wanted to check with this community before I start the next step which will be to glue the wing ribs to the spar and build my Dtube leading edge and fabric cover the wings.
Thanks in advance to any responses and ideas. And don't worry about hurting my feelings if this idea just won't work, thats what I want to know too.
Disclaimer: I am only a FAA certified student glider pilot and have an engineering background but -not- in avionics.
I have been reading these pages for quite some time. A few years ago I had an account and was full of ideas but I stopped posting because I ran into some difficult times. This is my first post with a new ID and continuing my project.
The best advice I ever read on getting started building an airplane was to build the wing ribs first.
So I did. I had a nice time with these. I used spruce, and brass nails and tite-bond wood glue from aircraft-spruce. The gussets are aircraft grade spruce. I built 22. The chord is 2.5 feet. What my idea is is to build a tandem wing WIG aircraft. This is a rough drawing of my idea.
I hope the drawing is clear. This is a very small airplane. The pilot will lay on his back on the backbone/fuselage of the plane between the forward and aft wing. There will be a light-weight non structural fairing that covers his/her body. The plane is powered by 2 ducted electric fans placed above the back wing behind the pilots helmet.
Question 1.
I have read as much as I can about tandem wing craft like the Rutan Quickie and Flying Flea. Is itsufficient to have the front wing bear 55-60% of the flight loads and have a 1-2 degree greater angle of attack. Would this be enough to insure the front wing stalls first and also that the wings auto stabilize in pitch?
Question 2.
I want to power the airplane with 2 electric ducted fans. The ones I have looked at are for large RC airplanes and produce 18lbs of thrust each. Is 36 pounds of thrust enough? I calculate a wing loading of about 3lbs and a very light weight for the airframe; maybe 100lbs. Since the airplane will be operating in ground effect, lift will be increased and drag reduced. Thats 36lbs of thrust on what I hope will be a sub 250lb take-off weight. A 0.15 thrust to weight ratio. A 747's thrust/weight is 0.26. Do I have enough power to get off the ground? And can I think of electric ducted fans thrust ratings as being equivalent to a tubojet?
I know this project is "pie in the sky". But I have been thinking about it for a while. I wanted to check with this community before I start the next step which will be to glue the wing ribs to the spar and build my Dtube leading edge and fabric cover the wings.
Thanks in advance to any responses and ideas. And don't worry about hurting my feelings if this idea just won't work, thats what I want to know too.
Disclaimer: I am only a FAA certified student glider pilot and have an engineering background but -not- in avionics.
