Affordable (advanced) aerobatic aircraft

A's

 

Affordable advanced aerobatic aircraft? How should this go together? Sure - to own an aircraft, to keep it flying is not a cheap hobby, even more if it's made for aerobatics. So, what makes it affordable?

 

Homebuilt

 

Made by yourself, you will know well every part and you are able to control the time you spend, the money, the features, the quality.

 

Size

 

Due to performance reasons, but also due to common shop space the size should be limited. That means probably for the moment - single seat monoplane with two piece wing.

 

Material

 

Our choices are: Wood (plywood), Steel tube, Aluminium, Composite or a mixture of these materials.

 

Wood is a very good material but convenient quality is rare and judging wood needs a lot of experience.

 

Steel tube construction is very common in this area. Many of the well known designs are made of grid type fuselage structures using steel tubes and they are very rigid. The penalty is that you need a welding equipment and welding itself is a challenge which you need to be trained and certified in some countries.

 

Composite is also a common material. Its strength and the capability of free forming makes it the favored material in todays aircraft manufactoring process. It needs special provisions. Temperature during processing is a major term. Also the making of molds and the handling of the resin is a special challenge.

 

My nomination is all metal aluminium. The gain is - ease of construction, availability of material, simple usual tools, reliable in strength, beginner friendly.

 

 Engine

 

This question is special. What we have is a market full of good engines - but made for serial aircrafts and industrial markets. There are not many attractive offerings in sight, that we can count on and at 'reasonable' price. Maybe thats the reason why some former designer came back to the good old Volkswagen boxer engines.

These engines are still available and a lot of conversion parts are offered to the market for a reasonable price. This chapter will have a particular attention.

 

Limits 

 

Let's 'keep our feets on the ground' ;-) What most of us really want is a fun machine, not a top competitor. Suitable for aerobatics, reliable and stable in operations, affordable in costs, docile (but not  to much), and forgiving in a wide manner. Not more? I think thats a lot.

Most of the pilots are not trained to withstand very high G-loads during aerobatic manoeuvers. Neither our engine will. Planing very high G-loads will increase the weight due to the strengthened airframe. That can't be our goal. Due to limited power (that we will obviously have) we have to limit the weight and hence that, the loads. What we should have is a backup when inaccuracies happens.