ultimate long distance plane!

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Stuart
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re: ultimate long distance plane!

Post by Stuart » Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:49 am

The problem with lightweight planes is getting tossed around a lot. One of the things I've considered is building a high aspect ratio biplane, where you close the box ends. You end up with a shorter wing.

I think solar cells put ouy so little that they are a real stretch. Maybe some kind of hybrid.
I'm writing an automated airplane designer in java, useful later when you guys get ready to bolt a p-jet onto some wings

steve
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re: ultimate long distance plane!

Post by steve » Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:04 pm

I believe this is revelant to the discussion:
http://www.aerosonde.com/drawarticle/4

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marksteamnz
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re: ultimate long distance plane!

Post by marksteamnz » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:06 pm

It's been done.
http://tam.plannet21.com/
They crossed the Atlantic with a model aircraft on the fifth go. Amazing and inspiring effort.

Umm the one person plane? Chap called Lindbergh ring any bells?
http://www.charleslindbergh.com/
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Mark Stacey
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milisavljevic
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re: ultimate long distance plane!

Post by milisavljevic » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:56 pm

marksteamnz wrote:Umm the one person plane? Chap called Lindbergh ring any bells?
The name was mangled, but this quote from the thread's opening post should answer your questions well enough:
superhornet59 wrote:look at it this way, back a long time ago mr charles lindenberg crossed the atlantic.
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Stuart
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Re: re: ultimate long distance plane!

Post by Stuart » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:07 pm

superhornet59 wrote: a boxy wing plane wouldnt be as efficient in its lift/drag ration though.
Not necessarily true, what I am pointing out is different than your usual concept of the biplane, otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it.

Besides, after you've achieved your 60 foot wingspan, how floppy are those wings going to be? And how much reinforcing are you going to use to keep them from snapping? Unless you are Burt Rhutan with backing from Microsoft for exotic materials, I wouldn't reject advice until you've researched it a bit.
I'm writing an automated airplane designer in java, useful later when you guys get ready to bolt a p-jet onto some wings

marksteamnz
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Re: re: ultimate long distance plane!

Post by marksteamnz » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:02 am

superhornet59 wrote:on a gallon and a half of fuel!!! get out of here!!!

Hell, lets expand the discussion to another topic. what about a plane that carries one person?

i mean i cant fly it for 6 hours, its too long. hence the autopilot. how big of a plane would it have to be to fly across the atlantic (and more. i live in toronto and i want to go to like mid-europe with a few hundred miles to spare just in case). im 6 1 and i currently weigh 155lb , but lets assume by the time i build this id be like 200lb.
Appologies I thought you were being ironic as you had mentioned Lindbergh before, so I was bring ironic. (Note to self always remember Steve Martin in Roxanne)

Most resonably efficient Glassairs Lancairs etc 2 / 4 seat aircraft could fly the Atlantic with passengers replaced with tanks holding a similar weight of fuel. Check out the EAA site http://www.eaa.org/ for more info on lightweight aircraft, home built aircraft, etc that you can believe. By the way, designing and building an aircraft is not a trivial task. you would probably have to budget say 20 hours per week for quite a few years to end up with and aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_flight Scroll down to the 7-8th of May 1933 entry
Gives you a target.
Cheers
Mark Stacey
www.cncprototyping.co.nz

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