karel adams wrote:

schreef in bericht
...
On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 15:29:22 -0000, "karel adams"
wrote:

Does this imply that a slow & sturdy aircraft does not
profit as much from the composite advantages
and hence can better be built from aluminium?
And that likewise a sleek fast tourer better be composite?

KA (learning slowly)

That sounds pretty right Karel. Real world laminar flow did not
really begin to happen until the advent of super smooth composite
airplanes. Laminar flow isn't something an airplane that does not
cruise faster than 130 kts or so needs.
(...)
So achieving laminar flow isn't easy. Getting attached laminar flow
is one of the big reason (as I understand it) why Burt Rutan designed
the rear engined EZ series of airplanes.

OK. If one wanted an easy-to-fly tourer, cruising at 120 kts or so,
wouldn't it be a nice compromise to build the wings in composite
and the fuselage in aluminium?
Are there homebuild desgins like this?

Karel


Corky Scott

Like the Glass Star? Steel tube frame, composite fuselage skins,
and stressed skin aluminum wing.

Richard