Ernest Christley wrote:
Montblack wrote:
Fix the high cost [Was:] High Cost of Sportplanes
"Any mass produced successful sport aircraft today ought to have
folding wings, whether it's trailered or if it goes in a community
hanger. There is a folding wing mod for the venerable Ercoupe (it's
STC'd or their equivalent in Canada, I'm not sure here) and five or six
of them will fit in the hangar footprint of a Skylane."


Some Ercoupes have (STC'd) folding wings?

http://www.roadabletimes.com/roadables-integ_bryan.html
(Saw this, for the first time, while hunting in Google)


Montblack

I'm building a Dyke Delta. It has foldable wings. I can testify that
foldable wings will NOT contribute to an affordable airplane.


In a production design, it will. It will add build labor, weight, and
manufacturing time but it will cut hangarage costs dramatically. Figure
a given amount of floor space can hold three times the airplanes,
minimum, if the wings fold.

It will also make interchangeable wings-a long set and a short
set-much more feasible. You start with one, buy the other later: in a
rental situation you could buy just a couple of extra sets for a good
sized fleet.

I spent MONTHS working on all the fittings and the exactness required is
astronomically even by aviation standards.

--
This is by far the hardest lesson about freedom. It goes against
instinct, and morality, to just sit back and watch people make
mistakes. We want to help them, which means control them and their
decisions, but in doing so we actually hurt them (and ourselves)."