On Jun 16, 10:55 am, Le Chaud Lapin wrote:
On Jun 16, 10:08 am, "Ken S. Tucker" wrote:



On Jun 15, 9:16 pm, Le Chaud Lapin wrote:

On Jun 15, 6:34 pm, "Ken S. Tucker" wrote:

I concur with Dan on his last two posts, yeah that's
rare, but anyway...
I designed and tested (models) of a fantastic plane,
but when I chose between putting my wife and kids
in my fantastic plane or into a proven (safe) C172,
I chose the C172.
Here's why: If my machine cracked up due to a fault
in my design, and killed my family except for me, I'd
feel obligated to shoot myself, though I wouldn't.

That said, build your machine, put it threw it's paces
then take on a passenger, who knows what the tag
"EXPERMENTAL" means on the side of the A/C,
and have fun.
Ken-

Perhaps there will not be time in my life to see a design realized,
but if I were so fortunate, I would probably do just that...get in it
myself first.
But before doing that, I would let it fly itself over a desert, since
controls would be software anyway.

That sounds like a good idea.
A 1/4 scale is good, it can be powered by a cheap
chainsaw motor.
Do you have any general ideas for a lay-out yet?

-Le Chaud Lapin-

If you lived close by, I'd give you some help.

I live in Austin, Texas.

I'm currently near Vernon BC.

Some locals and I have been toying around with the idea of renting a
garage for experiments, though I think that is premature. I would
rather use something like SolidWorks to create a model to verify that
the aircraft would fly first. I do have a vague vision of the form-
factor of the aircraft, but as I see it, there are two crucial things
that need to be determined before putting both feet in the water:

1. The PAV I envision relies on an unproven, unorthodox hypothesis of
the origin of lift. I say concept because there is no weird science
involved like anti-gravity machines or anything like that, but if it
were to fly, it would require a reaxmination of the prevailing
theories. This is the hardest part, and I have been concentrating
only on the lift elements. A lot of math and a prototype of certain
control surfaces would help.

Perhaps a rotary wing?

2. The second problem is a problem that would be faced by any designer
of a PAV, and that is the power source. The PAV I envision would have
an extremely high reliance on electrial power (the lift engine itself
would rely on electrical power), and this is a hard problem.
Conventional fuels, in 2008, still appear to be the most pratical
approach, even if the fuel is only used to operate a generator.

Interesting, electrics have made good advances,
maybe regenerative braking during descent such
as some vehicles use while going down hill.
Solar cells on the top of the wings are proven
practical to keep the batteries up to full charge
while sitting on the ground.

As far as the engine, I cannot say what it is yet, but can say that it
doesn't use an ICE.

Mean, Green and Lean!
Ken