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Old June 15th 18, 09:14 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Bob Kuykendall
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Default New low budget two seater

On Friday, June 15, 2018 at 12:26:35 PM UTC-7, Paul Agnew wrote:
Meanwhile, the jigs for the Peregrine (Krosnos) are just sitting in shipping containers somewhere in Georgia. Could it be produced cost-effectively?


As I understand it, the problem with the Krosnos is that the engineering and certification are based on material specifications and thicknesses common in Europe but basically unobtanium here in the US. You'd need to either source all your materials from Europe, or re-engineer the aircraft to use US materials and thicknesses.

As a practical matter, it's not that hard. As a regulatory matter, however, it's a huge paperwork effort to go through every single blueprint and justify the change from some metric thickness to the nearest inch size. You basically have to re-engineer the entire structure.

Sourcing materials from Europe is a huge gamble. Here in the US there is a fairly fat supply pipeline supporting the homebuilt aircraft movement that currently produces the majority of all new general aviation aircraft. In Europe, the pipeline is a lot thinner and has a lot more friction and regulatory risk aversion, so it is likely that material costs would be a lot more.

Furthermore, given that prices for carbon fiber in terms of cost per unit mass and cost per unit stiffness are steadily declining, I think that carbon fiber is the way to go for any new design, even for a primary trainer.

Thanks, Bob K.