Folding wings

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"CryptWolf" wrote

Most twins and some larger singles could handle the weight of
a motorcycle and perhaps even a passenger. Getting it through
the door might be a problem on many models.

There you go! Much better solution than an aircar, made of unobtanium!

Some of the small scooters are smaller, and lighter, which should help
loading singlehanded.

The way around the door size issue and the seats, ect, is to go
experimental. You can do pretty much as you please, modification wise. A
number of designs could handle the loading and weight requirements.

http://www.diblasi.com/

Paul

Don't laugh.

Anti Gravity has been demonstrated in the lab.

Long way from the market but remember when the transister first came
out and people said what can you do with that.

Big John
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On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 08:35:09 -0800, "aluckyguess" wrote:

Anti-Gravity ?
If there is a will there is a way. I think the only thing keeping it from
happening is the cost. There is no way to make it cost efficient at this
time.

"Big John" wrote in message
...
Don't laugh.

Anti Gravity has been demonstrated in the lab.

Long way from the market but remember when the transister first came
out and people said what can you do with that.

No, they didn't. By the time the transistor had been invented, vacuum tube
had already been proven VERY useful in a wide variety of applications. A
transistor is just a very compact vacuum tube (minus the empty space, of
course ), at least in terms of function.

But even if that had been the case, the issue with anti-gravity isn't that
people say "what can you do with that?" I think pretty much everyone can
see lots of applications for anti-gravity. The real problem is that,
unlike the transistor, any theoretical demonstration of anti-gravity has
been in a context with no hope of real-world application.

The only real problem with a roadable airplane is practicality. Even cost
isn't insurmountable, since plenty of people spend plenty of money on plenty
of luxuries. There's obviously a size point at which a roadable car would
work; after all, in the worst case you just build an airplane large enough
to carry a car (which has already been done, of course).

The practicality problem comes in with respect to the fact that even people
who spend lots of money on luxuries don't like spending more money to solve
a problem than they really need to. And no matter what you do, it will
"always" be less expensive to hire a limo at your destination than to fly an
airplane that can turn into a limo at your destination. ("Always" in
quotes because, who knows?, maybe limos will get REALLY expensive some day).

Pete

"Morgans" writes:


"CryptWolf" wrote

Most twins and some larger singles could handle the weight of
a motorcycle and perhaps even a passenger. Getting it through
the door might be a problem on many models.

There you go! Much better solution than an aircar, made of unobtanium!

http://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/2_ga...interior_3.jpg

--kyler

This one has been solved. Dedicated equipment is the best and most
convenient. I have enough trouble getting an airplane, however a rental
car is pretty easy.

If you are just commuting, leave a beater at the airport.

I would start with a backpack powered parachute and a bicycle and work
your way up.

Stuart

mindenpilot wrote:
OK, you have to humor me on this.
I'm not talking about anything unrealistic (like Moller's skycar, etc).
But what would prevent a design (even low performance/ultra light to start)
that would allow a pilot to fly into an airport, then fold up his wings and
cruise down surface streets at 45mph?

It doesn't sound that complex. I bet a homebuilder could do it with parts
laying around his garage.
The only serious issue I can think of is having a spinning prop on a city
street.
Even so, couldn't you "disengage" the prop and then couple the engine to the
mains somehow?
I realize that is a bit more complex and would mean some kind of
transmission.
I'm just throwing out ideas here.

It sure would be nice not to rent a car or get a taxi!
It also seems that there would be a MUCH larger interest in GA if people
could potentially commute this way.
For example, I would consider working in Reno and living in Minden if I
could fly into Reno, then commute to my work.

I'm serious about this, but I'm ready for the flames ;-)

Adam
N7966L
Beech Super III

("stuart" wrote)
But what would prevent a design (even low performance/ultra light to
start) that would allow a pilot to fly into an airport, then fold up his
wings and cruise down surface streets at 45mph?

I would start with the car - assuming not a motorcycle. What is the lightest
car you can build, that is street legal, will fit your mission and can
cruise at 50 mph? From there design your plane around THAT.

http://www.goldenwingsmuseum.com/Air...ero%20Car.html
http://www.goldenwingsmuseum.com/Photo's/Aero%20Car-2.jpg
At Golden Wings Museum: (ANE) Anoka-Blaine Airport, MN

Good luck.

Montblack

On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 18:14:33 -0800, "mindenpilot"
wrote:

Once more, I am not proposing anything pretty or elegant at first, just
something that will work.
Hell, a mini-MAX will work right now (aside from street-legal issues).
It will fly, the wings come off in 10 minutes, then you could taxi it.

Let's make it more elegant from there...

Motivation wise, you might consider an electric motor. Electric motors
have great torque all the way from the bottom so you could effectively
do away with a gearbox which would have been extra weight. For very
short distances, you could run it from the battery. Since you can't
afford the weight of a big battery pack, if you want to go a little
further, you would need to run the engine to keep it charged which
would mean you would need to be able to disconnect the prop. That
would either mean a clutch or perhaps removing the prop when you
remove the wings.

Something else that occurs to me is that the triangular arrangement of
the landing gear is (presumably) to somewhat absorb the impact of the
landing. Since this is not required on the road, you might want to be
able to widen the triangle to provide extra stability from a broader
wheelbase and a lower center of gravity. It might be possible to add
this without too much extra weight...

Rich

--
An animal so poor in spirit that he won't even fight on his own behalf
is already an evolutionary dead end; the best he can do for his breed
is crawl off and die, and not pass on his defective genes.
--R.A.Heinlein