Perry Mick wrote:

I just received the November 2004 issue of Kitplanes. There is a very
good article about Light Sport Aircraft by Ron Wanttaja beginning on

     page15.

Definitions:
SLSA: Special Light Sport Aircraft (manufactured airplanes)
ELSA: Experimental Light Sport Aircraft

Starting at the end of page 19, it says:

"None of the FAA's normal aircraft- and engine-certification

regulations

are imposed, and SLSA manufacturers are not required to use

FAA-approved

components. But any component they use, such as an automobile engine
conversion, must comply to the consensus standard."

Later, under Experimental Light-Sport Aircraft:

"Unlike 'normal' homebuilts, ELSA kit buyers are not limited by the
major-portion (51%) rule. ELSA kit manufacturers are free to sell

their

products at whatever degree of completion they wish.
Of course, there's a catch. To qualify as an ELSA, an aircraft design
must first be certified as a SLSA. In other words, the manufacturer

must

design and manufacture a prototype to the consensus standard and

develop

all the flight and maintenance instructions the standards require."

So the bottom line is, if we want rotaries in LSA, these "consensus
standards" need to be written such that rotaries are inclusive.

On page 3:

"the FAA will not issue any LSA airworthiness certificates (Special

or

Experimental) until January 2005 at the absolute earliest.
Why? Consensus standards, which are being developed by industry
manufacturers under the guidance of the American Society for Testing

and

Materials (ASTM), are not yet finalized."

Sounds like we need to find out what the ASTM/industry manufacturers

are

up to/proposing for consensus standards? How can we find out who

these

industry manufacturers are?

Attached is a concept I'm considering, based on the Rutan Solitaire
sailplane wings and canard:
Min. Flying Speed ........................... 32 knots (LSA limit 45
knots)
Vne ........................................ 115 knots (LSA limit 120
knots level flight)
It would have a whole new fuselage and normal tricycle landing gear,
beefed up wings and canard for the higher gross weight. A 13B

ducted-fan

dualling as vertical stabilizer with rudders incorporated. If I can

make

a ducted fan go 135 knots I can make one limited to 120 knots. It

might

have to be single-place to meet the gross weight limit of 1320 lbs.

Perry

george wright wrote:

Perry, in looking at your proposed configuration it appears to me that

you

may have the potential to operate as a "three surface aircraft".  I say

this

because the duct ring is effectively a wrapped airfoil and will have
stability and control effects a la Raspet.  The moment arm between the

cg

and duct is relatively small which should limit pitch changes with

throttle,

but inclusion of some type of "trim" surface behind the rotor might

provide

sufficient compensation to include flaps on the wing - something you

don't

do on canards.

As most canardians know, flaps are not a problem on canard aircraft.  Burt
Ruttan has built quite a few, most notably the Grizzly.

The percived difficulty is that both lifting surfaces must be flapped.

Burt chose not to do this with his homebuilt designs as reduced landing
speed was not as valuable as a simple control system.
Eric Ruttan

The other thing you can do is use a variable-sweep canard and flaps on
the main wing, like the Starship.
The Solitaire is so slow anyway, it probably wouldn't need flaps. The
Solitaire sailplane just has a lift spoiler I think, like a lot of
sailplanes. Even the Long-EZ/VariEZ just have landing brake lift spoilers.

Perry

 
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