Seems these days there is a freeware or shareware app for just about everything. I’d like to just fiddle around and play with various designs.

I am not really here to design my own airplane, but would get a kick out of seeing how say winglets affect cruise, or increases in cabin width impact the drag of an airplane. Changes in wing area and aspect ratio can do all sorts of cool funky things . You get the drift.

Yeah, I can read about it, but messing with it on my computer would be awesome.

I am a ham radio operator and there are some amazing software packages out there for modeling antenna designs, forward gain on Yagi antennas, dishes for moon bounce, and more. I figure there has got to be something out there for aeronautical modeling as well. I know zip about aircraft design, but am fascinated by folks like Steve Wittman (Buttercup), and the Fieseler Flugzeugbau folks who cobbled together the WWII Storch.

So, is there any software out there that anyone could recommend that I could play with ?

Hmmm.. maybe I could model a Wright Flyer design with a couple of Rotax 914’s…you know, just to see if it has STOL potential. I am sure it would be the rage at say Johnson Creek… say, with a full glass panel and AirStreaks.

Get Xplane with if comes planemaker and you can tamper with stuff on there.

I am not just trying to "create" a plane, but actually observe the change in performance characteristics as one lengthens/shortens the wing, changes aspect ratios, adds leading edge slats, etc. Here is a neat compilation I found but I am not seeing any decent freeware/shareware.

http://www.pdas.com/aerosoft.html

One software package in fact has a version specifically targeted for for home builders.

http://www.oad.aero/

Unfortunately it is about $ 800