Hello Folks,

I would like to introduce myself to the community. I am an entrepreneur, mechanical designer, and inventor by heart. I have always been interested in flying but was never at a life position to act on it. I currently have about 20 hours in rotor craft and now switching to fixed wing.

I have been working over the last 6 months to design a new pusher stol with incredible views, all while easy to build. I am reaching out as I need some guidance on the build process, industry suppliers, exp. certifications, etc. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

I still have a bit of punch out to do (skins, controls, and such) but the heavy mechanical work is done. The air frame supports the Piper or Dakota wings and PA-18 other bits. In the pics below the full tail gear, landing gear, seats, etc. are all Piper 18. I was planning on picking up a Piper donor for the first build.

You may note the air frame itself is based on a tried and true Breezy design with a few basic mods for side by side flying and pusher configuration. Many thanks to Don VanRaay at VR3 who supplied the drawings for the air frame. The current engine mount is for a UL 520 swinging a 72 Warp 3 blade. This was all designed to minimize tubing bending and use flat sheets of plexiglass for ease of installation on the cabin. CGs looks good by the models. Both tri-gear and tail dragger configurations are available with only minor changes. Incidentally if the brackets were installed you could likely change the configuration at needed.

Thanks for any input in advance.

Did you choose the cub wings for widespread availability or to bypass the need to design a wing? If performance is a factor, you may find a better airfoil out there.

Squash,

As per the Breezy guys in Yakima, the air frame was designed to accommodate Cub, Piper, or Dakota wings as nearly bolt up. I presume that most of the compatibles could easily be mounted. My knowledge on wing types is much smaller than my understanding of airfoils in general.

Squash,

Any recommendations?

Take a look at Seeker Aircraft...Australian design. Many similar elements as you describe...helicopter views with fixed wing operating costs...I think they used purpose built wings and components but I know they considered 172 wings...this is a very useful aircraft but cost was a bit high and supports for municipal buyers seemed sketchy. Several were sold to Afghans as patrol aircraft....I guess it’s good to be slow when no one is shooting at you....I think the idea of using existing components is good if they are plentiful...easy of construction...the builder become Atherton integrator....that’s what Piper and Cessna did for years....good luck

I don't know if Alaska has any kind of exception to this, but anywhere else in the US, an aircraft built up from "donor" parts (especially intact wings or fuselage) cannot be certificated as Experimental - Amateur Built. Which means you would have to certify it as Experimental - R&D or Experimental - Exhibition, both of which have significant restrictions to the usage of the airplane. I, for one, would not have any interest in such a plane, as it would be of limited use and value to me.

But perhaps you meant that you were going to design/build wings for your design that are "just like" a Cub, or one of the other Piper aircraft?

This beast currently roams about the lands !!

https://youtu.be/lHR6bpupwJk

Mapleflt wrote:This beast currently roams about the lands !!

https://youtu.be/lHR6bpupwJk

Yep the double ender :
http://www.bushplanedesign.com/

but it never made it to a kit form - so if you can pick up the mantle and get a kit or plans build one - more power to you. Basically take all the work you think it's going to take - and multiply it by 50x. Best of luck, I hope you have the fortitude to see it through.

Great to know. These are the areas I have no knowledge. Does buying kit wing assemblies count for Exp. cert?

I have completed a full 3D model for the Piper wings. It certainly would be easier to buy a full wing kit but taking what I have and adding leading edge flaps and multi slat flaps is certainly possible.

If someone could help answer if wing kits like the Dakota would pass muster on the Exp that would be great.

Thx

Riblett airfoil comes to mind.

https://www.de-aircraft.com

There are others.

It seems other than 100 other things the 51% rule applies. Purchasing a donor for dissecting wont get you there. More work it is....

Looks like DE has a fair amount of kits. No doubt meets the 51 rule.

I think is pretty close to what you are talking about - this is a single engine version of the double ender - the Ascender

https://imgur.com/gallery/RfRAlmE

Is that side by side?

Is that side by side?

Sure looks like it. Nice bird. Lots of curved surfaces. Hard to build.

Got the custom Fowlers roughed in.

I have a few props on the wall from my ultralight pusher days, flying off of gravel bars can be hard on them! You may want to consider some sort of mudflap/fender setup to help prevent that, as it WILL happen sooner or later.

Looking at where your lift struts tie into the fuselage, I don't see enough structure there. Every plane I've had has a obvious load path at that point for max stress distribution. I'm surprised no one else has commented on that, but maybe I'm missing something.

Hard to beat what's, already out there https://vimeo.com/378603618