Kuldeep Singh from India sent in these photos, with this note: “I made an ultralight aircraft at home from a bike engine.”
He notes that he would like to make his career in aviation, but his financial condition is “too weak” for pilot training. Any readers who may have suggestions for him can comment below.
The Facebook group ‘Trikes are us’ is for anyone interested in building and flying the ‘trike’ type of microlight/ultralight aircraft.
There is info on plans and kits; some free to download.
There is a bunch of experienced builders and pilots there to help.
facebook.com/groups/301776856833428/
“Trikes are us” is a Facebook group for anyone interested in building and flying the ‘trike’ type of microlight/ultralight aircraft.
There is info on plans and kits; some free to download.
There is a bunch of experienced builders and pilots there to help.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/301776856833428/
Kuldeep,
Having built powered hang gliders and trikes right from their early days, I admire your enthusiasm.
Did you do any calculations?
Make sure to do some load testing of the wings.
For flight testing, use a very long field (if you do not access to a runway)
On a calm day, do gentle hops. If all is well, try gentle turns.
Easy does it!
Job Chithalan, UK
How could he have designed a micro-light airplane without flying experience is quite amazing. It is not like building a RC model. Power to weight ratio, aerofoil shape and design, redundancy and safety all come in to work together.
Piloting experience hasnothing to do with design experience although it can influence design choices. Unfortunately, neither “designing” nor “building” by assembling parts makes the end product airworthy or safe. Just from the supplied pictures I see several structural deficiencies. On top of that are aerodynamic issues that could render the aircraft largely uncontrollable, especially by a very inexperienced pilot. Quite honestly, he would be better off doing it as a small RC model where you can get away with a lot due to small Reynolds numbers, high power to weight ratios, and not having your precious pink body in the crash.
“At the time (1909) the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation” – Igor Sikorsky
Learn form history and become a good, safe pilot. Not a statistic. Or better yet, you seem to have an engineering interest that would serve you well either as an engineer or maybe even a test pilot.
Don’t fly it any higher than you can jump.
If we really want to help this guy (and I don’t see why we shouldn’t), we ought to mail him some back issues of Sport Aviation and perhaps the plans for the Legal Eagle minimal ultralight. Everybody starts somewhere, and it couldn’t hurt to give him a nudge in the right direction.
He could start out with gliders, they are much less expensive to build and can teach basic stick and rudder, and that could give him a start towards a career in aviation.
As far as the water bottle gas tank, well, that’s just for ground tests, right? (I hope.)
Agreed, A for attitude and effort – keep at it!
I am not sure I would fly it but then again I am not sure I would have flown the first Wright Brothers contraption either. However you get an A for ingenuity and giving it a try.
Listen to Eric. Any sympathetic soul considering contributing to flight training would be better contributing to his aeronautical engineering education. However, I believe this is just a hoax, similar to the hoax played on “Jane’s All the Worlds Aircraft” by the Gustave Whitehead folks.
Carefully, very carefully, TOW that aircraft to your back yard. Then, never go closer to it than five feet. Seriously, an “A” for the right Attitude!