RE: Scratch Built Jet
Heh... I don't mind rain. Andy’s comment is relevant and I understand the criticism.
As to “different”, I think all planes look pretty much the same because aerodynamics dictates the shape. If I had made a sleeker sport jet, I’m sure the comment would have been it looks just like a Bobcat except the fuse is a bit different. While this plane has similar moments to an Elan, everything was designed fresh. I’ve put the two side by side and they actually look very different.
From a personal standpoint, I can take pride that I’m flying a plane of my design. I enjoy the challange of both designing and flying planes. All of my existing planes except one (Velox) were built by me and over 50% are my own design.
My individual cost was still lower than what I can get a Elan and a can make myself as many copies/parts as I want, whenever I want. This not only benefits me, but offered a less expensive entry to turbines to several others in on the project that don’t yet fly jets. Our club has a strong turbine presence, getting stronger every year with 100 members, of which I think seven have waivers and fly on a regular basis in the summer, and it will soon be more with this project. Truth be told, I was going to buy an Elan as a goof off plane last October to add to my turbine fleet, but several skilled pilots in our club that wanted into jets didn’t have the financial means to start, which convinced me to start this group project instead.
I believe it is built stronger than Elan’s I’ve seen without significant weight penalty, especially the booms which are a light but very strong carbon/Kevlar sandwich, similar to how I make pattern ship sides. I’ve seen Elan’s split booms on landings. You’d have to destroy this plane and everything in it to split these booms.
The airfoil is fully symmetrical (GOE459) and thicker than boomerangs I’ve seen. Doesn’t seem to impact the top end noticeably. I can’t prove it, but I’m pretty sure it should provide superior low speed performance. It is the same airfoil I use on my pattern ships.
Tanks are in the wings, keeping fuel load in line with the center of mass, which makes the most sense to me.
Due to time, wings/stab and all control surfaces are currently all sheeted foam. That might be resolved this winter if I have the time to make more molds.
-John