Lone Star Charles

I suspect that the incidence of the foreplane with regard to the incidence of the wing has some 'rules of thumb'; however, I do not know what they are. Most of my aircraft have been aerobatic and have had incidences of 0,0,0 for engine, wing, tail. I would almost think that a 0,0,0 might be a good starting point for experimentation of a canard design. Obviously, the incidence of the foreplane can be adjusted by using a control surface or by making the canard a fully flying design (i.e. stabilator) in order to achieve stability. I think that the most important design consideration would be one that does not have any non-recoverable instabilities - or - a design that would not permit those instabilities to occur. It is my understanding of Burt Rutan's design of the VariEZ is that the canard always stalled prior to the main wing, thus creating an inability of the main wing to stall. Seems like a good idea.

I would love to see a fully aerobatic canard design. One that could perform rolls, loops, and snaps - both upright and inverted. Wonder what the design considerations for that would be.