Originally Posted by
speedracerntrixie
Although if you did the math you would soon realize that 4:1 power to weight really isn’t feasible.
I was being facetious.
I learned to fly with a 6 foot glider powered with a Cox .049 engine.
Lots of lift .not much power..but after a 3 minute engine run that plane would be 400 feet up.
Probably 12 ounces of thrust hauling 36 ounces of weight.....a 1 to 3 ratio..not real thrilling but I was thrilled to be learning basic flight control.
Next step was the same engine mounted on a lightly built "Old Timer" type design that probably weighed 1/2 as much as the glider but with 1/2 the wing area of the glider.
This plane was a great "second trainer" and it was obviously a lot more "sporty" with a power to weight ration of 12 ounces for the engine and probably 18 ozs for the plane..a 2 to 3 ratio or about 66%
Pretty amazing how much airplane can be flown with such limited power.
Here is an old design that fits the description..the Airtronics Q-TEE
