ORIGINAL: BMatthews
And I can just see you sitting in the cockpit of a 24 foot lil' Satan....
Interesting thought...
a little better climb rate (which was somewhat glacial with two on board on a hot day). Or it could also provide for a little more useable cargo weight if flown at the same AUW.
By myself a Cub strains on climb out on a hot day...
Still to be able to cut 15-20% off of the gross weight would be a major gain I would think...
A Rotax 912A gives you 80 Hp in a 122 lb package that is at least 50 lbs lighter than the original 65-80 Hp engine.
I would think that 20% would be a medium amount of weight reduction given todays alternatives. As far as covering are we talking about a covered airframe, or a stressed skin design?