Folding Wing Kit Aircraft?
K4ZDZ
Having gotten the "bug" to build an aircraft kit, I would appreciate
information from those who have built and REGULARLY transported their
folding wing aircraft to their airports for flying.
I've got a large workshop in which to build and store an aircraft but, are
the folding wing kits really as easy to transport and prepare for flight
as the brochures would have you believe? Since the airport I would use is
20 miles away and my realistic
use of the aircraft would be once/week or less, building a folding wing
kit has its appeal (besides, I can just sit in the cockpit at home all I
want!).
Is the trailering a one person affair or do you really need a "crew"?
Did you readily tire of the hassle, just leave the aircraft at the airport
and only transport it home for repairs and maintenance?
All replies appreciated!
Jim in Chuluota, FL
Lou Hinshaw
k4...@aol.com (K4ZDZ) wrote:
Until his injury accident (non-flying), John Connor of Tulsa used to
build a metal/foam wing plane that loaded by one person, was
trailerable on very light trailers, could be set up in minutes by one
person, and had folding wings a'La WW2 carrier planes that had the
wings fold to meet over the cockpit.
Called the Mitchell Wing T-10, and sisters, it is, last I heard, being
built in Kansas by a man named Paden, If memory serves.
So it can be done. Look at past Kitplanes ads for a wing
that folds back alongside the fuselage.
The one I saw up close looked very good.
Lou Hinshaw
Prolific inventor,
Lousy Salesman,
Incompetent businessman.
(Typical)
K'Honchu the killer
k4...@aol.com (K4ZDZ) wrote:
>
>Having gotten the "bug" to build an aircraft kit, I would appreciate
>information from those who have built and REGULARLY transported their
>folding wing aircraft to their airports for flying.
>
>I've got a large workshop in which to build and store an aircraft but, are
>the folding wing kits really as easy to transport and prepare for flight
>as the brochures would have you believe? Since the airport I would use is
>20 miles away and my realistic
>use of the aircraft would be once/week or less, building a folding wing
>kit has its appeal (besides, I can just sit in the cockpit at home all I
>want!).
>
>Is the trailering a one person affair or do you really need a "crew"?
>
>Did you readily tire of the hassle, just leave the aircraft at the airport
>and only transport it home for repairs and maintenance?
>
>All replies appreciated!
>
>Jim in Chuluota, FL
Jim,
A frequently overlooked design is the Dyke Delta.
IMPO the canopy / body junction is a little awkward and the plane
would look much more "cool" with a bubble canopy. (There is a guy who
built a smaller T-Tailed version called the "Dixie Delta" that you
have to see to believe.)
It is a retractable gear, fiberglass & tube construction, with
folding wings, and a much more substantial aircraft than many of the
other folding wing designs I have seen. (Substantial in elbow room and
seating.) Part of my criteria involves imagining a two and a half-hour
ride seated in the available seats. It's more fun if you can bring
friends or family along. To quote Micro$oft: "Where do you want to go
today?" If you're flying for the pure pleasure of slipping those
surely bonds there might be more economical gas-sipping designs. But,
if you want to really get somewhere...
Range: 650 statute miles, Vmax: 210mph, Vcruise: 175mph,
Wing Span: 22.18' (7'4" folded) Area: 177.5²' Length: 19',
Seats: 4, Empty Wt.: 1,100 lbs, Max Gross Wt: 1,950, Fuel: 47. Gal
Info. Packet $5.00
Dyke Aircraft
2840 Old Yellow Spring Road,
Fairborn, OH 45324
Tele: (513) 878-9832
For fuel frugal frequent flying fun, (Say that ten times fast) I
really like the looks (and specs.) of the Avid designs. Especially
the Mark IV Speedwing and Mark IV STOL. Comparable to the KitFoxes
with the exception that they have fold-back wings. There are gobs of
'em around so they must be doing something right.
(There are other fold-wing avids.)
Avid Aircraft, Inc.
P.O.Box 728
4823 Aviation Way
Caldwell, ID 83606
Tele:(208) 454-2600
Web: http://primenet.com/~avidair
Happy Flying...
Bentley Vaughan
bvau...@hiwaay.net
Gary T. Craze
Lou Hinshaw wrote:
>
> k4...@aol.com (K4ZDZ) wrote:
>
> >Having gotten the "bug" to build an aircraft kit, I would appreciate
> >information from those who have built and REGULARLY transported their
> >folding wing aircraft to their airports for flying.
> >
> >I've got a large workshop in which to build and store an aircraft but, are
> >the folding wing kits really as easy to transport and prepare for flight
> >as the brochures would have you believe? Since the airport I would use is
> >20 miles away and my realistic
> >use of the aircraft would be once/week or less, building a folding wing
> >kit has its appeal (besides, I can just sit in the cockpit at home all I
> >want!).
> >
> >Is the trailering a one person affair or do you really need a "crew"?
> >
> >Did you readily tire of the hassle, just leave the aircraft at the airport
> >and only transport it home for repairs and maintenance?
> >
> >All replies appreciated!
> >
> >Jim in Chuluota, FL
> build a metal/foam wing plane that loaded by one person, was
> trailerable on very light trailers, could be set up in minutes by one
> person, and had folding wings a'La WW2 carrier planes that had the
> wings fold to meet over the cockpit.
>
> Called the Mitchell Wing T-10, and sisters, it is, last I heard, being
> built in Kansas by a man named Paden, If memory serves.
>
> So it can be done. Look at past Kitplanes ads for a wing
> that folds back alongside the fuselage.
>
> The one I saw up close looked very good.
>
> Lou Hinshaw
>
> Prolific inventor,
> Lousy Salesman,
> Incompetent businessman.
> (Typical)
A buddy of mine trailers his Kitfox all the time by himself. Setup time
is about 10 minutes. Very simple process.
regards,
Gary
--
______________________________
Gary T. Craze
Visit the David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport page at
http://rampages.onramp.net/~gcraze/dwhhome/dwhhome.htm
Visit the Glass Cockpit at
http://rampages.onramp.net/~gcraze
REMOVE THE NOSPAM TO RETURN EMAIL !
gary....@compaq.com
281-514-7893
Compaq Computer Corp.
Enterprise Computing Group
Mainstream Servers
All comments contained herein do not necessarily represent the
views of Compaq Computer Corporation
David Munday
hon...@juno.com (K'Honchu the killer) wrote:
>Jim,
> A frequently overlooked design is the Dyke Delta.
>IMPO the canopy / body junction is a little awkward and the plane
>would look much more "cool" with a bubble canopy. (There is a guy who
>built a smaller T-Tailed version called the "Dixie Delta" that you
>have to see to believe.)
> It is a retractable gear, fiberglass & tube construction, with
>folding wings, and a much more substantial aircraft than many of the
>other folding wing designs I have seen.
It's designed to be towed on it's own gear. John Dyke spoke at our
chapter meeting a few months ago, and brought a set of plans that we
crawled all over when the talk was done. It's an interesting plane.
--
David Munday - mund...@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu
Webpage: http://www.nku.edu/~munday
PP-ASEL - Tandem Flybaby Builder - EAA-284 (Waynesville, OH)
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President;
I'm beginning to believe it -- Clarence Darrow
Joe Drelicharz
mund...@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (David Munday) wrote:
>hon...@juno.com (K'Honchu the killer) wrote:
>
>
>>Jim,
>> A frequently overlooked design is the Dyke Delta.
>>IMPO the canopy / body junction is a little awkward and the plane
>>would look much more "cool" with a bubble canopy. (There is a guy who
>>built a smaller T-Tailed version called the "Dixie Delta" that you
>>have to see to believe.)
>> It is a retractable gear, fiberglass & tube construction, with
>>folding wings, and a much more substantial aircraft than many of the
>>other folding wing designs I have seen.
>
>It's designed to be towed on it's own gear. John Dyke spoke at our
>chapter meeting a few months ago, and brought a set of plans that we
>crawled all over when the talk was done. It's an interesting plane.
>
>
Do you know there is a graphic of this ship?
Peace,
--------------
Joe Drelicharz
Mahan
> > Title: Re: Folding Wing Kit Aircraft?
> > Author: "Gary T. Craze" <gary....@NOSPAMcompaq.com>
> > Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 14:32:47 GMT
> >
There's also the Thorp T-18 derivative, the S-18. Is supposed to allow
quick folding and unfolding.
Fred in Florida
K'Honchu the killer
On Thu, 10 Jul 1997 18:17:59 GMT, joe...@ix.netcom.com (Joe
Drelicharz) wrote:
(Snip)
>>>Jim,
>>> A frequently overlooked design is the Dyke Delta.
>>>IMPO the canopy / body junction is a little awkward and the plane
>>>would look much more "cool" with a bubble canopy. (There is a guy who
>>>built a smaller T-Tailed version called the "Dixie Delta" that you
>>>have to see to believe.)
>>
>
>Do you know there is a graphic of this ship?
>
>Peace,
>--------------
>Joe Drelicharz
>
Joe,
I found some of my old past Oshkosh photos of the Dyke delta that I
can scan. (...Still looking for the Dixie Delta.)
I don't know an appropriate place to post 'em. I've seen some
complaints about huge binaries here. I think I can crop the pics down
to a coupla'-k.
Jes' say where you want 'em, an' I'll post another follow-up here
when they're done.
Bentley Vaughan
bvau...@hiwaay.net
(I had to abandon the honchu account on account of 80-90% spam.)
Jeremy Cowgar
What about the Volksplane, it's sopose to be able to be trailered on it's own
landing gear. Does anyone have any experience with that?
Jeremy Cowgar
New to Kit Building, Picking Plane Now.
Ronald James Wanttaja
In article <5qtfrb$q...@news.dx.net>, Jeremy Cowgar <jco...@juno.com> wrote:
>
>What about the Volksplane, it's sopose to be able to be trailered on it's own
>landing gear. Does anyone have any experience with that?
>
are tiny compared to the potholes, and the instrument panel and avionics
are generally located right above the main gear (on taildraggers).
This gives the expensive bits a rough ride. It's fine for occasional
use, but I wouldn't want to have to tow it to the airport for every
flight.
Folding wings are an advantage if they're like the Avid/Kitfox line; not
having to disconnect any control linkages or fuel lines. Otherwise,
folding linkages just give a convenient place to put the wing if you're
storing the plane in a tight spot. The Fly Baby "folding mechanism" is
a U-shaped bracket on the wing root and an aluminum tube running into
the fuselage with a stop bolt. Does make it possible (but not easy) for
one person to fold the wings, though.
Ron Wanttaja
want...@halcyon.com
http://www.halcyon.com/wanttaja/