homebuilt aircraft?

Question

Well i've decided to make it a one seater and was wondering if you could make an ultralight aircraft with a 650cc dirtibke engine or a 1000cc sportbike engine with a gear reduction for under $5000. It would be a solid body with a wingspan less than 8 feet (hopefully). can this be done? I was thinking maybe aluminum or tin body, or a wooden one would be fine.

btw i don't want a powered parachute because i was hoping i could carry a bag with me on the trip and i wanted to go at least 50 knots with a range of around 200 miles

Answer 1

Part 103 ULTRALIGHT VEHICLES
Subpart A -- General

Sec. 103.1

Applicability.

This part prescribes rules governing the operation of ultralight vehicles in the United States. For the purposes of this part, an ultralight vehicle is a vehicle that:
(a) Is used or intended to be used for manned operation in the air by a single occupant;
(b) Is used or intended to be used for recreation or sport purposes only;
(c) Does not have any U.S. or foreign airworthiness certificate; and
(d) If unpowered, weighs less than 155 pounds; or
(e) If powered:
(1) Weighs less than 254 pounds empty weight, excluding floats and safety devices which are intended for deployment in a potentially catastrophic situation;
(2) Has a fuel capacity not exceeding 5 U.S. gallons;
(3) Is not capable of more than 55 knots calibrated airspeed at full power in level flight; and
(4) Has a power-off stall speed which does not exceed 24 knots calibrated airspeed.

Answer 2

Just to let you know, an ultralight you are describing is very dangerous. You have to be aware of your stall speed and wind condition all the time. This aircraft has a very low stall speed - lets say 10 mph. Now let's say you are going 15 mph - If you get a tail wind gust over 10 mph, you are going straight down. You will lose all your lift. A lot of people get killed because of this. In fact, I've read ultralight flying has the highest death rate per participant than any other sport.

Answer 3

This cannot be done. It looks like I'm going to have to poke holes in your idea one hole at a time.

You cannot build something like this with a wing span of 8 feet. It all comes down to wingloading, and having an aspect ratio that can fly efficiently.

Let's assume you weigh 170 lbs, and let's assume that your homebuilt aircraft will weigh 300 lbs. That comes to 470 lbs. Most homebuilt "aircraft" of this type should not exceed 5 lbs/sqft. We're essentially talking about an ultralight here. You're not going to build a "solid body" aircraft. If you want a real homebuilt with a fuselage, it's going to take tens of thousands of dollars for the kit, and probably thousands of hours of labor to assemble and test it. But anyways, let's stay with the ultralight discussion. At 5 lbs/sq ft, that means you need 94 square feet of wing. If you want a low aspect ratio wing, let's just say 4, that means your wing needs to be almost 20 ft in span.

You're certainly not going to build anything with a "body" with this type of construction.

Your lack of basic understanding of aircraft design, flight, and mechanical design is very scary. If you're serious about this, you should buy a commercial ultralight kit and fly that for a few years before you start "designing" your own. You're going to get yourself killed.

Answer 4

Rocky Mountain High and Country Roads will be at your euology.


I never heard of a plane being made out of tin. Watching too many flight controller movies?


Do yourself a favor, if you must build a ultralight, buy a kit that is already engineered and tested. And buy an aviation motor!

Answer 5

John Denver might know???

I wouldn't fly anything recommended by the idiots on Y/A.

Answer 6

You can build it but I doubt you will get anywhere on it.

My former neighbor killed himself trying to fly and ulralight he made himself.

Answer 7

use an aircooled volkswagen motor...there are lots of plans and kits on ebay and the net.

Answer 8

they sell the parts cheap on ebay motors. here's a link to them

Answer 9

i think you should get a kit