Robert Dingus does a lot of math.

The encouraging things you find on the internet. 

Robert Dingus on http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com came across a mostly built Affordaplane.  And he's doing the math to prove out the airframe.  I went far enough to determine "things were all messed up" and gave up.  He's carrying things right on to completion. 

His plane is disastrously over the Ultralight weight limit, but he's ok with that, and he knows it's not an ultralight.  All of the pictures i'm posting, are his.  And if you'd like to see the discussion of the airframe's engineering, it's available in the thread, here:

http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/aircraft-design-aerodynamics-new-technology/20852-square-tubing-strength-specs-where-do-i-find-them.html

It's quite the read.  And I do like the choice of pilot seat.  It's what I think is an aluminum lawn chair.  They're very, very light, so it's a good choice in this case. 

A couple affordaplane videos.

That's an Affordaplane with all the bells and whistles.. and a VW on the front.  That's probably a 450-500lb plane. 

Looks like Mr Harris is still flying his 0-84 powered Affordaplane too.  Someone should tell the camera owner to polish, or just clean his camera lens..

Another Affordaplane flys.

Well, I had this pointed out to me today. 

It looks like a decent build.  I'd have some worries about the wheels.  Those look like tadpole trike/wheel chair hubs with bike rims.  That plane is at least 400lbs, and then pilot, and fuel...   I wonder if the wheels will hold up.  That was a problem for early ultralights that were doing essentially the same thing. 

Well, Mr1rapid claims his plane is under 254lbs!  We might have "someone" who did it.  Congratulations. 

The Affordaplane is NOT an ultralight. 

I've tried, at length, to keep my personal thoughts on this plane out of it.  But, it certainly seems that this plane, in it's to plans form, will not fly as a US legal Ultralight. 

I'm open to other evidence, you can leave comments, or e-mail, and I"ll happily edit this post and put your material up instead. 

Roy brings us the fuselage weight!

For anyone who wants to know the weight of the fuselage MINUS the wheel assembly, all of it bolted and the wood insers in place, I ma speaking of plans up to drawing three, I weighed it on my calibrated scales as 69 lbs. This should be a good place to work from, I have not included the tail wheel, seats, floor boarding or anything except what you see on drawing three of the plans. (And built in strict accordance to the plans.)


-Roy

Affordaplane Crash Report: Terry Warren

The second one was Terry Warren. His aircraft is the second picture down on the
group homepage (His photo is no longer posted on the group homepage). He stalled
from about 50 feet up, pancaked onto the runway squashing the entire fuselage.
Once again... pilot error, aircraft totaled, and the pilot unhurt.