I slept in this morning!
Still managed to spend 30 minutes in the barn though before work. I tapered two of the rudder ribs into an
airfoil shape. I searched around the
barn for something that had a nice arc to use as a template. Ended up using a wing rib! The arc on the rudder is the same arc on the
top trailing edge of the wing. Turned
out pretty nice.
An Airbike distributer in England was kind enough to send
me some of the Airbike pushrod control drawings (see attachment). This is closer to what I want to do with my
plane. The only drawback I can see from
leaving the Teleflex cables behind is I won't be able to have flaperons and I
won't be able to reflex the ailerons. I
gather the plane cruises a little faster with the Aileron's reflexed (they say
three or four knots faster). As far as
flap's go, it simply doesn't need them.
Most of the folks that fly these say that they never put the flaps
down. They create a lot of drag and
marginal lift and the design is already low mass and draggy to begin with, all
that is needed to slow down is to reduce power, even in a shallow dive.
It's kind of hard to get Airbike plans in the USA because
the damn lawyers have ruined it.
Personally I think it's a fine little aircraft and as safe as any of
them. I chose the Hi-Max because it's
more airplane-like with an enclosed cockpit etc, but the Airbike is awesome if
you like being out there in the slipstream.
I have no idea why Wayne Ison designed the Airbike with
pushrods and the Minimax with Teleflex cables.
I suspect it has something to do with ease of construction. The Airbike is welded tube and the Minimax
line is made of wood. For some reason a
lot of homebuilders shy from welding. I
personally enjoy welding and have the equipment, but wanted a wood airplane
this time. I just find wood is more
enjoyable to work with.
