Reminds me of Peter Sripol, a young dude whose built one primarily of styrofoam.
A man who built a plane on his Mumbai rooftop
41–50 of 57 posts
Re: A man who built a plane on his Mumbai rooftop
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you really get a functioning single prop with new or decent functionally usable used parts that is completely flyable and safe enough for regulations for under 100k?
In the US there is a category called "light sport aircraft" where there are some examples under $100k and many under $150k. https://generalaviationnews.com/2015/10/12/four-lsa-under-96...
Those are also prices for a new aircraft, used go lower.
Re: A man who built a plane on his Mumbai rooftop
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you ever seen a 150 in real life? There's nothing in the tailcone. If you had a battery and some avionics boxes in there, the you could probably move the tail a few feet towards the front to achieve the same moment. You simply can't guess the balance from a picture.
I learnt to fly in a 150. Yeah you can't tell exactly where the balance is from a picture and it depends where you've put the luggage and so on. Edit: Pausing the video at 32s it seems he's pulled back on the stick and managed to lift the front wheel a few inches https://youtu.be/1dLAmhDWEE8
He fully deflected the elevator and bounced the nose gear. With zero passengers. You put 6 adults and a co-pilot forward of the rear gear and I bet even bouncing will be out of the question. But we don't know if the ground speed was even representative of take off, so we're all just guessing here. With regard to cooling you can see an evolution here in the BBC photos: the first two images show no cooling ducts on either side of the TAC-003 engine compartment, but later images show several. I think geff82 is probably spot on about the design.
Re: A man who built a plane on his Mumbai rooftop
#44My very first question on reading the headline was, but how will you get it down Then I read the article: > Incredulous friends and family members asked the young pilot how he planned to bring the plane down once it was complete. Good to know I'm not alone! Great article.
Clearly you just fly it off. Trial by fire!
Re: A man who built a plane on his Mumbai rooftop
#45Isn't it true that in the US a homemade airplane is relatively easily registered without much hassle? Just remember reading about airplane kits and whatnot. I don't understand the aviation minister's concern that "he'll crash". Is it fear of embarrassing the country or actual concern for protecting the guy's life? Or would the registration imply endorsement of safety and put others' lives at risk? One of the biggest…
The US has about 33,000 currently registered homebuilt aircraft. There’s a lot of them! For some years when I was growing up, five homebuilt aircraft were built for every one traditionally manufactured general avaition aircraft. Most of these were built from kits or from plans, but there are still crazy people who make their own designs. My absolute favorite is the impossible Facetmobile[1] [1] http://www.facetmobile…
Just curious about your description of the Facetmobile as "impossible"... do you believe the video of it flying is faked?
Re: A man who built a plane on his Mumbai rooftop
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the US there is a category called "light sport aircraft" where there are some examples under $100k and many under $150k. https://generalaviationnews.com/2015/10/12/four-lsa-under-96...
Those are also prices for a new aircraft, used go lower.
Enough economies of scale to make this kind of business pretty much unviable? Maybe. I’m pretty sure you can still buy car kits from car kit companies that are more expensive than a good Honda because hobbyists enjoy building cars from “scratch”. It does decrease the market value of the proposition sitgnificantly though if you are only focused on hobbyists.
Re: A man who built a plane on his Mumbai rooftop
#47must be a typo. i dont believe he spent $800,000. Thats a lot of money in rupees
Re: A man who built a plane on his Mumbai rooftop
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those are also prices for a new aircraft, used go lower.
Enough economies of scale to make this kind of business pretty much unviable? Maybe. I’m pretty sure you can still buy car kits from car kit companies that are more expensive than a good Honda because hobbyists enjoy building cars from “scratch”. It does decrease the market value of the proposition sitgnificantly though if you are only focused on hobbyists.
$100k isn't particularly cheap for a DIY kit plane. Planes are cheap, it's everything else that's expensive.
Re: A man who built a plane on his Mumbai rooftop
#49Cant be too sure but there seems to be something off about the math in the dollar amount... The article says he spent $800,000. Lets assume the going rate of USD->INR is 1->60 (it is really 64 but I love easy math!) that would mean he spent 48mil Rupees making a plane, at that price he could have owned 16 or so cessna 172's. Just food for thought.
Re: A man who built a plane on his Mumbai rooftop
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US has about 33,000 currently registered homebuilt aircraft. There’s a lot of them! For some years when I was growing up, five homebuilt aircraft were built for every one traditionally manufactured general avaition aircraft. Most of these were built from kits or from plans, but there are still crazy people who make their own designs. My absolute favorite is the impossible Facetmobile[1] [1] http://www.facetmobile…
Just curious about your description of the Facetmobile as "impossible"... do you believe the video of it flying is faked?
Probably in reference to another faceted plane that basically was aerodynamically unstable, the F-117. Which was called the hopeless diamond.