Cheap 2 seater anyone?

[Marty_d]

I reckon they've done some photoshopping around the canopy too. It could be a large R/C scale model, or just a modified picture of the full size one, but it is definitely not real.

 

What I can say for certain is that the propeller blades cast no shadow, the "grain" (for want of a better word) of the plane's image is different from the man and the light source for man and plane are on 2 different angles.

 

If you reckon this plane is real, I have a flying hotel to sell you....

 

 

 

[M61A1]

HITC, I really liked the Amethyst Falcon, I saw what it could do. I have to admit that I'm not an X-Air fan (aesthetically speaking). Is there a way that the engine could be mounted on the front, or does the lack of fwd structure prohibit that?

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

HITC, I really liked the Amethyst Falcon, I saw what it could do. I have to admit that I'm not an X-Air fan (aesthetically speaking). Is there a way that the engine could be mounted on the front, or does the lack of fwd structure prohibit that?

No, there's plenty of forward structure because it will have a strong nosewheel. But it would be too long to trailer sideways is one reason, note how the prop swings at the same position as the nose, just a small distance ahead of your feet, also, the landing gear would have to be much taller to give prop clearance, and that would make the whole thing too tall to fit into a shipping container, and also make it much harder to get into. Everything's a compromise, so look at the positives -

The forward visibility is way better by not having to look over the engine cowling, it's virtually the same vis as the Drifter. Short gear is strong gear, and more stable. The whole package is smaller without sacrificing internal space.

 

And with a nice (optional) cowling over the high mounted engine it can look quite nice, see the little Russian floatplane a couple of pages back.

 

 

[paulh]

Strong structure at the front is a great advantage to protect pilots feet/legs in a less than optimal arrival (crash) but weight always an issue.

 

Only been in an X-Air once and the cabin structure seemed pretty lightly built, but felt ok, the doors seemed very flimsy though. The engine and prop above wasn't really an issue whilst in flight, was too busy looking at the view and trying to overtake cows.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

A bit of plane building porn to inspire you

 

http://www.indysportaviation.com/Ben/index.html

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

I reckon they've done some photoshopping around the canopy too. It could be a large R/C scale model, or just a modified picture of the full size one, but it is definitely not real.What I can say for certain is that the propeller blades cast no shadow, the "grain" (for want of a better word) of the plane's image is different from the man and the light source for man and plane are on 2 different angles.

 

If you reckon this plane is real, I have a flying hotel to sell you....

 

It was an April Fools Day stunt to promote a hotel booking site - see http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/hotelicopter.asp

 

 

[M61A1]

A bit of plane building porn to inspire youhttp://www.indysportaviation.com/Ben/index.html

So, when will yours be flying again?

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Cut some new screens for the silver one this week.

 

 

[M61A1]

Cut some new screens for the silver one this week.

Rego application next week then?

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Probably not. I am running out of things that I think are dangerous and need fixing.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Some of you may be aware that I've had yet another run-in with the troll. The content has now been removed by the moderator so you can't see the stupidity of it but I've had enough. Those who have been members of other internet communities are probably aware that the major reason that very few fora survive for long or alternatively stop growing is because of the interference of a few who disrupt and derail subject-specific discussions. Inevitably those with a serious interest in the subject matter of a discussion give up or drift away and the jokers are left to post a bit more of their inane and off-topic rubbish and the thread falls apart.

 

Since I joined in the discussions here several clearly sensible and interested members have commented, both on forum and to me in PM that they and/or others have taken to reading the site only and don't post comments anymore because they're sick of being jumped on and their views ridiculed. Unfortunately, with the internet being such an impersonal form of communication it can be very easy to cause offence even if it is not intended and so to avoid doing so takes considerably more tact than it does when talking in person. Some people don't seem to be aware of that, or don't care, and it's noticeable here that on many threads there is only the regular small hard-core of participants so the views throughout the site tend to be quite one-eyed.

 

For the most part I've tried to keep my comments to threads in which I have a specific interest, namely simple aircraft design and construction, and the protection of the ultralight end of recreational flying. In respect of the former I started this thread and then I fell foul of the troll's baiting me on it regardless that I recognised it very early in the piece and tried to deal with it patiently and by explaining my purpose. It still ended in the troll spewing his vitriol uncontrollably and the moderator deleting his post. Yesterday he started his rubbish on the Heritage thread and that ended up in the troll providing me with a dissertation of his view of what my problem is. And in that case the moderator deleted a number of posts.

 

I quite accept that not everyone appeals to all others and that is well understood in most internet communities but if dispute does develop it is usually sorted out by the moderators. Here it has not been fixed and I am not interested in providing amusement for bored and frustrated pests, and having them regularly de-rail what should be an interesting conversation about developing a new plane for the low cost end of the ever more expensive hobby we all enjoy. So I won't be continuing this endeavour here. I've not decided where to take it yet.

 

I'm not yet certain of how it works on this site but Private Conversation could be an option. If I pay for the use of it I think I can have unlimited people involved in the conversation and I think that they would be there by invitation only so if they cause hassles then it should be easy enough to 'uninvite' them and they would no longer be able to view or comment on the proceedings. A form of self moderating by the OP I suppose. I'll check if that is the case.

 

If not then another option might be to start up a Yahoo group as the ones I have been involved with previously are all by application/invitation only.

 

Or perhaps someone can suggest other possibilities?

 

 

[Teckair]

Yep I was denied access to a thread and no reason was provided and I had no idea why it was done. End result is the over bearing loud person gets to make his point and there was no right of reply for me. What is the point in participating on a forum that does that?

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Start your own website and you are the editor, problem solved.Just go to wordpress.org or blogger.com and click create.

Thanks for the input and yes well that's a thought but wasn't really the intention. Then I'd have to direct people to it or chase traffic. I'm not interested in that, the point is that I can just get on and build it myself, I know where I'm headed with it. The reason for posting it up here, where there's already a bunch of interested people, was to try and get more people enthused with the whole design process and spread a bit of information about basic design and show how simple it can be. Perhaps get more people into building from scratch or kits as well, especially if they can see how some designs aren't as complex as others.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Yep I was denied access to a thread and no reason was provided and I had no idea why it was done. End result is the over bearing loud person gets to make his point and there was no right of reply for me. What is the point in participating on a forum that does that?

Teckair and I discussed this off forum the other day when I found I couldn't post on a thread and kept getting a message that I was FORBIDDEN - Access Denied, I didn't have the required permissions to post on that thread etc. Since then I have remembered Ian posting something about messages like that possibly being the result of some forbidden word being in the post. Well there weren't any bad words in my post but perhaps the software found some combination of letters that gave offence. I asked the mod about that and he said he'd moved the thread and perhaps the software had some glitches associated with that which could account for it. Either way it's an unpleasant situation to be forcibly prevented from continuing a conversation that you're halfway through.

 

 

[Pilot Pete]

A shame. Even though most of us are building,have built or fly totally different aircraft we can all benifit from educational posts on aircraft construction and the design critearia behind them. I for one am interested in your design and would like to follow the process no matter where you go.

 

On another note, the Mifyter is another biplane with a removable tail for transport.

 

Hey HITC..........dont let the barstards grind you down.

 

 

[Bandit12]

So I won't be continuing this endeavour here. I've not decided where to take it yet.

That's sad to hear HITC - I am sure that I am not the only one to read avidly without posting much. It's more of a learning experience for me.

 

Keep us posted if the discussion continues elsewhere, I'd love to keep following it.

 

Shane

 

 

[ahlocks]

I quite accept that not everyone appeals to all others and that is well understood in most internet communities but if dispute does develop it is usually sorted out by the moderators.

Some points of order Alan....

1. The 'troll' had been well behaved until YOU stirred him up.

 

2. Just because YOU have had a run in with someone and want them banned, doesn't mean it is going to happen.

 

Edit:

 

Come to think of it, He wasn't even interrupting this discussion. YOU went after him in another thread.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Some points of order Alan....1. The 'troll' had been well behaved until YOU stirred him up.

2. Just because YOU have had a run in with someone and want them banned, doesn't mean it is going to happen.

 

Edit:

 

Come to think of it, He wasn't even interrupting this discussion. YOU went after him in another thread.

I'm not very interested in arguing it but the discussions were related. His statement was that he could now buy three Drifters for $18K. I queried that and then asked him what point he was trying to make anyway having recently stated his total disdain for all people and any thing related to aviation. Mixing up the costs of wrecks for rebuild with the cost of airworthy or new aircraft, when his disruptions have been previously aimed at any attempt to improve new aircraft affordability were, to my way of thinking at least, deliberately provocative. Then he set off into two lengthy posts of abuse.

 

Anyway, I've had my say and I'll leave it at that.

 

Bandit, Pete.Bess, Tornado, Av8rr, Fox and Teckair, thanks for your interest in the project, I'll continue it for sure but have lost all interest in doing it on public forum, as Tornado says the good gets lost among the bad. And the odd bouts of negativity here and there are also very taxing from my viewpoint. I guided a similar thread elsewhere last year on the development of a FAR Part 103 single seater for the US market and it ended up being one of the most widely participated threads in the history of the site and many enduring friendships resulted, so I had high hopes for us and this one. Perhaps we were just lucky last time that after the first couple of days we got rid of the naysayers and from then on only saw enthusiastic participation from a wide range of people.

 

Thanks also to the other supporters who didn't post here since this, and so I didn't list you all, I'll let everyone know when I've decided on how to get a worthwhile discussion going again. At present I'm favouring a Private Conversation as I mentioned earlier. I've been on the XenForo site to get a better understanding of how private threads can be managed and it looks like the PC approach could work well. It would appear that what you do is to 'follow' anyone who you want to be able to join the conversation, then make the conversation 'open' but to 'members only'. I'll find out a bit more and then create a test conversation. The XenForo site seems to indicate that it would then have the same or similar functionality to the open threads but only be visible to members who were being 'followed'. I don't suppose anyone else knows more about this?

 

 

[skeptic36]

Alan,

 

If you change what you are doing, he wins !

 

I love your work. What you are doing is fostering aviation community spirit and should be supported. Please don't allow it to be derailed by the loud very minority. And come on the silent majority speak up and give this bloke some support

 

Regards Bill

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

A shame. Even though most of us are building,have built or fly totally different aircraft we can all benifit from educational posts on aircraft construction and the design critearia behind them. I for one am interested in your design and would like to follow the process no matter where you go.On another note, the Mifyter is another biplane with a removable tail for transport.

Hey HITC..........dont let the barstards grind you down.

Thanks. Nice plane the Mifyter, looks like fun. I went right through their website but couldn't find anything indicating a split fuselage. Pic here of it being trailered with wings removed -

 

 

 

[Admin]

HITC...You just need to start a Social Group for yourself in the Recreational Flying Social Groups section and you can control who can post in it etc.

 

For everyone else, the Recreational Flying Social Groups allow you to start a private or public social group for your aero club or school or for any special interest group that you like. You can control who becomes a member of the Social Group, you can assign other users to be moderators of the group and they are just like having your own private or public forum.

 

This site offers so much so please have a look and if there isn't something you want or something doesn't work the way you would like it to, simply start a private conversation with me

 

 

[silvercity]

Alan,If you change what you are doing, he wins !

I love your work. What you are doing is fostering aviation community spirit and should be supported. Please don't allow it to be derailed by the loud very minority. And come on the silent majority speak up and give this bloke some support

 

Regards Bill

I agree ... this has been an interesting thread and it would be a shame to remove it from public access. You have my support HITC and I'm sure there are many like me who don't comment on public forums very much but would be disappointed if the rants of a few were to deprive us of following your project.

 

 

[Pilot Pete]

Yes....I saw this a few years ago and they still don't show much detail.Alright if your a military buff with its looks.Your design is very appealing in its short snub nosed way.

 

 

[Pilot Pete]

Any updates on your design HITC

 

 

[Bandit12]

We are waiting for the invite to your new social group to continue the discussion HITC!