Guest
I am looking into various plans built airplane designs in the experimental category.
One airplane in particular has a lot of the right numbers for me as far as time to build, complexity and cost, but the stall speed is a bit higher than I like and the climb rate is lower than I like.
What I am considering is increasing the wingspan to solve both problems AND to boost its useful load slightly. The span is currently 18 1/2 feet (short) and I would stretch that to 20 1/2. The current wing loading is 13.7 lbs/ft^2 (1150 gross, 84 ft^2). At 93 ft^2 and 1225 gross, wing load would be 13.2lbs/ft^2
A) Would increasing the span work address the stall speed and rate of climb? (W/o getting quantitative)
B) What would be the structural considerations for the spar and wing structure to ably handle the additional weight of the wing and the load it carries in flight? Basically, is increasing the span as easy as adding two more ribs on each side, or would the spar need to be lengthened and the skin thickness need to be changed?
One airplane in particular has a lot of the right numbers for me as far as time to build, complexity and cost, but the stall speed is a bit higher than I like and the climb rate is lower than I like.
What I am considering is increasing the wingspan to solve both problems AND to boost its useful load slightly. The span is currently 18 1/2 feet (short) and I would stretch that to 20 1/2. The current wing loading is 13.7 lbs/ft^2 (1150 gross, 84 ft^2). At 93 ft^2 and 1225 gross, wing load would be 13.2lbs/ft^2
A) Would increasing the span work address the stall speed and rate of climb? (W/o getting quantitative)
B) What would be the structural considerations for the spar and wing structure to ably handle the additional weight of the wing and the load it carries in flight? Basically, is increasing the span as easy as adding two more ribs on each side, or would the spar need to be lengthened and the skin thickness need to be changed?