-but probably only if you are a mechanical geek.
Over the years I have designed quite a lot of different things with varying degrees of success. I’ll eventually get around to putting in some links to pages about things that I think may be of interest to other mechanical geeks.
The Klingon
HOWSAT – Hornet Outer Wing StAtic Test
The FINAL Test
Fatigue of Metal Aircraft
A different approach to engine cooling on a Sonex
This is only feasible if you have a lot of time to kill, which I did after the failure of my original Jabiru 3300 engine. Delivery of a new engine was going to take many months so I decided to try out a few ideas. I like the look of my heavily modified engine cowl and the best part is that it works well.
Testing ventilation air flow
I finally decided to get a bit more scientific and actually measure the difference in air flow when making new designs. Big surprise, holding my hand in the draft wasn’t quite as precise as measuring air speed with an anemometer. Who’d have thought?
How strong is a Sonex?
The answer is, pretty strong, but not as strong as you might think. Those massive wing spars do have a weak point. In the linked article I make the argument that overloading the Sonex (or any aircraft really) will reduce its fatigue life. What is the fatigue life of a Sonex? I have absolutely no idea, but it isn’t infinite and increasing the AUW of a Sonex by 100 pounds will more than halve the fatigue life.
Strength of rod-ends
Economical temperature sensing
Here’s something that isn’t mechanical at all, but you can’t be pure all the time.
Sonex Strength
My Sonex has experienced loads of up to 6.9g. Follow the above link to a copy of a post I put on the Sonex Builder’s forum.
Dynamic Propeller Balancing
Follow the above link to an article on the Sonex Australia site about dynamic prop balancing.
Motorcycle Madness
OK, nothing to do with aircraft, but quite a few people who fly also ride motorbikes so they might enjoy my potted history of my racing experience.
The demise of my engine
I had my first ever forced landing while taking my grandson for a flight. If you are going to have a forced landing, I highly recommend having it within gliding distance of a large airfield.
