Airchair Update Page

by Mike Sandlin ................. Last Update: October 14, 2009 

A newly built Goat1-type motorglider is flying in Australia:
 




From the Airchair Group website, one posted message and the photo album "Goat 1 in Australia", I have some information on this, the first Australian Goat:
    
Hi all,Yeah your right i have done a few mod's to the G1.What a fun project this has been over the last twelve months. Firstly with the construction i've made the pod from 4130 c/moly to adapt a small engine
for testing.The wing is timber construction at 38ft and all the tail section is G4 as per drawings, most of the changes to the project were driven by the hi cost of 6061-t6 out here. So i fitted a twin 3w 20hp engine and 33in prop to see if it was enough power to get me off, well at two thirds power and two meters i was crusing at 27mph great fun. We then done a lot of tow-ups without the engine to get a bit of height and see how she handles, all went well. Had a mate take it up to 1500ft with the tug and done a few stalls etc, he said with the stick back it just droped the nose gently and recovered with no wing droping it was great.
 
Other photos show this plane being towed by a Dragonfly tug. Unlike a Goat1, I notice that the inboard wing trailing edge does not rotate (it seems to be built into the wing, like a Goat3).  The ailerons and the outboard sections of the wing panels have extensive shear bracing. The two wheel landing gear may just be a convenience for the pilot, I don't see any special need for it (do we need to taxi?). The top suface wing fabric is well done, it runs smoothly spanwise over the ribs without much bowing, even though the leading edge shell is not large. Overall it looks like a fine job, the first MotorGoat!

A newly built Goat1-type glider in Croatia:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7JNQHHf9-4
"Goat 1
9A
First start in September 2009.
Built by father & son & good friend with RC background
in city Slavonski Brod from locally available material
during last 4 years."
(Image, text, and video link from "Djani" in Zagreb/Croatia, via the Airchair Group, Yahoo forum)

Blog with more photos & videos:         http://www.goatglider.blogspot.com

 
Older Stuff:

Airchair Building Tools

caption

These are the hand tools I use to build an airchair. Toes for scale, not much used for building.

1. 18 inch steel ruler/straight edge form measurement & cutting guide (far left)
2. Unmounted hack saw blade for cutting Styrofoam (upper left)
3. Pop rivet tool, for 1/8 inch rivets  (under blade)
4. Hammer, for mechanical persuasion and to cut cable, see no. 26 below (below rivet tool)
5. Shaver, for rough shaping of Styrofoam (red)
6. Marker pen, for marking parts for drilling or trimming (below shaver)
7. Mechanical pencil, also for marking, but not considered good practice (below marker)
8. Hack saw, for cutting metal (below pencil)
9. Flat file, for shaping & smoothing metal edges (inside hack saw)
10. Half round file, small, for fine metal removal & smoothing (above flat file)
11. De-burring tool, for edge smoothing inside holes & slots, (above left toe)
12. Breaker bar with socket, for use with bolt-down cable swaging tool (top center)
13. Bolt-down cable swaging tool, for braided steel cable parts (below breaker bar)
14. Lighter for small flame, to melt ends of control line (to right of hammer)
15. Thread cutting die, to lengthen the threaded areas on bolts (below hammer)
16. Ratcheting socket wrench, for bolt installation (below head of hammer)
17. Two wrenches, for bolt installation (below socket wrench)
18. Tape measure, 12 foot, for measurements (below hack saw)
19. Scissors, for fabric cutting (top, to right of breaker bar)
20. Scissors sharpener, Fiskars mail order, get one! you need it! (next to scissors)
21. Needle nose pliers, for handling small parts (upper right)
22. Screw driver, for prying, poking, and pushing (below left of scissors)
23. Exacto saw blade, for fine cutting (right of screw driver)
24. Pliers, for grabbing stuck bolts, (far right center)
25. Chamfering tool, for smoothing edges of drilled holes (orange handle)
26. Wire cutting tool, cuts cable when jaws are struck with hammer (right of chamfering tool)
27. Assembly pins, elongated 3/16" quickpins, fabrication aids (below pliers)
28. Large cutting blade, for trimming fiberglass composite (above right toe)
29. Exacto blade, for fine cutting, balsa wood, etc. (lower right)

(Not shown: plastic spatula, sanding block, cups and mixing sticks, sandpaper, masking tape, silicon spray, clamps, stack of letter size drawing printouts, full scale rib drawing for rib bending by trial and error)
Tools not used that might be used: mitre box, drill press, tabletop grinding wheel.

The two electic tools I use are a power drill and a clothes iron (for fabric shrinking). The hand held drill is used for drilling all holes, for swashing around to enlarge holes, and as a side mill to make a row of holes into a slot.  Behind the iron you see a roll of uncertified aircraft fabric as it is sold in 62" width. In the foreground you see my 4" vise bolted to the corner of a work table.

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Way Older Stuff:

 
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYlgCs-4Wpo

This video shows the Pig (Primary Instruction Glider) doing what it was intended to do, serving as a simple roll launch or line tow trainer.

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