thomasjorgensen
Member
Will the upcoming EVO 2 retract be a taildragger?
If you are interested there is a discussion group with more info. Contact Mark to join. As has been said he is ready to produce, but needs more committments. It is going to be a nice airplane. Composite wings and control surfaces are going to make it a lighter plane too. Real excited to see this thing come out!
I suspect retracting the gear will have a substantial effect considering the fixed gear airplanes are reaching 250mph+. At those speeds even a well faired fixed gear is creating substantial drag. Weight is the issue and it sounds like Mark is dealing with that too. I think you will be seeing performance approaching the sx-300 numbers. Alot depends on what airfoil sections are used too.
cm
It's a Google group.
[email protected]
I am not sure this is true, the fixed gear lancairs are not much slower than the retracts.
...It is going to be a nice airplane. Composite wings and control surfaces are going to make it a lighter plane too...
In the end, people will be attracted simply for the "cool" factor.
There are plenty of good reasons to build composite wings, but going for a lighter structure is not one of them. It is very tough to beat aluminum for weight.
There is NO WAY that adding retracts and composite wings is going to result in a lighter aircraft.
I too will be interested to see just how much performance the retracts add. Rockets are fast, but are still slow enough that retracts won't buy you a whole lot over a well done fixed gear. It's my suspicion that it will improve some, but would not be a favorable cost/benefit analysis. In the end, people will be attracted simply for the "cool" factor.