Enter the Digital World!
Radical New Aircraft Design
High Performance Experimental Aircraft Kit designed specifically for a Fly By Wire Control System! Check it out!
Changing Aviation in a Digital World
FBW (Fly By Wire) systems are in almost every modern Commercial Transport Airliner on earth, starting with
the Concorde in 1976 and have proven themselves to be
the norm for the industry. In May 1972 the first
American airplane flew without mechanical
connections between pilot and control surfaces.
Military fighter jets have been taking advantage
of these system since the early 1970's,
almost 47 years ago. Time is NOW!
We are now pulling the FBW technology in to the
Experimental Aircraft sphere. Gone are the days of complex,
heavy and maintenance intensive mechanical systems.
With digital control it opens up abilities that
were not even possible before!
With the press of an ORANGE button, immediately
it commands the airplane via the computers
to go safely into straight and level flight.
Flight envelope protection, and having
on-screen guidance for best glide in power off,
best angle or rate of climb, and coordinated turns,
all are easily touch screen selectable by the pilot.
Having a Primary and Secondary ADAHRS
(Air Data Attitude Heading Reference System)
provides an even higher level of Reliability.
These keep the computers supplied with
critical flight data information! And include
attitude, airspeed, altitude, magnetic heading,
G-meter, turn rate, DG, VSI, AOA, AOS, OAT, and TAS.
(lots of acronyms in aviation...)
This Aircraft is Exciting and Brilliant!
Maximum Performance
Computers are inherently smarter and faster!
They posses the ability to make critical decisions
thousands of times a second for the optimum result!
Safety and reliability are of the upmost importance.
With one computer for half of the control surfaces, a
second one for the remainder, a third oversees those two.
A lightweight dedicated electrical power system for
each computer, and an emergency backup all
run on an Uninterruptible Power Supply.
There are 4 control surfaces each for Pitch, 4
for Yaw, 6 for Roll, all having redundancy for
tremendous overall safety!
Military grade side stick control grip with switches
and buttons used for the most common functions.
There is even a small joystick on the left ahead of the
throttle quadrant, always on direct law computer
control, it overrides the control outputs, and with
a twist to the knob controls the rudder position.
When not in motion, a Bluetooth connection (using
your smartphone) allows you to walk around the
aircraft and operate any and all control surfaces for
testing. Check full range of motion, torque or load
applied to the surface, including the engine
controls. This makes for a through control
surface pre-flight for the entire aircraft.
"State of the Art" high precision Hall Effect PWM
(Pulse Width Modulation) contact-less and
1,000,000 cycle rated devices send information
from Throttle, Mixture, and Rudder Pedal positions
as well as the back-up joystick to the computers.
The electrical systems and components all operate on
28 volts, keeping the amperage needed down to about
1/2 of a what a typical 14 volt system uses. Smaller wire
makes the entire electrical system much lighter.
Advancing the field of Aviation with proven technology!
Setting the pace!
F1 Eagle Aircraft Information
Single Place
Semi Conventional Gear
(Glider Style Taildragger)
VNE: 318 MPH
Empty Weight: 475 Lbs.
MTOW (Max Take Off Weight): 825 Lbs.
Wingspan: 25' (including Dr. CD's)
Wing Area: 70 Sq. Ft.
Wing loading @ MTOW: 11.8 Lbs. per Sq. Ft.
Wing maximum g-load: +8/-6
Wing aspect ratio: 10.3
Stall speed: 56 MPH
Length: 24'
Roll Rate: 270+ degrees per second (at 240 MPH)
Continental O-200 100HP stock @ 2750 RPM (race RPM = 4,500)
Fuel capacity: 6 gallons (in race configuration)
(Fuel is contained in a bladder tank located in the pylon and nacelle above the engine. Fuel shut-off is located above and behind the pilots shoulder on the firewall where it is easily accessible)
An all Carbon Fiber high aspect ratio natural laminar flow wing with Dr. CD's (aka: blended winglets or sharklets, Dr. CD is our name "Drag reduction Control Device" for our wingtip devices) I came up with the design in 2002 and have waited this long to finally get them on an airplane! They look very similar to the ones Airbus is using on their A350X-WB (as pictured) but, ours extend a smaller percentage behind the trailing edge, thus reducing the torsional effect.
Dr. CD's are constructed with a composite Kevlar®/Carbon Fiber Rod spar and S-glass (30% stronger than E-glass) on the vertical skins to accommodate the placement of concealed antennas. The Dr. CD's are removable for access as well as for wing removal/transportation.
The engine being placed below the wing makes for various engine options such as:
Rotax, Continental C-85, O-200 up to a Lycoming AEIO-360, and it doesn't affect CG much as it is very close to the CG. A Turbojet such as the PBS TJ150 Turbojet Engine
can be mounted on the pylon in place of the propeller and drive system to shed
weight and gain performance.
A high wing position and low horizontal stabilizer placement makes it
practically impossible for the tail to get blanketed at any angle of attack!
Ailerons, Tailerons, Rudders, and V-Tail Ruddervators are all 100% balanced.
The entire fuselage is in clean undisturbed air. An aerodynamic shaped pylon rises vertically above the wing to a small nacelle that contains the belt driven prop shaft. A 4-bladed pusher type composite propeller with a pressure recovery style spinner finishes off the clean nacelle. (with a normal pusher type aircraft the prop is in heavily disturbed turbulent air from going around the entire fuselage, over the wings, and across the tail surfaces before contacting the prop)
Almost the entire exterior surface of the aircraft is Carbon Fiber composite, the fuselage structure is pulled from 2 mold halves, wing and spar, tail surfaces, and the Dr. CD's (blended winglets) are also molded parts. There is a well re-enforced Carbon/Kevlar® cockpit, a Titanium /Carbon/Kevlar® composite firewall on forward side of the engine, a thin CarbonX® Aluminized Solutions layer above and aft of the engine to protect the integrity there too. Since there are no mechanical control connections (just electrical) aft of the engine, the fuselage detaches to provide access for maintenance/inspection and ground transportation.
Chromoly tubing is utilized for the engine mount, wing tie-in and main landing gear structure. The front of the engine (faces rearward) is fully supported so it needs less structure at the rear and shares the weight at the prop flange further reducing vibration. This design provides virtually no chance of the engine coming loose.
Titanium push-rods connect the actuators to the control surfaces. The battery compartments have temperature sensors, a smoke/fire detector is located in the engine compartment and voltage/amperage will be closely monitored too. An air powered starter will be used to lighten things up a bit more. The starter will engage on the lightweight flywheel at the front of the engine (O-200) and also contains the dual hall-effect crank sensors for the electronic ignition, hand propping is still possible.
There are no landing gear legs or wheel pants to cause drag! Glider style main gear, with dual tubeless 11.4 X 5.00 tires on Beringer wheels, (the hydraulic Beringer braking system has two dual piston calipers with a wheel static load rating of 1,518 lbs) Small retractable outriggers extend out of the bottom side of the fuselage for landing/taxi parking. A Retractable Tail-wheel with two 120 mm tailwheels extends out of the bottom of the fuselage behind the horizontal stabilizer and uses a lightweight air cylinder for actuation. Steering control is achieved with a servo/actuator. (a small lightweight, high pressure, composite air tank that is already onboard for the air starter will be used for the gear operation)
Cockpit height is 30.2" high, field of view horizontally is well over 300°, and from 10°
down over the nose to 90°+ upward. Large lightly tinted canopy gives unobstructed
views especially because the wing sits above and behind the reclined pilots seat.
Five point racing harnesses with a quick release restrain the pilot. Fresh air comes in
at the nose co-axially around the base of the air-data boom. Oxygen will supplement
the F-16 fighter pilot helmet and face mask to the pilot.
An all glass instrument and avionics panel display system controls and information.
Electronic Ignition lightens up things compared to having 2 heavy magnetos and gives
much better performance. Again this will have two entirely separate 28 volt power sources, with a redundant back-up and automatic power switching. Going electronic takes mechanical load off the engine and gives optimum performance for altitude, air density variations, and power settings.
Speaking of batteries... 6 lightweight and compact Li-Fe (Lithium Iron Phosphate)
batteries (3 sets of 2, and all 6 batteries weigh a total of 10.2 lbs!) a small lightweight 28 volt alternator will supply the needed power. The system acts as a UPS, (Uninterruptible Power Supply) if alternator power is lost, the batteries share power through a "Static Switch" with no interruption in power and has enough capacity for hours not minutes, and can sustain flight much longer than there is fuel onboard!
The routing of Power and Signal from each system follows separate paths and in critical areas such as the engine compartment are protected from fire by being encased in a fire resistant material. There is no bundling of wires/cables or going through the same bulkhead locations with different systems.
This aircraft is designed to meet minimums and surpass (where surpassing is allowed, such as safety) all of the International Formula One Air Racing rules!
Airbus A350X-WB Sharklets
F1 Eagle Tech info
Control System Information
Redundancy is an understatement!
There are 6 Ailerons, comprised of 2 Spoilerons, and 1 Flaperon
on each side, all 6 are individually driven. The outboard Spoilerons are driven with
a redundant actuator that has two separate 28 volt power sources and two different
computer signal sources. There are a total of 12 actuators for the control surfaces,
and 1 for Throttle, 1 for Mixture for a total of 14.
Having this configuration allows for some really cool things!
Computer controlled wing surfaces can have the outboard ailerons move less,
then more on the middle set and most on the inboard set for equivalent roll rate
performance. At low speeds it reduces the chance of tip stall. Why do we do this?
At high speeds it reduces wing twist/flex. Airliners lock the outboard ailerons
at cruise for this reason.
The UV6 Tail (6 tail control surfaces) is a unique design to take advantage of a safety
back-up. It has a conventional Horizontal Stabilizer with two Vertical Stabilizers in an
upside-down "U" with Two Tailerons on the Horizontal (Elevators that combine with
Aileron during a roll) located on each side of the fuselage and are driven with
separate control actuators. (most GA and Experimental aircraft have them
connected together and have a single bell-crank or control arm) The
Vertical Stabilizers have counter-balanced 25% Rudders
The Tailerons give redundancy to the Ruddervators, plus the ability to reduce a bit of
rolling resistance by splitting the roll from only the wing to sharing a small portion
with the axis of the plane during a roll. There are 60° "V" tail ruddervators 20" tall.
(aka: stabilators or all-moving control surfaces)
All-moving surfaces have twice the control effectiveness and provides better
performance at low air speeds. These are located on the top portion of the tail
above the Horizontal. Each one is driven by a separate actuator control.
This is designed to add redundancy as well as provide good
low speed (power on) handling and taxi control authority.
With computer control the Rudders can be mixed in during a roll or
bank to correct for adverse Yaw. Also control the pitching effect when
flaps are lowered can be corrected automatically with Elevator trim.
When the ground speed is below 15 MPH for better taxi control,
the rudders gain more degrees of movement for steering.
There is an easy way to slow the aircraft down! For a rapid descent
and/or approach or for reducing runway roll-out, by lowering
the flaperons and raising the spoilerons with a preset switch.
The Throttle actuator also features dual 28 volt power and signal feeds,
it has built it self testing too. It can return not only the shaft position info
in digital format, but several diagnostic data streams such as the level of the
supply voltage, current consumption and the temperature of the electronics
inside the case. These kinds of diagnostic capabilities help to determine
the health state of the actuators before, during, and after flights.
Another safety feature is the ability to manually or automatically disconnect from the main computers and go to Direct Law control. This is needed for Flight Testing and Emergency operation if any of the computers were to fail. Another feature is a small joystick with a twist control knob on top. This is always on Direct Law and controls all Roll actuators, all surfaces acting for Pitch, and twist motion for all Yaw controls. With a Bluetooth connection using your smart phone allows you to walk around the aircraft and operate any and all actuators for Testing full range of motion, torque or load applied to the surface, inspect in and around for full function on every surface on the aircraft including the engine compartment.
The fully redundant actuators were developed for applications with highest
reliability demands. The redundant – two channel – design of the actuator allows continuous operation even if one of the two channels has failed. All major components such as the electric motors, control and communication electronics, and power supply are available twice (redundant). The position sensor features a three channel design (for 2 out of 3 voting). All major components of the actuator are continuously diagnosed by the micro controllers of the actuator and its health status can be read via the redundant interface.
If a single Aileron were to fail, 5 others remain. If a single Taileron or Ruddervator were to
fail then 3 remain. If a single Rudder were to fail then 1 Rudder and 2 Ruddervators
(acting as Rudders) remain. All of the actuators operate on redundant battery power
so they are not dependent on the engine running or alternator power.
The only mechanical linkage/controls are between the Actuator and the control arm
for the surface. Throttle and Mixture also have local Actuators with minimal linkage.
Control pedals for the Rudder are Hall-Effect with no mechanical linkage/cables.
Conventional hydraulic braking is controlled by tipping the tops of the pedals.
If you watch most modern military jets take-off and land you will notice that all control
surfaces can and do move independently, like the F1 Eagle! First of its kind!
"If you build it, they will fly it!"
After the Reno Air Races in September 2002 we started doing research, compiling information and data of what is needed to build a Gold Class High Performance Racing Aircraft. Pouring over and over the International Formula One rules, analyzing all of the top aircraft in person and from pictures as well as race data. I talked with race pilots and crew chiefs in almost all classes and primarily consulting with a one of the world’s foremost airplane designers, Aeronautical Designer and Engineer, Martin Hollmann. I believe we have come up with the best possible result!
The F1 Eagle Aircraft!
Getting it from paper and CAD design will take a lot of work.
We are excited to start the building process very soon
and look forward to flight testing. Our expectations are to be testing
components and systems in 2020, in the air by the end of 2021, and racing in 2022.
Safety is number one and ranks highest in all aspects of the build!
Cockpit layout shows seat belt and pilot position, room for a backpack style parachute too!
Details
Additional Information
- Extending out ahead of the nose is an Air Data Boom. The AD boom relays Pitot, Static, AOA and AOS (Angle of Attack and Angle of Slip) to the ADAHRS computers. The boom when on the ground has the ability to flip aft 165° in to the cockpit, by opening the canopy for its transition. This greatly reduces potential damage (hangar rash) but mainly keeps the very delicate instrument safe and out of harms way and easy to transport, no disassembly needed.
- The instrument panel is clean and simple, a vertical card Compass (it weighs 0.6 lbs.) is the only mechanical instrument. (very negligible in weight is a card type carbon monoxide detector as well) Two small 7" TFT displays have the needed display information in addition to the EMS and ignition information displays.
- An engine analyzer and systems monitor is connected to all of the engine and fuel sensors and to the CHT's and EGT's through an EDC. (Engine Data Converter) This way no mechanical lines have to penetrate the firewall for a very clean installation. An onboard data logger provides engine info via a SD card post flight.
- The securely mounted engine has external bearings supporting the crankshaft output and a toothed pulley, a 98% efficient Kevlar reinforced belt drive goes up vertically through the pylon to the nacelle. In the nacelle is a pulley mounted on a prop shaft transferring power to the propeller. At the engine a pulley size change can "tune" the prop and/or engine for temp/density altitude changes such as needed for racing. Pulley sizes can be changed for an increase or reduction of prop speed related to the engine.
- This Amateur Built Experimental Kit Aircraft meets the 51% rule and is designed for day VFR use only! No engine, instruments, avionics, electronics, controls, or systems are included in this kit. A finished aircraft is expected to be valued between $90,000 - $175,000 range. The cost of Actuators, Controls, Computers, Electrical, and Avionics. Some of that cost is recovered in faster assembly time due to less mechanical systems. A basic Carbon Fiber air-frame and wing kit is expected to be $63,500
- This aircraft is not for beginner builders or pilots! Due to the complexity of systems and controls, expert guidance and installation of certain systems is highly recommended!
- The info listed on the website pages above is for reference only! Shown as how one could complete an aircraft and is up to you what path to take. I am sharing how I achieved my results.
About Us
Attended the Reno Air Races almost every year since 1980
Flown 25+ different aircraft with just over 850 landings.
Attended the Reno Air Races almost every year since 1980
My love of airplanes started when I was 10, it was a control line Cessna airplane with a Cox .049 engine. I was hooked!
Helped bring Real-Time
Telemetry into Air Racing in 2003
The original Telemetry unit had GPS track, and 4 inputs (Airspeed, Altitude, Oil Temp and Air Temp) the following year we had GPS track, and 8 inputs, it's history
My love of airplanes started when I was 10, it was a control line Cessna airplane with a Cox .049 engine. I was hooked!
Helped bring Real-Time
Telemetry into Air Racing in 2003
The original Telemetry unit had GPS track, and 4 inputs (Airspeed, Altitude, Oil Temp and Air Temp) the following year we had GPS track, and 8 inputs, it's history from there...
Now, some of the other race teams are utilizing almost 50 points of monitoring,
Wow, still amazes me to this day!
Air Racing start in 2001 - Owner, Pilot, and Crew Chief
Flown 25+ different aircraft with just over 850 landings.
Attended the Reno Air Races almost every year since 1980
Getting to be on the racing side of the Air Races is quite a great sensation! I got the opportunity to have casual conversations with many racing legends including
Hoot Gibson (Naval Officer, Aviator, Test Pilot, ATP, Space Shuttle Commander and Astronaut, (retired) and Aeronautical Engineer), Bob Hoover, Lyle Shelton,
Darryl Greenamye
Getting to be on the racing side of the Air Races is quite a great sensation! I got the opportunity to have casual conversations with many racing legends including
Hoot Gibson (Naval Officer, Aviator, Test Pilot, ATP, Space Shuttle Commander and Astronaut, (retired) and Aeronautical Engineer), Bob Hoover, Lyle Shelton,
Darryl Greenamyer and
Jon Sharp, 15 Reno Air Racing National Championships with International Formula One and Sport Class in
Nemesis and Nemesis NXT .
I asked Jon what few things make a race plane go fast... He replied "It's not a few big things, but 25 little things! And when you make a change to one, most times it affects several others"
Flown 25+ different aircraft with just over 850 landings.
Flown 25+ different aircraft with just over 850 landings.
Flown 25+ different aircraft with just over 850 landings.
I have also attended the Reno Pylon Racing Seminar 3 race years and have put over 50 laps on the race course.
One can never get enough flying, practice and testing time, when flying a race plane you need to be not just one step ahead of the plane but two or three!
For Racing, Flight Testing and Fun!