Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

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Terry Fishsauce
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Re: Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

Post by Terry Fishsauce »

OKW wrote:A brick will fly, given the right amount of energy.
That's true, if your brick's engine can generate enough thrust to overcome the gravity and drag acting on it. But judging by the Honda Dream engine or whatever it is powering this homemade contraption, our plucky aviator is not going to be able to rely on raw power. So the aerodynamics are critical factors - drag and lift. There are a few different types of drag and our plane looks like it's knackered on all counts (the wings actually look ok in this regard).

As for the wings generating enough lift though, there's no hope I'm afraid, we need some pretty efficient wings to offset our lack of power. Our plane's aspect ratio looks to be extremely small and we'd need it a lot higher (ie longer and thinner wings). Ideally we would aim for a similar ratio to a glider (say 30) but our plane looks to have been inspired more by something like an F15 with a 3 at best.

Is there any more info on this plane? What is the actual powerplant? Does it have any functioning flying controls? Is it possible those wings get longer with attachments? I wouldn't mind having a look.
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Re: Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

Post by beaker »

OKW wrote:A brick will fly, given the right amount of energy.
takes more than just energy especially if you going to ride it
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Re: Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

Post by OKW »

me, why me. I thought I ll have you strapped in to see how it goes first. I would not dare....and I dared enough in aviation :lol1:
beaker wrote:
OKW wrote:A brick will fly, given the right amount of energy.
takes more than just energy especially if you going to ride it
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Re: Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

Post by OKW »

jato is the quick fix here. Jet assisted takeoff with a few rockets attached under its arse. Have you seen the undercarriage it sports? With that tailwheel you will have to "fly it of the ground", as in no rotation. Here NASA recommends dropping right after unstick. This will also enhance landing performance and make it the perfect (STOL) short field takeoff and landing aircraft. No undercarriage does provide the best braking action. Also this revolutionary design negates any need for suspension normally required by more conservative and outdated types, and should be considered a leap into the future by any respected aviator.quote="Terry Fishsauce"]
OKW wrote:A brick will fly, given the right amount of energy.
That's true, if your brick's engine can generate enough thrust to overcome the gravity and drag acting on it. But judging by the Honda Dream engine or whatever it is powering this homemade contraption, our plucky aviator is not going to be able to rely on raw power. So the aerodynamics are critical factors - drag and lift. There are a few different types of drag and our plane looks like it's knackered on all counts (the wings actually look ok in this regard).

As for the wings generating enough lift though, there's no hope I'm afraid, we need some pretty efficient wings to offset our lack of power. Our plane's aspect ratio looks to be extremely small and we'd need it a lot higher (ie longer and thinner wings). Ideally we would aim for a similar ratio to a glider (say 30) but our plane looks to have been inspired more by something like an F15 with a 3 at best.

Is there any more info on this plane? What is the actual powerplant? Does it have any functioning flying controls? Is it possible those wings get longer with attachments? I wouldn't mind having a look.[/quote]
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Re: Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

Post by Terry Fishsauce »

OKW, although I mostly concur with your assessment, I do have a slight concern that the monocoque fuselage structure may be lacking the strength to use rocket boosters for a vertical/short takeoff.
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Re: Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

Post by Barang_doa_slae »

Just fit your standart camery engine and voila !
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Re: Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

Post by juansweetpotato »

"Can you spare some cutter for an old man?"
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Re: Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

Post by AE86 »

I wanted to bring this back up again because I found it interesting. One question though, where are the flight controls?
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Re: Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

Post by Anchor Moy »

Article from the CD on this fantastic guy following his crazy dream of building his own plane and flying. Go man go !

June 16, 2017
PREY CHHOR COMMUNE – People in this rural community have been asking themselves one question lately: Is Paen Long crazy?

For the past few months, Mr. Long, who owns a car repair shop on the side of the road about 100 km southeast of Phnom Penh, has been building, flying, and crashing his homemade airplane.

The main problem—pointed out by several aviation experts and freely acknowledged by Mr. Long himself—is that the 30-year-old doesn’t actually know how to build an airplane and has no previous flying experience.

He’s been using YouTube videos to piece the plane together. Which seems like a good idea except the videos are in English, a language Mr. Long never learned and doesn’t speak.

“I spent five years watching the videos,” he says in Khmer at his home. “I watched and watched the pictures, 10 to 20 times, to make sure I understood.”

The process has met with mixed success and it’s been a turbulent journey so far, not least because he crashed his first plane during its maiden flight in March. Some people might give up after such an inauspicious start, but not Mr. Long. Undaunted, he has already started building a second airplane in his shop.

Asked why he’s undertaking such a dangerous hobby, in the face of criticism and at great personal expense, Mr. Long’s response was simple: Why not?

“I’m just doing what I love. I don’t think I’m crazy,” he says. “Everything that’s been made, that people use, came from ‘crazy’ people.”

Mr. Long’s unusual obsession with flight first began when he was a boy. At 6, he saw a helicopter crash in his hometown in neighboring Svay Rieng province during the early 1990s. He rushed to the scene and, by the time he arrived, all that was left was a burned metal husk, charred clothes and the pilot’s remains.

“Ever since then, I wanted to fly,” Mr. Long says. “The people here rarely see planes, and they are so wonderful.”

He dropped out of school in the fifth grade, became a long-haul truck driver at the age of 12, then switched to auto mechanics and moved to Kompong Trabek district in Prey Veng province to open up his own shop...

Full article: https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/desp ... ne-131420/
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Re: Made in Cambodia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Homemade Airplane?

Post by vladimir »

I bereave I can fry
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