Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I just took my newly carved Ninja 250 seat for a ride around the block. It's actually really good! I don't think the "butt-facing" parts of the seat need any more adjustment, aside from one edge being rounded down a little bit.
Now, it's just reducing the width of the forward section (which I guess would be the "thigh-facing" part), and doing the finish shaping to make it look purdy. I'm going to be done sooner than I thought. Better stock up on some more adhesive, top foam and vinyl.
Posted at 23:04 permanent link category: /motorcycle
So, I just had an interesting idea. Let me set it up for you.
The Fisher Celebrity biplane (the airplane I'm considering building) has three gas tanks. One is mounted between the passenger and the engine, and is the main tank. Two supplementary tanks are located in the upper wings, near the center.
I don't know how fuel management is normally accomplished, but I suspect it's done with shutoff valves -- you turn on the wing root tank's valve, and it recharges the main tank.
But what if that same fuel management were automatic? The idea is to use floats inside the main tank to cut off flow from the wing tanks, and open them up once the main tank drops below a certain level (say, half a tank). You could even hook up a switch to each float, and if either of them drops to the stop, it'd actuate the switch. Either switch turning on would set a flasher going in the cockpit to let you know you were running low on fuel.
That way, you'd fill all three tanks, and fly. The tanks automatically equalize the way you want, and when you get below a half main tank (probably 3 gallons remaining, or about an hour of flight), the flasher lights to let you know that you need to land and get more gas NOW. The circuit would be simple enough that a momentary switch in the cockpit could test the light to make sure it still flashes.
It's a very interesting idea. I've posted it over on homebuiltairplanes.com to see what the more experienced folks there think of it. Maybe it's already been built and used in many planes. I'm sure I'm not the first person to have thought of it. It's not without its faults (implementing it would be somewhat difficult, but not insurmountably so), but I'd put up with a longer build time if it significantly enhanced flight safety (and this idea would do just that).
Posted at 14:05 permanent link category: /aviation
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater