|
Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch," from plans, or from assembly kits.〔Armstrong, Kenneth: ''Choosing Your Homebuilt - the one you will finish and fly! Second Edition'', pages 39-52. Butterfield Press, 1993. ISBN 0-932579-26-4〕〔Peter M Bowers: ''Guide to Homebuilts - Ninth Edition''. TAB Books, Blue Ridge Summit PA, 1984. ISBN 0-8306-2364-7〕 ==Overview== In the United States, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand, homebuilt aircraft may be licensed Experimental under FAA or similar local regulations. With some limitations, the builder(s) of the aircraft must have done it for their own education and recreation〔(Experimental Category Operating Amateur-built, Kit-built, or Light-sport Aircraft )〕 rather than for profit. In the US, the primary builder can also apply for a repairman's certificate for that airframe.〔Pratt, Jim, Aviation Safety Inspector, Manufacturing, FAA, (A Growing Trend! Experimental Aircraft Inspection )〕 The repairman's certificate allows the holder to perform and sign off on most of the maintenance, repairs, and inspections themselves.〔〔 Alberto Santos-Dumont was the first to offer for free construction plans, publishing drawings of its Demoiselle in the June 1910 edition of Popular Mechanics.〔Misegades, Kent (March 2013). "(European Designers of Homebuilt Aircraft )" EAA Newsletter. Retrieved 24 July 2015.〕 The first aircraft to be offered for sale as plans, rather than a completed airframe, was the Baby Ace in the late 1920s.〔Clark, Anders (5 October 2014). "(History of the Experimental Certificate )". Disciples of Flight. Retrieved 24 July 2015.〕 Homebuilt aircraft gained in popularity in the US in 1924 with the start of the National Air Races, held in Dayton, Ohio. These races required aircraft with useful loads of and engines of 80 cubic inches or less and as a consequence of the class limitations most were amateur-built. The years after Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight brought a peak of interest between 1929 and 1933. During this period many aircraft designers, builders and pilots were self-taught and the high accident rate brought public condemnation and increasing regulation to amateur-building. The resulting federal standards on design, engineering, stress analysis, use of aircraft-quality hardware and testing of aircraft brought an end to amateur building except in some specialized areas, such as racing. In 1946 Goodyear restarted the National Air Races, including a class for aircraft powered by 200 cubic inch and smaller engines. The midget racer class spread nationally in the US and this led to calls for acceptable standards to allow recreational use of amateur-built aircraft. By the mid-1950s both the US and Canada once again allowed amateur-built aircraft to specified standards and limitations.〔 Homebuilt aircraft are generally small, one to four-seat sportsplanes which employ simple methods of construction. Fabric-covered wood or metal frames and plywood are common in the aircraft structure, but increasingly, fiberglass and other composites as well as full aluminum construction techniques are being used, techniques first pioneered by Hugo Junkers as far back as the late World War I era. Engines are most often the same as, or similar to, the engines used in certified aircraft (such as Lycoming, Continental, Rotax, and Jabiru). A minority of homebuilts use converted automobile engines, with Volkswagen air-cooled flat-4s, Subaru-based liquid-cooled engines, Mazda Wankel and Chevrolet Corvair six-cylinder engines being most common. The use of automotive engines helps to reduce costs, but many builders prefer dedicated aircraft engines, which are perceived to have better performance and reliability. Other engines that have been used include chainsaw and motorcycle engines.〔〔 A combination of cost and litigation, especially in the mid-1980s era, discouraged general aviation manufacturers from introducing new designs and led to homebuilts outselling factory built aircraft by five to one. In 2003, the number of homebuilts produced in the USA exceeded the number produced by any single certified manufacturer. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Homebuilt aircraft」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|