Tail documents

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jchisolm
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:56 pm

Tail documents

Post by jchisolm »

I was looking back through the 3 ring binders of invoices, new letters and bankruptcy notices and came across these 2 documents that might be useful to folks new to the express. I'm not advocating for or against the CT. Full disclosure I'm building a CT model. Over the years there has been a lot of controversy about the tail. A lot of hours have been flown on CT models and a lot of hours have been flown on the low tail.

For reference, I found some initial Wheeler documents (circa 1988) that showed the initial design was for a 200hp (IO-360 variations) GW #2300 on 5.00-5 tires. They changed to 600-6 mains and increased the GW to #2663.

Again, not taking sides, not trying to start a war. Just info for those that might not know the history. Along with these 2 documents you should google for the Express CAFE article.

The "editail" file is not all that clear, I had to reduce the resolution to cut the file size down so I could upload. But I think it's still readable.
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editail.pdf
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wtitail.pdf
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Joe Chisolm
Express CT builder
Marble Falls, Texas
xprsav8r
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon May 08, 2017 5:23 pm

Re: Tail documents

Post by xprsav8r »

Thanks for sharing, Joe. Regardless of bias as it relates to the CT model, this information is enlightening towards understanding design philosophies and aerodynamic behaviours.
jchisolm
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:56 pm

Re: Tail documents

Post by jchisolm »

Just for fun I used the WB spread sheet for N49EX (Reinhard Metz's CT). I upped the GW in the sheet to 3200#. Using his real world numbers from the spread sheet:
Pilot/CoPilot both 250lb
2 passengers both 200lb
50 lb of luggage
300lb of fuel
and the plane is still within the cg range. It's almost the aft limit. Looking at N49EX performance spread sheet, 65% power, 6500ft, 192mph. Let's say you had a IO-540 burning 14 per hour, you have close to 3 hours of flight time. So that's 900lbs of people and 50 lbs of luggage on a 500 mile trip. If you landed with only 8gal left you are just past the aft cg limit. So remember to check your expected landing weight CG also.

Granted this is all just numbers in a spread sheet. Search for n49ex to find the posts with the links to the documents.
Joe Chisolm
Express CT builder
Marble Falls, Texas
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