Van's Air Force
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Wing rib lightening holes
- Thread starter airguy
- Start date
Out of assumption for seen RTW flights.... http://hotelwhiskeyaviation.com/new-page
Would be nice to have 2x that capacity, however with more space in lightening holes.
Would be nice to have 2x that capacity, however with more space in lightening holes.
What's in your mind Greg? More fuel?
Not really more fuel, but where it's located.
Currently I have plans-built mains, and converted outboard leading edges that carry 15.5 each side. For my comfort-level reserves on a RTW trip with the long overwater legs, I still need 400 pounds of fuel in the right seat. I was hoping to get that down into the low-300 pound range by moving some of that fuel elsewhere.
Bottom of the baggage area is one option - but I'm weight-limited in that area and it would cut into survival gear and luggage, so that's not a great option. I would prefer to keep it close to the wing spar for simple C/G change during flight as I burn it off, and with the outboard leading edges already occupied (and NAV antenna plus lights in the wingtip) the Hotel Whiskey ER tanks are not an option - but they do give me the idea of modifying that design to go into the lightening holes BEHIND the spar rather than in front. This will increase the bending moment of the wing root for ground ops, obviously, so that's a negative consideration to the idea, but it would considerably increase the ability to move around in the cockpit by putting a smaller bladder tank in the right seat. Another good option is the "hidden" smoke oil tanks that fit behind the seat back, which would give me 8 gallons each.
At this point I don't have a plan - I have fuzzy thoughts of an idea - I'm just exploring possibilities.
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