Finishing up my Masters but I need data!

I'm about to start work on my capstone and I'd like to write about experimental aircraft. A lot of other work has been done on GA with a small emphasize on E-AB. I can look up data on aircraft but does anyone know how or where I could look up the top five or ten built and flying kits out there today? Anyone know where this list can be found? Thanks,

Nick

The Kitplanes Online Buyer's Guide lists "number completed" for over a thousand homebuilt designs - however, the data is provided by the manufacturuer of the kit or seller of plans, so you'll have to decide how accurate those numbers are.

You've asked this on a forum that can positively assert:
1. Vans
2. Not-vans
3. Not-vans
4. Not-vans
5. Not-vans

But yest, Kitplanes and EAA might be good sources.

You could provide your own fresh data by contacting every EAA chapter and ask them what mix they see in both building and flying. THAT would be interesting.

What in particular do you want to examine? Experimental a/c data is even worse than factory built a/c, as if that were possible. Don't count on doing meaningful statistics.

Former prof Ed, PhD (relevant to this topic)

Thanks for the responses guys, I figured we were #1 and I looked in last summers kitplanes mag that showed the kit completions, looks like it could work. I'm going to search the top completed kits in the FAA and NTSB databases and get the flight hours of the pilots involved in accidents. Then I'm going to see if there is any correlation between kits. If the data will allow I'm also interested in analyzing how much of the pilots total time was in the accident E-AB and if there is any correlation between the different kits on that as well.

Thanks again,

Nick

Nick,

You will need to look at the different models.

I suspect very few RV-9's, 10's, and 12's have been involved in buzzing and acro accidents. Also, you probably won't find very many RV-12 IMC accidents because most are flown as LSA's.

For a while the survival rate for a LancAir IV after an engine failure was zero but that wasn't the case for the two seaters.

Good luck putting your numbers together. I think the EAA had done something similar a few years back. You might want to check with them.

nbachert said:

I'm about to start work on my capstone and I'd like to write about experimental aircraft. A lot of other work has been done on GA with a small emphasize on E-AB. I can look up data on aircraft but does anyone know how or where I could look up the top five or ten built and flying kits out there today? Anyone know where this list can be found? Thanks,

Nick

Click to expand...

You need to talk to Ron Wanttaja. He has an extensive database of US-registered homebuilts and a very thorough database of accidents involving homebuilts as well (which has provided some interesting data regarding alternative engines and their failure modes).