Structure: We designed and tested the entire structure of the DoubleEnder in 3D CAD. The airplane was built around safety, and even the fuselage was designed to absorb a maximum amount of impact force in the event of a mishap.
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Canopy: Making a perfect bubble canopy with no distortions, is a complicated endeavor. It was necessary to design the canopy in 3D CAD. Then a mold was created and CNC cut, from which we made the canopy.
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Wings: We have analyzed in CFD several different airfoils and we’ve test flown two different wing setups on the DoubleEnder. The USA35B and a modified version of the LS416.
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Flaps: We started with an extended chord plain flap, then moved on to test double slotted flaps, and fixed vane double slotted fowler flaps.
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Ailerons: We have analyzed and tested several different ailerons, ranging from plain ailerons, deep chord ailerons, and Frieze type ailerons. We are currently designing and testing further aileron designs.
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Spoilers: The spoilers are used to assist in roll control and are inter-connected with the ailerons. We have tested leading edge and trailing edge spoilers. We are currently testing our third iteration of spoilers, which are very effective.
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Slats: Even though the slats we started with worked great at slow speed, they provided too much drag in cruise. We are currently testing our third version of slats, which completely eliminate the cruise drag.
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Tail surfaces: As the aerodynamics of the wings were improved, it was necessary to improve the tail surfaces to match. We have tested 2 different rudders, and 4 different horizontal configurations. We are currently merging the qualities of each design into one.
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Belly Pod: In order to reduce drag and increase cruise speed we designed a belly pod that envelops part of the landing gear system. It stores 55 gallons of fuel, and has a cargo section in the front.
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Emergency Fuel Dump: We developed a fuel dump system on the belly pod. This allows all the fuel in the pod to be dumped in a matter of seconds, in case of an engine failure. This allows the pilot to get rid of 300 lbs of weight, as a last resort solution in order to increase single engine performance.
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Drag reduction: we analyzed the entire airplane in CFD in order to quantify the amount of drag that each element creates. This enabled us to decrease the overall drag of the airplane, which gave us better cruise speed, better fuel burn, and increased single-engine performance.
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Weight reduction: we have evaluated many different options in order to reduce the weight of the aircraft. This includes the use of titanium, magnesium and carbon fibre. Another big weight saver was the use of Oratex 6000 fabric. This is a relatively new fabric made in Germany, which saves about half the weight over standard fabric processes. Out of all the weight savings we have considered or evaluated, this is definitely one of the easiest and least expensive ways of saving weight.
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Cooling: A lot of work was spent designing the proper cooling system for our modified Rotax 914s. In such a tightly cowled installation, the location, placement and sizes of cooling intake and outlets are crucial.
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