The TYPE 2000 Aircraft.... a design by Roger Holman
PFA project number 270-12858

General.

During the design and development of Concorde we found that available "approved" materials for aircraft were unable in some cases to satisfy the demands of prolonged cruise at M=2+. In particular, lubricants and sealants had to be developed. This was assisted by the unusually long gestation period of the aircraft, but in some cases, the approval process being excessively long and costly forced a search for suitable materials in the commercial sector, where more rapid development had resulted from lack of "official constraints". These materials were then subjected to an accelerated laboratory test program and concurrent flight test evaluation.

Many of the engineers involved went on to address the problems of very large subsonic aircraft, and smaller supersonic military aircraft; reduction of weight by use of advanced composite materials to improve performance, and environmental effects such as noise and emissions.

On retirement, some of the engineers involved in these activities turned their attention to General Aviation. Visits to Friedrikshaven, Sun 'n Fun and Oshkosh revealed that American and continental engineers had avidly followed these developments where appropriate. In contrast, Cranfield and other PFA fly-in's revealed much less advance in the UK. With the exception of the CFM Shadow and the Europa, most of the post-war designs are delightfully rustic (fabric, plywood and cable-braced). The problem in this country seems to be our interpretation of Section S of the BCAR and the confusion resulting from attempts to override and/or integrate with JAR-VLA, which specifically states that home-constructed ultra-light and micolight aircraft are excluded from these requirements.

The design.

In designing the TYPE 2000 Aircraft, all of the above regulations were studied and used as an indication of good practice, but the introduction of suitable materials, components and techniques from areas of unrestrained development such as high performance sailing boats has been considered. A program of structural and materials testing has been carried out on both metallic and composite materials to demonstrate that they are "fit-for-purpose".

Impressed by some of the more beautiful American and European Continental designs in composite materials, an attempt has been made to design the lightest possible 2-seat aircraft which contains the occupants, rather than them 'sitting on' the exterior. By using a tapered and slightly swept wing, the smallest practical pusher powerplant and twin tailbooms, the design follows well established precedents with the intention of seeming graceful whilst not being too avant-guard.

Transport joints outboard of the twin tailbooms enable the aircraft to be stowed in a small garage and to be trailed behind a family car. For safety reasons, a propeller fairing is provided between the fuselage base and the tailboom sleeves at the wing trailing-edge. This feature provides additional rigid support for the wings, improves propeller efficiency, directs and enhances thrust, reduces lateral and flyover noise, prevents propeller damage in the event of over-rotation, and acts as a containment shield in the event of blade release.

Roger Holman
March 2000

October 2001:

Roger has been making good progress with his project.  The cockpit and control panel are now complete, and the tailplane and booms have been assembled.
Tasks to be completed include final assembly of the ailerons, and, once mounted on the outer wings, all control runs can be checked and tensioned.

The latest pictures are displayed below.

March 2003:

Having completed rigging the wings and booms, the airframe is pretty much complete now.  Static ground runs are now satisfactory having overcome initial problems with propeller pitch settings.  Work continues with running up and fine tuning the engine and fuel system, also the aileron controls have to be finalised by checking differential movements and performing load tests.

Roger has sent us a couple of current photographs which show the complete airframe assembled in the back garden, hopefully it will soon be trailered to a suitable airfield for taxi tests!