Light Aircraft Association

Dear All

Could somebody give me an update as to the status of the CX5?? has a full stress report been provided along with respective load testing?? Where is Francis up to in his decision making progress??

Cheers

Paul

CX4 or CX5?

I originally meant the CX4 but if there is information regarding the CX5 as well I would love to hear where it is up to.

Cheers

Paul

There is no complete CX5 yet. Two prototypes are still under construction. Until they are complete the will be no plans. One will be a tail dragger the other a trigear.
There are 3 CX4s under active construction in the UK. There will for now be no stress calculations as the stress engineer I was working with had to drop out due to medical reasons. I met Francis back in April this year to move things forward and he has agreed to take fleet hours into consideration. When we first approched the LAA with the CX4 project there was only one flying and had approx 40Hrs, now there are 25. in April there was only 16 with 1200hrs IIRC. So I would expect the magic 2500hrs without issues to be broken soon. There is still a lot of work to do, all three of us have what little spare time we have to build.

Hi Ian

Thanks for the comprehensive response. I have acquired a set of drawings from an unbuilt kit to get a handle on the complexity of the build and the level of detail in the drawings..........it looks like more than an 800 hour job on initial oversight.

The CX5 is really where I want to be at, do you know if there are huge differences between the 4 and 5 apart from length?? is it a completely different aircraft or have they been able to use the stock wings and principally the stock fuse with a stretch??

I must say I am surprised at not getting a stress engineer to complete the full analysis (in a semi positive way that is) it is always reassuring to have some critical numbers on some critical components.

How close are the UK ones to completion?? what has been the biggest challenge so far?? time, material availability, forming, riveting??

Cheers

Paul

Hi Paul,
Sorry for the delay.
Make sure your drawing are up-to-date. Dave T does not have a very good documentation control process. What is the Serial no? I can guide you through that anyway.

A CX4 has been built in under 500hrs, but I suspect you may be on the mark for most builders. You can get prefab parts to save a lot of time, but I would not go for the quick build modules yet.

The CX5 is based on the CX4 and there will be many common parts. Since the design is not finalised, I don't know how much is common. Initial report was thst there would be a lot in common, but I have doubts it will stay like that.

Regarding stress engineering reports. I would love to have one, however I cannot afford it. Unlike importing kit there is no way that I can get a return on my investment.

As for completion who knows? One is much more advanced than the others, but I suspect the latest to join the group will build fast. Me? lets put it this way it's being built with the few coppers I have left at the end of the month. So it will take time.
Marterals are easy to get, but pricy
Apart from one or two parts forming is straight forward
Riveting is easy
Time is my biggest issue, with work and other commitments

Well there certainly looks like great progress now as one is cleared to fly. Great to see a new type progressing.

Yes I too noticed that in this months magazine. It is a shame that the type hasn't achieved a bit more success in the uk. It would be great to hear a few details and maybe see a few pics?