Pik-28 aircraft philosophy

This aircraft is made to be simple to build and enjoyable to fly, both now and in the years ahead. It uses existing power plants, and its energy system is designed so that liquid biofuels work with all components.

Carbon-neutral aircraft are possible for a DIY builder. A feasible solution is to use biofuel in a combustion engine. The resulting aircraft is usable if this requirement is taken into account from the start of the design process. Engines are not yet ready for this today, but if you select an engine that can use lead-free petrol, it may be ready for biofuel conversion.

All data, plans and drawings are provided with CERN Open Hardware License. See in more details in License.

Means to archive the easy built goal are:

• The aircraft is mostly made of wood, so each step in building it is simple and requires little effort or special skill.
• We use parts that are available or can be purchased.
• For each part, we start by brainstorming how to make it.
• Modern work methods purchased from subcontractors are used.
• The aircraft is designed so it can be built inside a 40-foot ocean container, except for the final assembly and earlier test assembly stages.
• The amount of work to be done is over 51%, which is the limit for do-it-yourself aircraft in most countries. Presently, our calculated level of amateur work is about 74%. So there are plenty of other items that can be bought without breaking the 51% limit. You can calculate your fabrication level using the supplied spreadsheet HTO-001..

Fun to fly

This is a bit harder to prove because we do not have anything available for a test flight. That would be the only real evidence you could trust.

Here are some of the design guidelines we used to achieve this:

• Experience from Pik-11 and Pik-27 is used. And the deficiencies found are corrected.
• Fast enough to visit distant locations.
• Enough fuel so you do not need to constantly check the fuel gauge.
• Light powerfull controls. It will do barrel rolls, but with a gentleman way. Not as competition aerobatic plane
• Roomy, with good economics.