BV141 Inspired Flying Wing

First up, I want to be clear that this little side project has been stopped as it's far too complex for what I'd like to achieve. Without further ado, here're a few snapshots of my BV141 inspired flying wing.

The BV141 is highly unique in that the pilot sits on a separate pod that's not obstructed by the prop, allowing great visibility in its proposed role as a recon aircraft. I thought this would be a fun to tackle, as such a wing design would provide many advantages:

• Plank-style wing would be very easy to construct from dollar tree foam/readi-board
• Tractor prop would be quieter than pusher
• Pod could be used for a camera with no obstruction from prop

This is where I decided not to continue it further:

• To connect the pod securely to the main fuselage (or wing), would require additional weight a traditional pusher prop wing won't require. Such additional complexity would mean more work in the event of the crash.
• Spinning blades of doom in the front. Nuff' said.
• Wetted area of the addition pod, would pose much more drag than a single in-line fuselage on a pusher wing.
• The flight characteristics of my kfm4 wing were superb, and I thought that it would be better to start from an already good design.

Even so, based on my estimates, it should be possible to get the design completed under 250g, and it'd be legal to fly here in Canada.

250g is truly a challenging limit to build to. Not only do we need to use lightweight components, we have to decide between spending the weight on batteries for longer flight times, or for payloads.

Lightweight aircraft also have difficulty flying in the wind. 

I'll be reverting to a pusher chevron wing design. It's long been my wish to have a wood fuselage alongside foam wings, and with my canard project stalled, this will be my new target.

Can't fly my designs anymore.

I've been extremely busy this year. I've been spending lots of time trying to making a life outside of work, and it's not easy. For some reason, I found it easier in Adelaide/Montreal/London, but here I'm finding it difficult to meet people who share similar interests. That, and I'm working loads of overtime, with only Sunday off. Blargh.

Anyways, with summer approaching, I thought it'd be good to complete and maiden my canard design, but I came across some new laws regarding drones that were just announced over a month ago:

First, I'm nonplussed to have my fixed wing designs lumped under the blanket term "drones". I'd like to think that drones are self-guided autonomous vehicles, and none of my aircraft can fly on their own!

But never mind that. First, there are restrictions for aircraft between 250g to 35kg. Aircraft that fall within this limit can't fly close than 75m from buildings, vehicles, vessels, animals(?!) and people/crowds.

Last I checked, dust mites and waterbears are considered animals. So basically, the entirety of Canada is off limits unless you are a commercial operator, or fly sub 250g aircraft?

The distance, 9km from an airport, heliport etc or anywhere that aircraft take-off and land, also basically says, you can't fly anywhere. I mean, where can't a helicopter land? And for places helis can't land, they _have_ got to be animals around. What are we supposed to do? Use a space-based microwave beam to remove all trace of life before we fly our models?

The final one, name/address/phone number on your drone is just asking for malicious people to cause issues. Violate any of these, and there's a 3k fine waiting in the wings.

There's more I can write, but I finished work just an hour ago, and I need to be in bed shortly before I have another long day tomorrow.

I'm not a hardcore rc hobbyist. I am simply someone who is innately passionate about learning about new interesting things, and I also love creating things. I'm very proud when I can create something of my own design that flies and works.

This law limits my ability to design, create and fly larger models. And this means, I won't be buying parts and components from my local hobby shop - or any hobby shop at all. It does not help the hobby businesses here in Canada.

 Hopefully, saner minds will come up with a better set of rules.

In the meantime, I'll be designing smaller sub-250g airframes when inspiration strikes.