Hi. I'm a new member of the forum, even though I have lurked from time to time in the past. I keep being drawn to biplanes and perhaps some gentle aerobatics as I seem to find spam cans not so interesting anymore. Also, with some health problem as I get older, flying under Light Sport rules looks more and more practical as a way to keep flying.
In looking at LSA biplanes, it appears at first that you have to choose between "high" performance with one seat such as an AS 1, Starduster SA-100 or SA-900 V-Star, or the infamous "Sybolt LSA" from this thread, http://www.biplaneforum.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=631; or two seats with "low" performance such as a Fisher Celebrity or a Daisy Mae biplane. Then, I noticed that the Acro Sport 2 has an advertised empty weight per designer of only 875 lbs. If licensed at the Light Sport Gross wt. of 1320 lbs., that would allow a useful load of 445 lbs, which is greater than Dave Murphy's Celebrity, which acccording to his website http://www.mybiplane.com/ has a useful load of only 438 lbs. as built.
So, the first question is, how hard is it to meet the AS 2 designers empty weight of 875 lbs.? The builders reports in the Acro Sport newsletters seem to show most examples coming in quite a bit heavier, but what if with care you could meet the designers goal? The second question would be, of course, the greater fuel burn of an 0-320 or 0-360 engine. Would it be practical, when carrying a passenger with a light load of fuel, to throttle back to say 50% power to get as much endurance for a fun, low and slow flight as the Celebrity can get with an 0-200 engine? Then the last question, of course, would be to keep the stall speed and the top speed within Light Sport limits, but this problem has apparently been solved for the previously mentioned Skybolt LSA, an aircraft which as originally designed is bigger and heavier than the AS 2.
It seems to me that if someone successfully met all of these challenges,he or she could have the ability to have "high" performance and aerobatics when flying solo with a good load of fuel, and alsobe ableto take a passenger for a short, but fun "low and slow" flight, all while staying within the Light Sport rules.Edited by: MarkinPNW
