Wow, impressive

[Jerrytex]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlXRbtXlvSk

[HansLab]

absolutely! Thank you for sharing, it really is a remarkable film.

[n85ae]

That's awesome! Thanks for posting!

Jeff Hays

[SkyPirate]

I couldnt get volume on my phone, did they announce how much weight was used in the static test?

[t j]

We need one of our members from Germany to translate.

[Jerrytex]

I was curious about the weight too but I couldn't understand the language. Makes me feel better and is a real confidence builder knowing that I am flying under a wing that can handle that kind of a load!

[SkyPirate]

I speak some german but couldnt get any sound on my phone, i will watch it on the lap top later

[ako]

Hi, I'm one of the guys in the movie and I and my friend Hajo are the builders of this Kitfox Series 7 kit.
The load on the wings was 2072 kg. It's calculated for 3.8g at 1550 lbs MTOW. Such static tests are mandatory for each experimental aircraft in Germany.

Our builders log: http://kitfox7.blogspot.de
(Sorry, text in german language only, but pictures are international ;-))

Greetings from Germany
Andreas

[kmach]

Hi, I checked out the link using an ipad 4 . I was surprised to see a translate button up on top, pushed it and all was translated to english :)

[airlina]

Here is a photo from an old Skystar brochure that is even more impressive. The sign in front says " gross weight 1650lbs , 5.7 G's". This would be what is called the ultimate loading test which is 150 % above the normal 3.8 g that my plane is built for. I asked when at the factory way back then what occurred above the 5.7 g loading , and was told the tubing where the lift strut attaches to the fuse started to bend , but nothing snapped. One of the reasons I bought my Series 5 in '99. Bruce N199CL

[ako]

Thanks! TeamKitfoxfox.com is a great community. We learned a lot from you guys!

Andreas

[kmach]

Hi,
What part of Germany are you located ? I spent a couple years around Baden-Baden.:)

[ako]

Baden Baden is about 30 minutes by plane, and 1.5 hours by car.

Our airfield is EDRP Pirmasens, nearby Ramstein airbase.
There are a lot of former military airbases around used by US and canadian airforces as Zweibrücken, Baden Baden, Bitburg. Some other are closed now, but Ramstein is now bigger then ever before with a lot of US military cargo traffic. There are about 50000 US citizen living in our area.

[SkyPirate]

Ramstien , not to far from kiaserslautern, vogelweh, i spent a few months in landstuhl military hospital too :) i miss the food! Brauts cooked in beer with brochen with german mustard was my favorite for lunch and a barbarosa :)

[Esser]

I lived in a town called Krefeld in NRW for a few months. That was almost 10 years ago. I could only speak German when I was drinking and wasn't self conscious.

[ako]

Krefeld is 3 hours away by car, but Kaiserslautern and Landstuhl are very close. My company is located in Kaiserslautern, 30 minutes from my home and Ramstein Airbase is on my way beside the autobahn.

SkyPirate, that must be a long time ago - the Barbarossa brewery is out of business since mor then 20 years! ;-)

But no fear, we have enough other beers in Germany ;-)

Andreas

[Geowitz]

Just curious... So after you did this test what did you check on the airframe to insure there was no damage?

Edit: After checking the video again it looks like there really wasn't that much deformation. I'd fly in it!

[ako]

We don't have any other airframe ;-)
Everything was fine after unloading. Remember, the load was only 3.8g - that's the same load that every plane has to handle.
I'm shure that a Kitfox can handle much more!

Each builder in Germany has to do this tests with every experimental aircraft. We also tested engine mount and horizontal stab and all controls.
Also we need for each plane an aeronautical engineer that recalculate the static of the hole plane.

Our plane has to comply with JAR23, the code for standard aircraft.
We don't need to change anything of the kit!

Andreas

[SkyPirate]

Andreas,,it was a life time ago :)I miss allot of things in Germany like OKTOBERFEST~!! the autobahn.. rhine cruises ,..checking out the castles.it must be gorgeous flying over the castles

and the people..I made some great friends in Europe

[SkyPirate]

if you guys check out my photo album there is a similar test on 2 inch 6061T-6 tubing positive static load and a negative static load test after it was unloaded the spars went back to original configuration

[deejayel]

I grew up in Heidelberg, ppl at EDOR, IR at EDAR. Fun times. Wish I could go back and explore with the fox....

[SkyPirate]

Think we could fly
Our kitfox's to europe? East coast north east to greenland then skip over to europe? Lol wouldnt that be an adventure! Might have to borrow lindbergs fuel tanks :)

[SkyPirate]

Maybe catch a hop in a C5a to ramstien ? :)