About

According to Wikipedia, warblers are "fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous". I'm tired of homebuilt aircraft being marketed as aggressive birds of prey when many people simply want an aircraft that is safe, affordable, and fun to fly. The Warbler line of aircraft is intended to fill that role.

Construction

The Warbler will be an aluminum aircraft, fastened with Cherry pulled-rivets. This method is very typical across similar LSAs. It's very easy to work with.  CNCed tooling will substantially reduce build times. Even though this is a plans-built aircraft, it should be able to be completed in a reasonable amount of time. The goal is that a club centered around one will be able to build one per year.

Design

The Warbler will be a low-wing aircraft. It will utilize a Riblett GA30A-418 airfoil. It will have conventional flaps. It will be available with a tricycle or conventional undercarriage. It will be designed in SolidWorks OnShape. The goal is a 400-hour airframe construction time. The Design Manifesto is available here.

Model

The Warbler will be an open-source project. I have not decided on an open-source license yet. Each license has its own pros and cons. There is clearly no way of being an advocate in experimental aviation without putting oneself at severe legal risk. The solution is simply to dump the contents of your work into the public domain and accept that no money will be made from your work.

Competition

The LSA space is very crowded. I don't think anything fills my mission. Let's consider some examples.

• Zenith - Questionable structure (I have read Chris' book, and he rounds a lot). The "plans-build" option for the newer models is a misnomer. Custom extrusions make this difficult to impossible on the newer models.

• Sonex - I want an aircraft that is stable in pitch. Now, the B models are very expensive for what you get.

• Rans - An "affordable Rans" is an oxymoron.

• Vans - An "affordable Vans" is an oxymoron.

• Thatcher - The plans are terrible for the cost, and the support is seriously lacking.

Here we are. It's 2021 2022 2023 2024. We have CNC machines that are affordable enough for people to keep in their garages (2024 Update: The Maslow 4 will likely be my saving grace). Yet, the homebuilt community is still not pushing open-source. This is insane to me.

BDFL

The Benevolent Dictator For Life (BDFL) for this project is Connor Luckett. Connor decided to build a Thatcher CX4 while he was in graduate school, and he realized that building a well-designed aircraft from plans is not as hard as people like to claim it is. However, keeping good documentation is harder than most people think it is. Connor has a B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science with a minor in Physics from Austin College in Sherman, TX. He received his Sc.M. in Computer Science from Brown University. He is also an LSRM-A.