From: dela@ee.rochester.edu (Del Armstrong)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.soaring,rec.aviation.homebuilt
Subject: Info on American Spirit glider kit.
Keywords: info-kit glider kit
Date: 18 Dec 92 22:45:23 GMT
Reply-To: dela@ee.rochester.edu (Del Armstrong)
Organization: University of Rochester - Dept of Electrical Engineering


I recently received the info kit on the American Spirit sailplane kit,
from Advanced Soaring Concepts (A.S.C.). As I promised in a previous
post, here's a bit more information. What I've done is type in most of
the text from the various parts of the info kit, along with
descriptions of the drawings. Unfortunately, I don't have time to
organize this, what you're getting is essentially a core dump of what
I got.

Any typos or other errors are mine. I'd encourage you to get your own
copy if you're interested in this plane, since this posting really
can't do justice to the drawings which are part of the info kit.

The info kit consists of 3 17"x22" sheets of drawings, a smaller sheet
with a single drawing, a two page letter and a glossy sheet with a few
photos. The video tape I saw in their original info pack wasn't
included. The info kit was free.

The first sheet shows three views of the plane - pretty much the same
drawings that they've been using for their ad in Soaring. Intermingled
with the drawings on all the sheets are bits of prose. This sheet
includes the following:

   "In the early stages of development it was decided that the American
   Spirit should represent a typical standard class ship, and not a
   radical new design. We did however feel that the typical standard
   class ship could be improved. The following items are some of the ways
   we have accomplished this.

   * Large wing access panels
   * Rounded spoiler openings
   * Turn down wing tips
   * Full sandwich construction
   * Aramid-fiber reinforced cockpit

   Our engineers have used state-of-the-art computer assisted design and
   finite element analysis to ensure precision parts and structural
   integrity through out the American Spirit."

The drawing shows a conventional looking T-tailed, midwing, fiberglass
glider, with a forward hinged canopy, and a retractable landing gear. The
stats provided are:

   Span: 49.2 ft.
   Aspect Ratio: 23.9
   Wing Area: 101.1 sq. ft.
   Weight: 475-525 lb.

The second sheet features a drawing showing an exploded view of the
composite parts, skins, and spar. These are the pre-molded parts that
form the fiberglass part of the kit.

The fuselage, including the vertical fin, is made up of two pieces, a
left and a right half. The rudder is also made up of a left and right
half. The rest of the surfaces are made of a top and bottom half. The
spars are pre-built.

Here is the prose from this sheet:

   "Control System

   The rudder is controlled via a cable system tensioned at the pedals.
   All other control systems and landing gear are push-rod driven. All
   the materials for the control systems and landing gear are included in
   the kit. 

   Control Surfaces

   All control surfaces are provided in halves and are simply bonded
   together.

   Cockpit

   The key word here is "big". The roomy cockpit has been designed around
   a 6'4", 260 lb individual, allowing large pilots true comfort in
   flight. The forward hinging canopy allows easy ingress and egress, and
   can be jettisoned in an emergency.  Here as through out the American
   Spirit, the dedication to increase safety is obvious. Instead of
   sitting in a thin fiberglass pan which offers little structural
   protection, you are seated in a "cockpit enclosure" fabricated from
   high strength aluminum core honeycomb. The outside walls of the
   cockpit are no less impressive. They are of sandwich construction and
   reinforced with aramid-fiber. While no cockpit can ever be considered
   "crash proof", the American Spirit certainly offers the most rugged
   cockpit available in sailplanes today.

   Wings

   The American Spirit wing has been designed for durability, performance,
   and ease of assembly. 
   The Spirit wing utilizes a proprietary surface coat that is highly
   resistant to ultra-violet radiation and cracking. It also features
   sandwich construction and carbon-fiber spars. You will note on the
   drawings that the wing tip is turned down so as to protect the aileron
   and wing during landing. Another A.S.C innovation is the rounded
   spoiler opening. This eliminates surface cracking found in other glass
   wings at the corners of the spoiler openings.

   The American Spirit airfoil was designed  with performance in mind and
   should yield a 42:1 or better L/D.

   The wing is shipped in two halves. The lower skin has an offset return
   flange that mates to the upper skin for indexing and bonding, and also
   has the lower spar-cap installed and has been pre-fitted to the shear
   web. The wing skin has the upper spar-cap and the shear-web already
   installed. It also has the spoiler opening molded in. The spar stub is
   also in integral part of the lower and upper skins.


   Fuselage

   Graceful lines and a large cockpit combine to make your American
   Spirit fuselage the epitome of function and form. The fuselage has
   full sandwich construction from nose to tail and of course, molded
   return flanges for indexing and bonding. The fuselage also includes a
   welded box frame which carries the wings and retractable landing gear
   loads. Bulkhead, tail banjo, equipment deck, and center line stiffener
   are fabricated from aluminum core honeycomb. The entire fuselage can
   be assembled with temporary fasteners prior to bonding so as to assure
   alignment and fit."

The third page shows the metal components in two drawings. The first
drawing (labeled "Isometric view of internal honeycomb parts") shows
one of the fuselage halves, with the metal components pieced together
in it. There's some structure for the tail, and then a vertical sheet
"stiffener" which runs from the tail to where the equipment shelf
(which is behind the landing gear) starts. There's a bulkhead there
followed by the equipment shelf (which is metal), followed by an area
set aside for the landing gear. Finally, there's more of the sheet
(which must be the aluminum honeycomb) which forms the floor and a
short side wall of the cockpit. Finally, there's a metal "nose
bulkhead" in the nose, which is where the tow hook attaches.

The other drawing is a side view, which shows most of the same
components as the first drawing, except the seat pan. It also shows
the 3 push-pull rods which make up the elevator control, along with
other bits or hardware and mounting points. Finally it features a
drawing of a hypothetical 6'4" pilot.

This sheet only has one box of prose: 

   "When your American Spirit arrives and you open the crate, the
   adventure begins. Inside you will find just about everything necessary
   to complete your ship. All the outer surface parts are pre-molded and
   ready for trim and fitting. Epoxy adhesives and glass tape are neatly
   packaged and labeled. The metal box frame and landing gear is welded
   and ready to install. All bearings, bushings, nuts and bolts are
   included. The canopy is coated with a plastic film for shipping and is
   ready to trim and install to the canopy frame. A tow hook and wheel
   are included. Instruments included are: airspeed indicator, altimeter
   and mechanical variometer.  All materials are included for the control
   system along with templates and reamer for the bell cranks which you
   can easily cut out on any small band saw. Material for the bulkhead
   and stiffeners is also included along with templates for cutting.
   Instructions are simple and straight forward, and if you have any
   questions during assembly, our customer service personnel are here to
   guide you through and assembly procedures."

I won't type in the entire two page letter included, but I'll just
mention the highlights. The president (Tor Jensen) is a sailplane
pilot. Apparently he and the Vice-President of A.S.C. have been in the
composite business for awhile (30 years combined), and have worked
"designing and building complex innovative flying and driving
machines". They state that a first time builder will take 600-700
hours to build the plane. The finished plane requires painting, and
the paint is not included in the kit. The price is $14980.00, plus
$700 crating. They claim that shipping from the west to the east coast
should cost about $500. To order they require a 25% deposit, the kit
will ship within 60 days with 30 days warning on the exact ship date
(by which time you need to pay the remaining balance).

Also included was a dimensioned drawing for the elevator bellcrank.
It's a full size drawing, so you ought to be able to trace it onto the
stock.  It's fabricated from 1/4" plate 6061T6 aluminum.

The quality of the photos on the glossy sheet is pretty mediocre, but
they are in color.

Their address is:

   4730 Calle Quetzal
   Camarillo, CA 93012
   (805) 389-3434
   (805) 482-3366 FAX


Anyone else have more information about this kit?

	Del Armstrong

 Fast:      dela@ee.rochester.edu
 Slow:      rutgers!ur-valhalla!dela
 Slowest:   University of Rochester
            Dept. of Electrical Engineering
            Rochester, NY   14627

"What if there were no hypothetical situations?" -Jeff Sauder
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.soaring