Flying on Your Own Wings
A Complete Guide to Understanding Light Airplane Design
by
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From the Introduction:
The beauty of light airplanes is that they belong to one of the last engineering fields where one individual with the determination to understand a relatively wide range of subjects, still today, is able to create the “whole thing” – From concept to design; from development to building and even to flying: The entire project, from beginning to end, can be done by just one person!
Acquiring the necessary knowledge takes work and applying it takes courage. Through sound thinking and perseverance, it is entirely possible to transform the dream to flying “on your own wings” into a reality. You need vision, knowledge and an active will: the vision is from the future, knowledge is largely based on the past, and the will of the present makes it possible to create in today’s sense-perceptible world. This is what this book is all about. In these pages, I hope to share some of my professional (and other) life experiences with “students” of all ages who wish to better understand light airplane design and flight behavior…
From the Conclusion:
“No bird soars too high,
If he soars on his own wings”.
William Blake (1757-1827)
As we learn to cope with – and even master – the winds, gusts, and turbulence encountered when flying (figuratively the ups and downs in our everyday lives), we have little choice but to learn and better understand what great thinkers like Tolstoy, Blake, Emerson (and the many others quoted throughout this book) have so succinctly articulated. It is inevitable that as we design, build and fly our own airplanes, we will gain better insights into the world and into ourselves as well. For as we seek to achieve our dream and ask questions along the way, we are bound to find some answers.
(…)
A responsible designer must know the limits of the formulas and when it is safe to extrapolate them, or how to develop further connections which describe the physical reality applicable in understandable terms. Whenever possible, I have tried in this book to give the interested and serious reader enough information to allow reliable airworthy designs. But as the creator, you will still have to use sound and independent judgment.
My sincerest wish is that the pages you hold in your hands will help you to transform your vision, through sound thinking, into deeds.
“Always do what you are afraid to do”.
R.W. Emerson (1803-1882)
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About the Book
Some have said that if God had wanted us to fly, He would have given us wings. And yet, we were given the ability to dream, to think with our heads, to have courage in our hearts, and to build with our hands. Truly, we have been given everything we need: We really can fly on our own wings!
Chris Heintz is a professional aeronautical engineer with a prolific career spanning over 40 years designing and building light aircraft. Recognized worldwide as a uniquely talented and accomplished designer, his aircraft are known and appreciated for their simplicity of construction, pilot-friendly cabins and controllability as well as remarkable performances. Today, Chris Heintz designs are flown throughout the world, mostly by recreational pilots who have assembled their own planes from a kit. His most popular models are also factory-assembled and sold as ready-to-fly sport aircraft on three continents.
In FLYING ON YOUR OWN WINGS, Mr. Heintz shares his knowledge and insights into the art and science of light aircraft design. He “walks” readers through the essential understanding and skills required to conceive, develop, build and even test-fly their own personal light airplane. Basic mathematics, essential aerodynamics and stress analysis are just a few of the chapters of this fascinating book. Heintz even provides a sample design to help would-be designers take their first step towards imagining and creating their own wings.
Truly a beginner’s guide to everything you need to know in order to achieve that age-old dream: To fly on your own wings!
About the Author
An accomplished aeronautical engineer, Chris Heintz is a graduate of the E.T.H Institute in Switzerland. After serving in the Air Force, Heintz worked for Aerospatiale on the supersonic Concorde jetliner, and later became chief engineer at Avions Robin (France) where he designed several fully-certified two and four seat all-metal production aircraft.
In his spare time, Heintz began to design and build his own aircraft, which he named the ZENITH, anagram of Heintz. Being an engineer and not a craftsman, his all-metal homebuilt aircraft incorporated simple construction methods throughout. After a little more than a year’s work, the two-place low-wing Zenith was rolled out and successfully flown in 1969. Soon after, detailed blueprints and construction manuals of the aircraft were drawn up and offered to the growing number of interested builders and flyers.
In 1973, Chris Heintz, his family and the Zenith moved to North America, where Heintz worked for de Havilland (in Toronto) as a stress engineer on the Dash 7 commuter. Chris decided to form his own aircraft company in 1974, and under the name of Zenair Ltd. started to manufacture Zenith kits himself from his two-car garage. Through the company, Heintz has introduced more than twelve successful kit aircraft designs over the years. In 1992, Heintz licensed kit manufacturing and marketing rights to Zenith Aircraft Company for the STOL CH 701 and the ZODIAC CH 601 designs; over the next number of years, he developed the ZODIAC XL, STOL CH 801 and the new STOL CH 750 for Zenith Aircraft Company.
As founder, president and chief engineer of Zenair, Heintz designed and developed more than 14 new aircraft models, which were all sold as kit aircraft around the globe. More than 2,000 aircraft are presently flying around the world in 48 different countries. Heintz designs have earned an excellent reputation among pilots, builders, the press, and aviation authorities for their durable all-metal construction, normal flight characteristics, reliability, and low maintenance requirements. Today, a number of Heintz designs are manufactured and flown as Light Sport Aircraft (LSA).
With a career-long dedication to aviation, Chris Heintz is a past recipient of the EAA’s coveted Dr. August Raspet Memorial Award "for outstanding contribution to the advancement of the design of light aircraft," and his designs have been honored with numerous awards around the world. In 1995 the Federation Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) awarded Zenair Ltd. the prestigious Honorary Group Diploma for "greatly contributing to the progress of aviation"; Chris Heintz was inducted into the EAA "Hall of Fame" in 1999.