Makerplane Aims To Create the First Open Source Aircraft

cylonlover writes "MakerPlane plans to do for the aviation industry what Firefox and Linux did for computers. By adopting open source design and digital manufacturing, MakerPlane's founder John Nicol hopes to overcome the frustration and disappointment that most kit plane builders encounter. Over 60 percent of all kitplanes started end up collecting dust and those that are finished must overcome the challenges of complicated plans, the need for special tools and thousands of hours of labor with little or no manufacturer support. Nicol believes that a more community-oriented design approach will overcome many of these obstacles. Israel-based aeronautical engineer Jeffrey Meyer is leading the MakerPlane charge to develop a safe, inexpensive kitplane that can be built at home or at a 'makerspace' through the efforts of people volunteering their efforts and ideas. MakerPlane intends to make the plans and avionics software for the plane available for free, but will sell parts and support services to fund the project."

Making airplanes is all about regulation

[sinij]

Making airplanes isn't about technology, it is all about regulation and certification of components and complete product. Open sourcing wont help you with that.

similar 103 legal open source project

[Mostsigbit]

I'm gonna shamelessly plug my own open source project http://sourceforge.net/projects/pbfthunderbolt/?source=directory [sourceforge.net] here. I'm looking to connect with anyone that might be interested in this. It is an FAR103 legal aircraft, for the sole purpose of flying for enjoyment or pleasure, not necessarily intended to be used as a means of transportation. I really hope to put some time and effort back into this project again in the near future. I have flown this aircraft, and it did exactly as I expected; http://www.pbthrust.com/ [pbthrust.com] I've tried to drum interest from kickstarter and various open source hardware oriented cliques like The Open Source Hardware Association and OpenDesignEngine.net, but no interest from them- I'm admittedly not good at marketing...

Re:Did they learn the lessons of OpenEZ?

[type40]

I saw Makerplane at Oshkosh. I wasn't impressed. Not because it isn't a good idea or isn't full of good intentions. It's just nothing new under the sun in WI. Their basicly reinventing the VP1 Volksplane with CNC machines. For under $100 you can get plans for a Pietenpol Aircamper, Volksplane, or Legal Eagle. Designs that have been around for 90, 40, and 20 years respectively. The cost of materials alone on those fairly basic easy to build designs will easily crest $5000.
Their not doing anything Bernie Pierenpol wouldn't have done if he had a 3D printer and CNC machine.
+1 for good intentions, 999,999 to go till you reach the high score.