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."

Comments

Problems

[girlintraining]

First: Awesome project. Don't let what I'm about to say slow you down if you're interested.

I see a few problems here -- first is that in order to actually fly the plane, it has to be certified by the FAA. A manufacturer can guarantee the process made to create the first plane off the assembly line will result in about the same quality and performance for the 1,000th plane to roll off the line. "Printing" a plane opens the door for a lot of variation, not just in terms of materials and workmanship, but also that there's no way to verify that there have been changes to the design. The whole point of 3D printing is to rapidly prototype and make quick and dirty modifications to designs prior to validation of the components in its finished state.

The other is that you still need an FAA license. That means training, and that training isn't cheap. There's also a whole bunch of medical requirements, not all of which are really fair. For example, did you know taking anti-depressants could disqualify you from flying a plane? I won't even get into the requirements if you've ever been convicted of a crime -- even a trivial one. So even if you have the tools to print yourself your very own plane, it doesn't change the cost by a whole lot. The training and certification requirements can in many cases surpass the cost of the plane itself.

And then there's the problem of being able to build an airplane without the authorities knowing; It's pretty easy to create an explosive device. If it's just as easy to print a delivery system (hello plane!), then you can just add some remote controls and a camera and build yourself a plane bomb. Yes, I know it would be cheaper to build a missile, and more practical, but the authorities (cough, american law enforcement, cough) will always assume the worst. In there eyes, everything is a weapon, or components to build a weapon, and will happily and with great gusto violate every one of their own laws to catch you, the bad guy with a 3D printer, because you possess the capability to create weapons. Nevermind that you don't actually have any, or the intent to do so, the mere possibility that you could if you wanted to seems to be enough these days to get you disappeared in many countries... especially mine.

With all these problems, don't you think you're being a bit naive to think that your open source aircraft will actually get off the ground (literally)?