Originally Posted by
mikehallam
Actually there are passable POH already available on the web for the Rans S6 ES and the S6-116. So no owner should be lacking. Their build manual and comprehensive parts list are also excellent refence tomes.
I have copies on file, but don't have their web addresses to hand.
If anyone's desperate PM me & I'll e-mail a copy.
{mikehallam@btinternet dot com}
The problem already discussed above is that the S6 is not one single 'plane but a whole family of models with quite different characteristics, from early microlight through to light aircraft. Engines, e.g. Rotax 503, 582, Jabiru, R912.
The wing too has several sizes long, short, intermediate, plus pull-on & conventional fabric. And (AFIK) has different areas in the UK with bigger ailerons to meet microlight requirements.
Trims are bungee, manual tab and more.
Nose & tail wheel.
Different tails & tail-plane AofA settings can vary too.
The lighter models have a much lower stall <38 mph, but the -116 with 912 is nearly 60 mph clean.
So really there's no such thing as "an S6", it's been around a long time and updates, market requirements and customers' needs have made it so varied.
It's a good roomy, honest machine, no BS, great performance for the money & a credit to the US designer. [Was that Randy Schlitter himself or was he a wise enough entrepreneur to commission the design ?].
My interest and gathered knowledge has really grown from owning the older, delightful tail wheel microlight Rans S4. RansMail grew as a spin off from that, then RansTips. In fact I only bought the S6 for a bit more speed !
mike.
It's do-able, but the reality will be a basic manual with appendices specific to each airframe - which is how for-example the X'Air manual works.
But the fact is, any aeroplane should have a useable POH, with numbers (operating speeds, stall speed, Vne, TODR/LDR) that are correct for that aeroplane. Okay, I can accept that back in the 1930s things just weren't like that, but there really has been no excuse through the history of the S6.
Indeed, CS-VLA (which used to be JAR-VLA), and BCAR Section S both require it.
Downloading stuff off the web that may or may not be appropriate to the individual aeroplane, and in reality probably isn't, is hardly the way to do things in my opinion. LAA should have been ensuring an appropriate manual on every airframe.
It need not be a long and complex document - in reality it can probably be 20 pages + appendices to hold the engine manual, prop manual, etc. but it still should be there.
G