SR22 Crash - plane was upside down above the runway ?
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QUOTE "This tank is made from rotomoulded polyethylene, which is completely different from GRP/composite or aluminium. It is very strong but melts very easily. In fact, when opening up the tank fitting holes the factory recommends using a hot soldering iron instead of sawing/drilling. But most importantly, the Europa tank is carried in the fuselage itself, in a location where even in case of a crash, there's not going to be a lot of impact."
Trouble is, unless this is placed exactly over (or under) the C of G, as you use the fuel, the trim of the a/c will be unduly affected. Placing a tank in the fuselage at the c of g will almost certainly involve placing the tank next to the occupants. In the event of an accident or a leak, this doesn't sound like a good idea to me.....
Trouble is, unless this is placed exactly over (or under) the C of G, as you use the fuel, the trim of the a/c will be unduly affected. Placing a tank in the fuselage at the c of g will almost certainly involve placing the tank next to the occupants. In the event of an accident or a leak, this doesn't sound like a good idea to me.....
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The different approaches Cirrus and Diamond have taken to safety is interesting. They both have 26g cabins and seats, but Cirrus have 4-point AmSafe seatbelts with airbags, compared with Diamond's 3-point seatbelts. Also, Cirrus have installed airframe parachutes and aluminium honeycomb seat bases to absorb the vertical energy. All other things being equal, you're more likely to survive an impact in a Cirrus, but that may not be much consolation if the wing tanks rupture. I guess you pays your money and you takes your choice.
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wsmempson, the main reason that the Europa tank is in the fuselage is to make the wings removable.
The tank is located just behind the occupants, almost exactly at the CofG. The Europa kit consists of a lower and upper hull part, and a cockpit module plus some other bits and pieces not relevant here. The cockpit module needs to be placed upside down and the fuel tank is installed in a cavity there which actually forms the seatbacks and front side of the baggage bay. That same cavity also holds the spar ends when the wings are installed, and various bits of flight control linkage. The cockpit module is then placed, right side up, into the lower fuselage and bonded in. This gives great rigidity to the lower fuselage. So the fuel, despite being physically located something like 15 centimeters from the backs of the occupants, is separated from them by the GRP cockpit module, which is an integral part of the construction, plus the fuel tank itself.
I'm not an aircraft designer but given the design parameters this looks like a sensible construction to me. Obviously the Europa is a two-seater. If you were to do this in a four-seater, it would be much harder with regards to CofG issues.
(Apologies to actual Europa builders out there, for summarizing a 100+ page build manual in just one paragraph.)
The tank is located just behind the occupants, almost exactly at the CofG. The Europa kit consists of a lower and upper hull part, and a cockpit module plus some other bits and pieces not relevant here. The cockpit module needs to be placed upside down and the fuel tank is installed in a cavity there which actually forms the seatbacks and front side of the baggage bay. That same cavity also holds the spar ends when the wings are installed, and various bits of flight control linkage. The cockpit module is then placed, right side up, into the lower fuselage and bonded in. This gives great rigidity to the lower fuselage. So the fuel, despite being physically located something like 15 centimeters from the backs of the occupants, is separated from them by the GRP cockpit module, which is an integral part of the construction, plus the fuel tank itself.
I'm not an aircraft designer but given the design parameters this looks like a sensible construction to me. Obviously the Europa is a two-seater. If you were to do this in a four-seater, it would be much harder with regards to CofG issues.
(Apologies to actual Europa builders out there, for summarizing a 100+ page build manual in just one paragraph.)
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Just to go over one point so as to not give the wrong impression. Fuel is carried in the wing structure of Cessnas, Pipers, Mooneys, Rockwells and Cirri. That is fuel is immediately behind the single skin thickness leading edge of the wing - the same bit that will get bent as a Cirrus wing. I'm not an expert on design but materials and perhaps composite structure does crack more easily than ali but ali splits quite often as well in an accident.
