The Sonerai's fuselage is constructed of 3 primary sizes of aircraft quality 4130 steel tubing. The fuselage is covered with the builder's choice of aircraft fabric. The Sonerai's pre-molded cowling, wheel pants and wing tips are constructed of fiberglass cloth impregnated with resin. The wing skins, spars and ribs are all constructed from aircraft quality 2024-T3 aluminum. The heavy duty landing gear is precision formed from aircraft quality 2024-T351 aluminum. The Sonerai's are a conventional airframe design. They have a tractor (in front) engine, standard 3 axis control system and can be built either as a taildragger or as a tri-gear. (Note: The Sonerai I is available as a taildragger only.)
The Sonerai's fuselage and empennage are constructed from 4130 aircraft quality tubing and 4130 sheet steel. The tubing is cut, filed and then welded together to form the structure. The fuselage is designed to provide for maximum strength, pilot and passenger comfort and ease of construction. The seat frames, controls, roll over structure, engine attach points and spar carry through structure are made from aircraft quality 4130 steel.
The Sonerai I has a center to center cockpit width of 20-5/8". The Sonerai II and Sonerai II-S have a cockpit width of 23-1/4". The pilot cabin for all the Sonerai's measures 31-1/8" excluding leg room. The passenger compartment of the Sonerai II is 17-7/8", the Sonerai II-S passenger compartment is 23-7/8", both measurements exclude leg room. The fuselage represents 40% to 50% of total construction time.
A pre-welded fuselage (approximately $5600) is available from:
Specialty Welding
W65641 County YY
Neshkoro, WI 54960
Tel 920-293-8089
| The Sonerai's wing spars are constructed from 2024-T3 .040" aircraft aluminum. The ribs, ailerons and skins are all 2024-T3 .025" aircraft aluminum. The spars are built up using strips of aircraft aluminum and riveted together. The ribs are riveted to the spars and the skin then is riveted to the ribs using stainless cherry flush rivets. The wings are installed to the fuselage using 6 easily removable taper pins. |
 |
The airfoil used on the Sonerai's is the NACA 64A212 and has a 53" cord line. The spars, ribs, ailerons and wing tips are available "Pre-Fabricated". The Sonerai II's all have a wing area of 84 square feet. The Sonerai I has a wing area of 75 square feet. All Sonerai's feature full span ailerons. This provides for a crisp rate of roll and excellent lateral control throughout the entire speed envelope. The ailerons are actuated with torque tube linkages and are balanced. The wing of the Sonerai is not affected by bugs, rain, or paint chips like several of the NEW composite aircraft wings are.
The vertical and horizontal stabilizer and rudder of the Sonerai's are made from 4130 aircraft tubing. The rudder is sufficient to provide for excellent control response during cross wind landings. The horizontal stabilizer can be ground adjusted to remove excessive stick forces. Neither the rudder or elevator have external trim tab adjustments. The entire empennage is fabric covered.
The Sonerai's use a conventional 3 axis control system. A center mounted stick that can be removed in the passenger cockpit controls pitch and roll. Both the ailerons and elevator are actuated by torque tubes. The rudder is controlled by adjustable rudder pedals actuated by 1/8" aircraft cable. The controls in the Sonerai's are crisp, and light to the touch. The aileron and rudder controls feature adjustable horns that can increase or decrease the controls reaction.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
P.O. Box 545,
Boys Town, NE 68010
Tel 402-493-6507, Orders 800-922-6507
Fax 402-493-3846
