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Tip to Tip FUEL TANK SIZE


Guest feliusfog

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I am thinking of swapping my Bailey for a Parajet. I have observed with some interest the flying time of the Macro on 10 litres of fuel between legs. I have tried to calculate wind speeds/ground speeds/flying time etc

From the pictures I have seen I must say the fuel tank does seem rather larger than that fitted to the standard Parajet though.

Could you let me know what your average mins per litre has been to date and capacity of the fue tank/s on the TIP 2 TIP motors before I commit and swap.

Thanks

FELIUS

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Hi Felius

The Macro comes with a 13 litre tank. Originally we had intended to replace these tanks with Volution Compact tanks when the motors were built by the T2T team at the factory. My own motor went down there at the same time for a smaller tank to be fitted. (MIke and I supplied our own motors for the event and the rest were supplied by Parajet). I was not comfortable with the tank security of the smaller tank in the larger space so I declined and continued to use the bladder inserted within my tank to reduce its capacity to ten litres. I imagine the rest folowed suit as they all have the standard tank but appeared to only hold ten when they were filled by the ground crew.

I flew two of the sections on a Compact which has a 10 litre capacity tank. I will upload my track logs in due course as the analysis you are trying to make is of great interest to me too! I would like to see the comparison between the Macro and the Compact.

Bear in mind some legs were flown at altitudes where the wind speed and airspeed combined to give us ground speeds of up to 74mph. So your guesstimates need to take this into account.

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Interesting Francis.

You had a 13 litre fuel tank capacity but used a 10 litre bladder fitted. I like that idea, what type of bladder did you use and where did you get it from? I assume it was a collapsable type, how did you deal with the breather etc?

What was your average fuel consumption rate?

FELIUS

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Air Navigation Order definition of 'Self Propelled Hang Glider' which is also explicitly referred to include foot launched Paramotors states:

Self-propelled hang-glider' means an aircraft comprising an aerofoil wing and a mechanical propulsion device which:

(i) is foot launched;

(ii) has a stall speed or minimum steady flight speed in the landing configuration not exceeding 35 knots calibrated airspeed;

(iii) carries a maximum of two persons;

(iv) has a maximum fuel capacity of 10 litres; and

(v) has a maximum unladen weight, including full fuel, of 60 kg for single place aircraft and 70 kg for two place aircraft.

The definition (iv) term 'capacity' is important - it is not technically enough to limit what you pour in to the tank to the defined 10 litre limit, it is a capacity constraint - and this can be achieved from a larger original tank by either deforming its physical shape down until it meets the specs, or inserting a displacement device such as a bladder inside the original volume space, rather like slinging a brick into the lavatory cistern to reduce the capacity usable in a flush!

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Please be patient. I am still analysing my logs and strugglling to get them out of my gps in some cases.

Using a neoprene bladder injected with 3 litres of 2T oil both displaces the appropriate amount of fuel and gives you a store of synthetic oil for when you have to refuel yourself at the nearest garage when they only have mineral oil. Plus if it leaks you have no problem. The tank breathes normally it simply has lower capacity. I do not suggest anyone use this technique unless first OKing it with your engine manufacturer, particularly if the engine is under guarantee as it may be classed as "modification".

The advantage of this technique is that it is easily removed for countries where there is no tank capacity restriction, or if the unit is flown under the de-reg microlight license with a "powered parachute trike" unit.

Only use a bladder that will withstand petrochemical solvent. Some rugby ball bladders are ok. Also I think silicon rubber breast implant sacks, but I'm not sure how you get the oil in and out with those.

As far as legality is concerned I am unaware of any attempt to enforce regulation in this regard. The 10 litre limit was an arbitrary figure and was intended to limit fuel capacity in the event of accident, not to limit range. In that regard 10 litre or 13 or even 18 litres is still a "small amount of fuel" and complies with the spirit of the law, in my opinion.

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