Panther Sport Aircraft Forums

Jim, In the past I haven't had much input on the forums. With Rachel merging them and me getting the notifications of posts I can now quickly respond. I don't want to take to much time away from design ,testing and production, or have a overbearing presence on the forum so I will try to strike a reasonable balance.
Dan

Good points, and I would certainly defer to Dan's expertise on this. File this under "Seemed like a good idea at the time..."

PS - I absolutely LOVE the fact that Dan responded so quickly! Talking with the wife about placing my kit order. She's on the fence, but leaning towards "Yes" (I think).

I've flown a zenith with the optional lockers and they were useful, but it only had a baggage "shelf" behind the seat .

Some thing to consider the rib spacing on a panther is 12 inch's maximum and that is out at the tip! in the area where you would put these it is 9-10 inch's so you could really only have a 8-9 inch wide opening. next cutting holes in the top skin of the wing is not a good idea! The Panther uses stressed skins , if you cut a hole here you would need to engineer a skin reinforcement and use fastens that could transfer the same amount of shear that the skin can.
Better to set up the rear baggage area and if need the forward one than compromise the wing!

Just a thought...

One really easy way to increase baggage capacity is to add wing lockers. These are used in the SportCruiser and Zenith LSA designs, and they are really useful. Here's a link to a picture of the Zenair version: http://www.zenithair.com/zodiac/608/650 ... aggage.jpg You can see that it's basically an oversized "inspection panel" on the wing upper surface, between the fore and aft spars, and between two ribs. The front piano-hinged cover uses either screws or DZUS fasteners to close securely (some install a lock as well). The Zenair version in the link has little curved doublers along the sides (and stiffeners across the span) so the cover conforms to the upper wing surface. I don't see it in this Zenair picture, but the SportCruiser version uses a single-piece rubber gasket to keep things relatively water tight (but I wouldn't store electronics in it...). Of course, you'd have to consider W&B implications, and most that I've seen have a weight limitation (20 kgs / 44 lbs. for the SportCruiser). And of course, you'd want to empty them before doing any aerobatics, etc...

Pretty nifty way to add some carrying capacity.

Actually it is much bigger than it may seem. For guys with lighter engines it will be an excellent option. With simple 1/4turn fasteners it is very quick to access and with the modern tiny avionics I could fit 10 shaving kits in the space. I can take a photo in the am if you like
Dan

OK,

I knew the specs page mentioned a forward baggage area, but I really didn't see it in any of the posted construction photos. Tony and Paul, thanks for explaining it to me.

Lance

The front baggage area is sort of our avionics bay in the prototype. That is one of the reasons he used the 1/4 turn fasteners in the "bonnet" just in front of the canopy. If you want to put a floor in there on top of the diagonal support tube and rudder pedal pivots, that can be your little fwd baggage area. Wouldn't fit much more than a small briefcase or shaving kit though.

Lance,

There's no forward baggage area in the prototype. No clue if Dan has plans to incorporate one at a later date. My guess is he won't.

Tony

I was wondering if there were any pictures of the front baggage area. How is it accessed, how big, etc? Thanks much.

Lance Nitschke

The Sonex is a good airplane. Looks like you're going to pick smart twice in a row.

Tony