Up-and-Comer Offers Update on Lightweight LSA

The DarkAero team updated followers on the current laundry list of tasks to prepare their first prototype for flight, with work continuing on the fuel pump, aerodynamics, cooling system, and panel.

Throughout July, the team worked on the fuel system, checking out their newly revised fuel sump tank for leaks and til tests. Slosh tests and a variety of positional adjustment tried to simulate the ham-handed maneuvering of a novice pilot to see how much - if any - fuel could transfer between the left and right tanks under a worst case scenario. Overall, the testing looked promising, with the highest fuel transfer rate seen at 0.6 gallons per hour at a 5-degree angle. Further testing on the HydraMat system checked to see how much fuel could be drawn from the sump, with less than 0.4 gallons of fuel left when the pump started sucking up air. Promising stuff.

The heat exchanger for the DarkAero 1's oil system also saw some light tweaks, with the front aspect of the fuselage being analyzed for additional improvement. The team thinks that the current design of the oil cooler inlet will be perfectly functional, but said that their use of additive manufacturing and computer simulation will allow them to constantly and rapidly reiterate until they can achieve max performance from the design.

FMI: www.darkaero.com