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p.mulwitz(at)worldnet.att
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 Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:19 am Post subject: Design and Engineering Philosophy |
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I think a number of listers have been overly harsh toward Roberto and
his plane.
What he has done is apply some "Yankee Ingenuity" to the plans he
purchased for the Zodiac XL and scratch built his own plane. He used
materials easily available in his country where 6061-T6 wasn't
available. I suppose his work was very well done and he takes great
pride in his results - which I feel he deserves.
I don't agree with those who say he has done something wrong by
altering the XL design. This is extremely common practice in the
engineering design world. While this practice might be considered
unethical in academic circles it is considered "High Praise" in the
engineering community. The truth is that most designs are copies of
another engineer's work. Engineering is not about reinventing the
wheel every time you want to build a new wheel barrel. It is about
copying previous designs with modifications to fit the current goals.
I suppose there is a problem calling his plane a Chris Heintz Zodiac
XL. Perhaps Roberto should consider calling it a new name. Since he
has created a new design it makes sense to call it something new.
Will the new plane fly well? Will it be a commercial success? Will
it turn Brazil into a nation of pilots? Probably not. Does this
mean Roberto's efforts are a failure? Definitely not. He has done
the same kind of creative work done by many engineers before him.
Before criticizing Roberto for copying C. Heintz's work, it would
make sense to take a close look at what Chris actually did. He did
not invent the airplane. He didn't invent all metal construction,
tricycle landing gear, low wing monoplane configuration, or much of
anything else. I think he did invent the notion of using a metal
skin as an aileron hinge. Even this little creation has caused great
conversation and emotional stress among his admirers. What Chris did
do was create a design focused on first time builders which is
relatively easy to build and produces a light and good performing
plane with docile behavior. This is a great accomplishment and Chris
deserves to be called one of the greatest small plane designers in
all human history.
I personally commend Roberto for his work. I think we could all use
this as a lesson in ingenuity and think of him as a brave and creative person.
Paul
XL fuselage
Retired Engineer.
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ihab.awad(at)gmail.com
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| Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:15 pm Post subject: Design and Engineering Philosophy |
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On 10/14/06, Paul Mulwitz <p.mulwitz(at)worldnet.att.net> wrote:
| Quote: | What he has done is apply some "Yankee Ingenuity" to the plans he
purchased for the Zodiac XL and scratch built his own plane.
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To some extent, I agree. In fact, his use of the Zodiac name could be
considered a sign of humility: he gave due credit to the original
designer.
My personal choice would have been to give it a new name and simply
acknowledge the basis in someone else's design, just to avoid brand
confusion....
If he's planning to commercialize this work, I think it would be a
different issue. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal
advice. That said, I suspect it boils down to legal hair splitting. If
you reverse engineer a built item, you are probably in the clear so
long as you don't violate patent. However, if you create a derivative
work of the plans, you probably violated copyright. I don't know
whether it's a derivative work if you copy down the dimensions, rib
form coordinates, etc. from the plans, enter them into your CAD
package, and press Print to generate a new set of plans. Plus, the
vagaries of copyright in the different jurisdictions may make things
even more messy.
Just my 2 cents' worth....
Ihab
--
Ihab A.B. Awad, Palo Alto, CA
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