Oh, and the most important reason to go with fixed gear (I can't believe I left this one out) is the GEAR-UP landing! I built mine fixed because I knew if I had retracts, my first landing would be a gear-up landing, and my third, and my 10th...etc. I later proved that theory, although I made it to 93 landings in my 68 year-old Swift before actually fulfilling that prophecy!
There's another school of thought that if you have to land in a field because of an engine out, damage will be minimized. In a smooth field big enough to pull that off, it's true. But in the case of my hayfield landing, I needed all the friction I could get. Without it I was going to hit a stand of trees that would have totaled the plane, if not me. I'm not trying to discourage you from building retracts or tri-gear retracts, but you've come to the table with lots of ideas on how to do things different, and they will all increase building time accordingly, perhaps exponentially. That's fine, and I'm a poster child for the concept, but be prepared to spend a long time accomplishing all your goals. I'm certainly not saying to "build is by the plans", because the plans are lacking in many ways. But choose your modifications carefully. As William Wynne likes to say, every day spent building is another day you are closer to losing your medical. Hopefully that issue will be relaxed soon, but you get the point. But as much as I enjoyed building and proving that I can improve the design and persevere to the end, I can tell you that flying is a lot more fun than building, at least for me! Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com http://www.n56ml.com
