A Beautiful New Waiex (HOTY) Makes First Flight

Kip Laurie's gorgeous new Waiex with Jabiru 3300 power   photo: Sonex Aircraft

First flight for Waiex N111YX was on May 20, 2010   photo: Sonex Aircraft

 It’s kinda funny that just yesterday, in the Grand Slam Homebuilt post, I was saying how a lot of people don’t find the Sonex airplanes to be ‘electrifying’… and then this hot orange Waiex hits the scene!  It was built by Kip Laurie from Atlanta, Georgia, and the first flight was less than 2 weeks ago on May 20, 2010.  You may already know that I’ve been a fan of the taildragger Waiex for quite some time now, and even named it homebuilt of the year (HOTY) at the start of 2009!  BTW, a 2010 HOTY will probably be named at the end of this year : )

 I think the taildraggin’ Sonex is a fine airplane, but when you trade the straight tail for the V (and that tiny little rudder at the tail post!) I think an ‘ok’ airplane turns into a real hotty.  And Kip’s airplane, with that simple but awesome paint really brings the Waiex to life. 

 The fact that this little airplane can be built for under $30K puts it very close to Grand Slam status, but in my mind, that’s ultimately reserved for a single-seat airplane that can slash build and operating costs to about half of that.  It looks like the Onex (single-seat Sonex derivative) won’t be far from that, but it’s gonna need a V-tail option to have a chance of being electrifying.  So far I don’t see any mention of a V-tail for the Onex, but they are still very early in the development process. 

 But the real point here is that Kip’s orange and white Waiex is one fantastic looking airplane - great job!

Beyond Streamlining: Drag Reduction In The 21st Century

 A really fascinating discussion has been taking place over in the Hangar Talk forum at Oshkosh365 on ideas and concepts for the future of aerodynamics.  It's called Beyond Streamlining: Drag Reduction In The 21st Century, and it's being led by a very interesting guy named John McGinnis.  The post originated in November 2009, and currently it has 200 responses and well over 22,000 views.  It started out a little slow but it's gotten very popular!

 I've known John for about a year now, but we've yet to meet in person.  Oshkosh 2010 should change that as John will be presenting two forums this year, one on 'Bleeding Edge Prop Design' and the other on '21st Century Drag Reduction'.  If you have any interest in convention-challenging aerodynamic discussions, you should definitely check out both the O365 thread and John's forums at Oshkosh (here's the tentative schedule for John's Oshkosh forums.)

 My observation of discussions about aerodynamics has been that they're mostly a pride fest between people who are far more interested in making sure they teach the other guy that he's full of poo.  If you lace that discussion with a lot of confusion (both intentional and unintentional) and pepper it with several people who have absolutely no idea of what they are talking about, you wind up with a pretty bad taste in your mouth.

 Fortunately, John's discussion has been nothing like that.  He's got a great way of communicating what he's learned, and possibly most important, he's not afraid to realize that what we thought we knew might not be the facts, especially when clear, defining evidence presents itself.  He's also been doing a lot of research for a full scale project he's doing called Synergy that's currently entered in the 2011 CAFE Green Flight Challenge.  From what I know and can see, I'm inclined to believe that John knows what he's talking about and that he might be on the frontline of changing a lot of what you believe about aerodynamics.

 So go check out the 'Beyond Streamlining' thread at O365.  You can view it without signing up, but if you do sign up (it's free), you can even communicate directly with John thru either the forum or the internal email system.  It's all very cool stuff, and it's happening, once again, at the experimental grass roots level that have been fostered by the EAA for almost 60 years!  

Back To The Future: The Quest For The Grand Slam Homebuilt

The EOS/001 experimental aircraft design at Oshkosh 1973 with the C-5A

 There's a pretty good chance you have no idea what this little experimental airplane is that's sitting on runway 18/36 at Oshkosh '73 under the wing of the huge Lockheed C-5A Galaxy.  This was just 2 years after the BD-5 had electrified Oshkosh, and this little single-seat airplane had come along to offer up some competition in the 2-stroke powered super-cool looking and cheap-to-build arena.  

 More on the airplane in a moment, but first it's interesting that this picture was taken right out on the runway.  If I remember correctly, there was no place to put the C-5A as this was long before AeroShell Square existed, so they left it on the runway, which was pretty cool because we were allowed out there in the evening to look things over.  For some reason, the little all white EOS/001 prototype had been positioned out there as well.  I was only 12 at the time, but I was very knowledgeable about what was going on in the homebuilt world, and we had a BD-5 kit sitting in the living room at home, so I was paying real close attention to what this EOS airplane was all about.

 I should probably clarify that the outer wing panels aren't installed on the airplane in this pic.  I'm not sure why they weren't on it, but I'm pretty sure they had been on it during the week sometime, but maybe they weren't.  I checked the Oshkosh365 online back issue archive of Sport Aviation earlier today (a fab perk of being an EAA member) and found a few articles on the EOS/001 from late 1972 and 1973.  From what I found, the airplane still hadn't flown when it was at Oshkosh in 73.  In fact, I can't find any record that the airplane ever did fly.  It's a bit of a mystery, and I'm hoping someone has some info on whatever happened to this great looking little airplane.  If you do, please let me know!

The sleek and simple EOS/001 homebuilt from the early 70's

 Here's the real point of all this: we need a 'grand slam' single-seat homebuilt airplane to emerge into the marketplace.  An airplane that can satisfy 4 major desires:

 1) affordable

 2) great performance but not excessively demanding to fly

 3) relatively and realistically easy to build

 4) electrifying looks

 These were the 4 big promises of the BD-5, tho I believe it was coloring outside the lines on some of the claims.  Then it left thousands of builders stranded without complete kits as the 70's progressed.  The EOS/001 actually looked like it was possibly better suited to fulfill those desires, but it disappeared pretty much without a trace.  The RV-3 had hit the scene around this time, and while it's a fantastic airplane, it's really more work and expense than what I think the mass market is looking for.  Then the Ultralight movement came along in the late 70's with the idea of inexpensive flying, but none of those airplane could ever offer the same kind of experience as a BD-5 or EOS.  There have been some other designs along the way over the years, but the definitive single-seat, affordable and easy to build 'electrifying' airplane still doesn't seem to exist.  Maybe I'm missing a great design... if so, please let me know.

 I am excited however at what Sonex has been working on to address much of what I'm talking about.  They are currently building the prototype Onex aircraft, a single-seat derivative of the popular Sonex airplanes.  I really like what the Sonex airplanes have to offer, but I know a lot of people wouldn't say they look 'electrifying'.  Regardless, the Onex definitely looks very interesting.  Hopefully we'll see what it really has to offer at Oshkosh 2010.  And you can be sure I'll be posting lots more about it soon.

 Ultimately I'm trying to stir up thought and discussion.  I even have my own design for an electrifying airplane that has recently fallen out of my head and onto paper, or at least onto the computer screen.  I've seen a lot of cool airplanes over the years, and I gotta say that what I've come up with is right at the top of the pile.  It's so good in fact that I'm not gonna share any details right now.  I'm trying to find other people who have real vision for filling this need in the experimental aircraft world, and then we'll see what comes next.

 Mostly I'm looking for people to talk back... please, say something : )

A-10 Warthog Week Ends On Memorial Day

 

 It's Memorial Day, and this special week of looking at the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) is coming to an end.  It's quite fitting actually because fighting tools like the A-10 are built and operated to preserve freedom... and freedom is what those who have lost their life in U.S. Military service were fighting for.  War is ugly, war is painful, but war is a constant in the human experience.  Since the beginning of time, man has fought against man.  And while the hope for peace is a wonderful thing, we must always be prepared to fight to protect what is good.  Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember those who were prepared, and sacrificed their life.  May we all live like everyday is Memorial Day. 

'A-10 Warthog week' comes to an end

Catch the Air Combat Command A-10 East Demo Team
at the Indy Air Show June 12th and 13th

   The pic above shows an A-10 in the green camo paint that was used in the late 70's and thru the 80's.  It also gives a great overview of the design elements that make the Warthog so much different than all other modern military aircraft.  Two turbofan engines mounted high and outside the fuselage give excellent protection against foreign object damage from poor runway conditions.  The turbofan engines blow a lot of cool air around the hot exhaust gases which helps to reduce the infrared signature, and the twin vertical tails provide additional infrared shielding, while also providing a redundancy that can be very important in an aircraft likely to be hit by ground fire.

 The offset nose gear is easy to see in this picture, along with the fact that the 30mm cannon is mounted on the aircraft centerline.  The main landing gear retracts forward into the pods that hang just below the wing.  This keeps the wing structure from being interrupted by the gear legs making it much easier to build a strong wing.  The main gear tires even remain partially exposed when fully retracted for greater simplicity and to provide reduced damage to the airframe in the event of having to land with the wheels up.  The excellent visibility from the forward mounted cockpit is easy to see, but the titanium 'bathtub' that surrounds the pilot isn't.  This protective armor is designed to provide the pilot protection from 23mm cannon fire.

 This view shows vast array of locations for mounting missiles and bombs on the underside of the wing.  You can also see the substantial trailing edge flaps along with the split ailerons (decelerons) that also act as dive brakes.  A false canopy is painted on the fuselage bottom to make it harder to tell which side is up when the airplane is in combat.

 An excellent view of the decelerons in the fully deployed position is seen here.  With that much deflection, they must be extremely effective in providing aerodynamic braking!  The relatively slender aft fuselage is visible here as well.

 The A-10 Warthog has proven itself to be a very effective military aircraft, and with a program that's just getting underway to replace the wings with upgraded ones that are even stronger, the A-10 is expected to continue to be serviceable until at least 2028.

 The odd looking airplane that dared to be very different is now considered an extremely successful military aircraft.

 Only one 2 seat A-10 was built in 1979 and it wasn't as a trainer.  The Warthog proved to be easy enough to fly that no trainer version was needed.  This airplane was built to demonstrate the capabilities of the A-10 to be used in Night Adverse Weather (NAW) conditions.  The addition of a second crew member and an additional radar pod and FLIR pod were thought to make the airplane well suited to the task.  It may have been, but the USAF wasn't interested in buying the aircraft.

 There will certainly be more A-10 posts yet to come as this amazing airplane continues to fly for many years to come.  There are also many additional interesting features of it that weren't cover in 'A-10 Warthog Week', so we'll just have to get to them later.  I also hope to get some great pix and additional info on June 12th and 13th at the Indy Air Show... you can expect a few great A-10 posts to come out of that : )

  (click pic for hi-res)

Video: More Amazing Turbine Powered A-10 Warthog RC Models

 'A-10 Warthog Week' is gonna continue until Memorial Day when we will honor those who have lost their lives serving in the U.S. Military.  It's also a great time to remember and honor those who have served and are serving now. THANK YOU.

 For a little bit of fun, here's a couple more A-10 RC model videos to check out.  The first one above has a fantastically detailed model with turbine engines, and even some sort of dummy fans (that look like they even spin?) just inside the nacelles to make it look that much more real.  This model also has decelerons, ailerons that split to also act as dive brakes, just like the real A-10!  It's also built pretty stinkin' tough, just like a real Warthog... if you watch it all, you'll see it lose several parts and experience some serious inflight flutter, but no catastrophic failure!  What an airplane : )

 This video isn't quite as exciting since the airplane doesn't seem to lose any parts inflight,(!) but it's very cool because it looks so real in flight.  The twin turbines even sound very scale.  I'm beginning to think the Warthog is just about the best aircraft to build to create the most realistic appearnce in flight.   These guys have done some amazing work!

 More 'A-10 Warthog Week' yet to come!

Catch the Air Combat Command A-10 East Demo Team
at the Indy Air Show June 12th and 13th 

Sink Your Teeth Into The Many Faces Of The USAF A-10 Warthog!

 

'A-10 Warthog Week' at AirPigz

Catch the Air Combat Command A-10 East Demo Team
at the Indy Air Show June 12th and 13th 

 Nose art has made a bit of a comeback in the last 20 years, and the A-10 Warthog is perfectly suited to putting a mouth on the front end to accentuate that massive 30mm GAU-8 cannon.  The simple shark teeth design like shown above is one of the most common seen on A-10's.  I think these kind of teeth looked great on the P-40 and other aircraft from WWII, but it's hard to argue with the way it's taken to the extreme here on the Warthog with the ability to spit serious firepower out of that mouth!

 This mouth design is also a common one seen on many A-10's, and it picks up on the teeth and tusk concept from the real live Warthog.  It's simple, bold, and effective... and again, any mouth that can spit 30mm bullets is a mouth you need to respect.

 I'm not sure how common this design is, but I really like the intensity that it projects.  Far more stylized than the designs above, this one really has a personality.  The general lack of contrast in the colors tho certainly reduces it's visibility, especially if you were seeing this from the ground as the Hawg is chasing you down.

 Another early design with a Warthog theme to it.  This one even includes some ears, but I think it lacks a little in the overall 'bite' department. 

 The red, white, and black shark teeth as seen in the top pic don't go whole hog (hehe) with the proper animal theme, but for overall scary attack factor, coupled with that massive cannon, I think it's the best mouth an A-10 Warthog can have!

WarthogNews.blogspot.com - Chronicle Of The USAF A-10 Culture

Warthog News is a fabulous resource about the US Air Force A-10 culture

 'A-10 Warthog Week' at Airpigz

Catch the Air Combat Command A-10 East Demo Team
at the Indy Air Show June 12th & 13th

 My research for info on the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Warthog in these last several days has lead me many times to the really comprehensive website called Warthog News.  This site has a huge amount of great photos plus loads of info related to the active deployment of the USAF A-10's around the world.  But even more than that, you get a real feel for the human culture that surrounds these military operations.

 If you have any genuine interest in the Warthog, I highly recommend you spend some time following the extensive daily postings at this blog.

 And, hang in there with me as I hope to crank out several more A-10 posts as 'A-10 Warthog Week' moves on toward the Memorial Day weekend.

The unique externally mounted twin engines of the A-10 Warthog

The First Electric Airplane - The BD-5 Micro At Oshkosh 1971!

Jim Bede and a big crowd with the prototype BD-5 at Oshkosh 1971

 C’mon, work with me here a little - I’m not talking about electric propulsion, we’re just starting to get that figured out… I’m talking about how the BD-5 Micro electrified the homebuilt airplane world in 1971 when it first showed up at Oshkosh.  It hadn’t even flown when it was on display that year, but as these pix show, interest was very high.  In fact, by the end of August 1971, 800 orders had been taken, and by the end of that year: 4,300!

 It’s pretty clear that today the experimental airplane movement is in pretty desperate need of an airplane to come along and stir the imagination like Bede’s little Micro did.  And let me be clear, whatever this new airplane is, it desperately needs to be wrapped in the truth.  Truth about performance, truth about ’build-ability’ and truth about how easy it is (or isn't), to fly.  I’ll admit I’m still a really big fan of the BD-5, but in those early years, the little red V-tail pusher didn’t really spend much time leaning up against the truth tree.

 These pictures from Oshkosh 1971 are a story all by themselves.  When I was trying to find a useable pic of the prototype V-tail BD-5 last year, I scoured the internet with very little success.  There just aren’t very many out there, and even fewer that are really good.  And then I was flipping thru an old photo album when my eyes almost fell out.  Turns out I've got my own pix, and they’re actually really good!  I’m pretty sure I’m even the one who took them, as a 10 year old! 

 So, today I ran these 3 thru Photoshop and got them looking remarkably crisp.  I hope you grasp some of the history that they display.

The 2-stroke snowmobile-style engine system revealed in the prototype BD-5

 The pic above is interesting because it shows the engine compartment with the cover off for all to see.  The BD-5 was ahead of its time on several accounts, and the idea of using a 2-stroke snowmobile-type engine was one of them.  Given all the complications that were to follow related to the engine systems alone, I’m surprised they were so willing to let it all be seen like this.  Maybe even Bede didn’t realize he was already in over his head.  It’s also cool to see that Bede (in the white shirt, sunglasses and EAA hat) was letting people try the Micro on for size.  You also get a really good look at the aluminum tube main spar for the wing.  Bede had used that feature on the BD-1 which later became the American Yankee.  He also incorporated it into all of his other designs as far as I know.

 This prototype BD-5 was actually an aluminum skeleton under-structure with fiberglass panels giving it the beautiful shape.  It wasn’t much later when all that was changed to an aluminum skin over more traditional formers and stringers.  The V-tail disappeared too.  In reality, pretty much everything changed before they really had a frozen, completely viable airframe design.

A crowd gathered to watch the BD-5 engine run!

 This pic above doesn’t really need much else said, it’s pretty much off-the-scale-cool seeing the prototype BD-5, with the V-tail, before it had flown, at Oshkosh 1971, with the engine running, and a crowd of eager onlookers of all ages.  Wow. 

 As I pointed out in my previous post about the BD-5 program, the BD-5 dream just couldn’t make the leap to reality, and thousands of people who thought they were gonna be screamin’ around the sky in a Micro never got to.  Some think that’s a good thing as the airplane also wasn’t the easiest to fly due to the side stick controller, the low seating position, and the relatively high performance.

 All this brings me back to the need for a really great, affordable, buildable, beautiful experimental airplane for the masses… an ‘electric’ airplane, tho it might not be electric powered.  I’ve got some ideas (don’t I always?) on how we might find that airplane.  I’m gonna think them thru a little more, and then I might toss my idea out there and see if anyone responds.  I’ll give you a little hint: I’ll be looking for a team.

A-10 Deception Canopy Painted On The Aircraft Underside

More of 'A-10 Warthog Week'

Catch the Air Combat Command A-10 East Demo Team
at the Indy Air Show June 12th & 13th

 Here's a really simple way to confuse the enemy and potentially save your life for about a dollars worth of paint... put a false canopy on the bottom of the airplane to keep 'em guessing which side is up.  As this photo shows, it's pretty easy from certain angles to be deceived into thinking that you're looking at the top of the airplane.  

 Whether you're dealing with air to air combat or a ground based attack, any means you have to keep the enemy confused is a good idea.  You can just imagine in a tense situation with fast moving airplanes that this dandy little deception could be all the more effective.

 The shape of the A-10 seems to make this simple tactic work extremely well.  This is a pretty common sight on Warthogs these days and has been made viable by the fact that the airplanes have moved away from the early dark green camo paint schemes used back in the 80's to this light, 2-tone gray treatment.  The first Gulf War showed that the dark airplanes were a little too easy to spot against the light backgrounds.  The green camo paint was primarily designed to be effective when viewed from above over wooded areas, while the current threat is far greater from the ground.

 I think it's pretty amazing how a simple application of just a little bit of paint can make such a big impact.  

 Lots more A-10 uniqueness details coming soon.

Video: Boeing 777 And The 'All Moving' Assembly Line (.00142 mph)

 The assembly line method of manufacturing wasn't invented by Henry Ford, in fact it was Ransom Olds (as in Oldsmobile) who patented the idea for automobile manufacturing in 1901, 7 years before Henry adopted (and possibly perfected) the concept.  It's clear however that this style of manufacturing drastically changed the quantity of production and the cost of products that would begin at one end as pieces and parts and were pushed out the other end as completed items.

 But what about large commercial airplanes?  It's interesting that Boeing didn't adopt a 'moving' assembly line until the year 2000, at the 717 facility in Long Beach, California.  The 717 was a re-branded MD-95 that came out of the Boeing / McDonnell Douglas merger in 1997.  That experience made it clear that a moving assemble line offered many benefits, even for large aircraft that were produced in relatively small numbers.

 In 2002, Boeing adopted the process on the 737 line, and while the effort to convert the 777 line to 'all moving' began in 2006, it wasn't until recently that the entire 777 line began trucking along at about 1 and a half inches per minute (which I calculate out to about .00142 mph)!  The effort required to convert a stationary build method to a moving assembly line on an airplane with about 3 million parts is mind boggling to say the least... but the payoff has been a reduction in assembly time from 26 days per aircraft to just 17.  That's huge.

 I find the whole crazy process to be fascinating, and this excellent video from Boeing is very interesting to watch.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.