CoolPix - Airshow: Inside Matt Younkin's Twin Beech

(click pic for hi-res)

 Sure, this CoolPix would more interesting if it was taken when Matt Younkin was sitting up front and the airplane was upside-down like the pic below, but first I'd have to figure out how to get that picture! I still think it's pretty sweet taking a look inside the beautiful ole Twin Beech that Matt does his fabulous airshows in.

 I got the pic recently at the Indy Air Show. I had never seen inside his airplane before, and I was a little surprised by how nicely it's finished off. That gorgeous headliner kinda seals the deal for me... really helps to give it that golden-age-of-aviation feel. I was also pleased with the way the pic turned out since I wasn't actually inside the airplane. I just held the camera inside and had the self-timer set so I could try to get things centered and framed well. It's almost right down the middle!

 Matt will be up at Oshkosh in July flying the Twin Beech in both the day and night shows. Between the sound, the massive smoke, and the graceful flying, it's pretty hard to beat what Matt brings to the airshow world!

Check out my podcast with Matt Younkin to learn about flying Twin Beech aerobatics

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 : )

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.

Poll: Which Logo Best Represents The Experimental Aircraft Association?

Please Vote In The Poll Above

 If you’ve only known the Experimental Aircraft Association in the last 10 years or so, the current logo on the right may be all you know, but people who’ve been around the EAA for many years know that there’s a rich history that goes with a logo that looked a lot more like the one on the left.  

 If it weren't for the fact that I’ve been an EAA member since 1970, when I was just 9 years old (I’m EAA# 57138), and that this will be my 33rd Oshkosh (not counting the 1969 Rockford convention I was at) I would never attempt to deal with the issue of the EAA logo design.  But, since I have a long and passionate history with this organization (that really is the ‘Spirit of Aviation’) I feel like I have a right to stir the pot on this issue.

 The original EAA logo looks a lot like the retro-styled one I designed above on the left, but I’ve actually made quite few detailed updates.  Most notable are the shortening of ‘association’ to just ‘assoc.’, which allows all of the letters to be quite a bit larger than before… and the airplane has been modernized a bit and includes a simple spinning prop detail.  There are other minor changes but you probably wouldn't notice without a direct comparison.

 The current logo, on the right above, seemed to be the product of an effort to mainstream the organization with more of an ad agency kind of feel to it.  I know I’m not alone in having been very frustrated that this logo was adopted… not only because it didn’t accurately reflect the organization, but also because it appeared it could actually have a negative effect overall.  There’s really no way of knowing what exactly the effect has been, but I know my gut tells me that it was definitely a step backward.

 So I recently took what graphic design skill I have and set out to produce a sample that I felt honored the early logo while also being strong and relevant to ‘today’, a logo to lead the organization into the future.  This poll is designed to give us all an idea as to how people feel about returning to a more retro styled logo.  Hopefully, if enough noise is made about this, the leaders will take a serious look at making what I believe is an essential change for the better.

 Which of the two logos above do you feel best represents 
the Experimental Aircraft Association?

Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters (CARS): Paintless DC-3 At KDKX

(click pic to enlarge)

 Matthew Everett, who runs LeavingTerraFirma.com, sent in this CARS pic of a pretty sweet  looking DC-3 even if it doesn’t have any paint.  It has the faded markings of Dodson International Air, but I don’t really know any additional specifics.  But I figure with the 75th anniversary of the DC-3 upon us, and the fact that a really big celebration of one of the most important aircraft ever made is scheduled to take place at Oshkosh this year, you just can’t look/think/live 'DC-3' too much these days : )

 As this EAA story about DC-3’s coming to Oshkosh tells, there might be 50 or more headed for OSH10, with as many as 40 arriving all at once!  That sight alone is gonna make this something extremely special to see.  I can hardly wait!

And as a reminder, here’s the info on CARS submissions:

 Fresh pix please, within the last month

 Gotta be Cool!  Rare aircraft, amazing paint, unique, odd or otherwise noteworthy

 Prefer jpg file, in sharp focus and at least 600 pixels wide

 Looking for everyday airport pix, NOT airshow/fly-in pix

 Send pix, questions or comments to mcc@airpigz.com

Video: Sport Amphibian Perfection! RV-7 On Floats

 This video is a few years old now, but it's always a good time to see such a well executed and great flying machine!  I saw the airplane at Oshkosh last year as the pic below shows, and hope to be able to take a closer look at the performance and fun it offers sometime in the future... seems like there should be a lot more amphibious RV-7's out there!

The beautiful amphibious RV-7 on a rainy morning at Oshkosh 2009

3 Lifting Surface Configuration (P180): The Way Of The Future?

Piaggio P180 Avanti II at Oshkosh 2009

 I was raised on taildraggers and homebuilts (back in the day when a typical 'fast' homebuilt went 150mph), but my interest in flying machines is a whole lot more diverse than that.  In fact, I can still remember following the Piaggio P180 development in the early 80’s even before the airplane had flown… and if I remember correctly, they had a contest to come up with a name for the airplane.  I must admit I never really liked the winning Avanti name, but I’ve always been drawn to P180’s unusualness and performance.

 The pic shown here is one I took at Oshkosh this year of the Avanti II, which is mostly the old original P180 re-engined for more speed AND better fuel economy, along with a glass cockpit and other modernizations.  It was certified in 2005 and has been selling well ever since.

 The most obvious oddity of the Avanti is the 3 wing surfaces.  As a concept, it’s described as 3LSC or 3 Lifting Surface Configuration.  It’s kinda canard but kinda not.  The main wing is moved far aft, which frees up the cabin from having the main spar carry-thru in the way, and then the wing up front holds the nose up, to compensate for the main wing being so far aft.  The T tail in the rear is where pitch control comes from, but if I understand the concept correctly, the T tail is also a lifting surface.  Tho I’m getting the idea that it runs along up there typically with very little load on it.  Hopefully I’ll find a P180/3LSC expert to do a podcast with before long and we’ll get the straight scoop on this stuff!

 The bottom line here is that the Avanti doesn’t have very much wing on it, just 172.2 sq ft total.  But it doesn’t need as much wing as a conventional aircraft because it’s all lifting up, without the negative effect of the downforce of a traditional wing and tail configuration.  There must be something to all this cuz the Avanti winds up having a small, lightweight airframe with a large cabin and a strong useful load of 4,100 pounds… all while also being the fastest turboprop in the world.  As in about 400 kts fast! 

 If you only thought the Avanti was kinda weird looking, it might be time to look a little closer at it.  If you thought it was kinda weird looking, and fast, then I still think it might be time to take a closer look.  I’m thinking this 3LSC concept deserves more attention, and so I’m wondering if there’s a chance that it might be the way of the future.  It's pretty hard to argue with the performance the Avanti has put on display.

 We’ll talk more about the 3LSC before long.  Really soon actually cuz my entry in the Retro Airliner Design Contest is tapping into the 3LSC, coupling it with 4 massive 4,000hp radial engines!  Now that’s a combo!  You can see what that beast looks like sometime this Friday 4-9-10 when I post the entries in the contest.  Hopefully there’s more than just mine to look at, but if not, you can count on it being a bit on the wild side : )

 Lastly, here's a pretty sweet P180 video to check out.  It's no where near as luscious as the Starship video posted recently, but it's still a great vid.

CoolPix - Airliners: A380 Preparing To Depart Oshkosh 2009

(click pic for hi-res)

 Yeah, I know it’s the second CoolPix entry for the A380 at Oshkosh 2009, but c’mon, having the mega-super-big-bus sitting on the ramp all week making lots of shade should definitely earn it several CoolPix awards.  Plus, I took this pic while the airplane was waiting to do its departure flight demo, so this is the A380 getting ready to say goodbye to Oshkosh 2009.  It’s a special moment.

 As always, remember to click the pic for the hi-res version.  The whole point of the  CoolPix experience is to be pulled into the image, to experience it in a way that a 530px wide image just can’t do.

 I like this pic for several reasons.

 The airplane is facing east on the taxiway that leads from AeroShell Square (where it sat all week) out to the runway… it didn’t spend very much time sitting here, so it’s not all that common of a picture.

 I like it cuz it’s such a cool contrast of the world’s largest airliner floating on a sea of what makes Oshkosh so great: people and airplanes.

 You should also notice that while that big honkin’ airplane is not far from all these people, they are definitely looking at something else.  The something else is the WhiteKnightTwo just about to start takeoff roll for its flight demo.  WK2 was such an awesome machine to have up there in 2009, and here we have almost every eye glued to it.

 Lastly, it’s just neat to be able to look around at people who are enjoying Oshkosh.  You can even see the captain sitting in the front office of the A380.  I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking it’s a pretty cool CoolPix : )

CoolPix - Airliners: Airbus A380 Looking Really Big At Oshkosh 2009

(click pic for hi-res)

 Seeing the Airbus A380 at Oshkosh 2009 was fantastic no matter how you look at it.  To see the world's largest airliner put on a flight demo right in front of you was amazing!  And of course, a light airplane (if you can ever call an A380 light!) showing off in a sunny sky made it all the better.

 This pic I took does a really good job of highlighting the rubber-rich landing gear, which just happens to be at the very start of the retraction cycle - you'll notice the large nose and main gear doors are opening.  You also get a good view of both leading and trailing edge flaps here.  That wing is just unbelievably big, especially at the root.

 It's also interesting to see some moisture trails coming off the inboard nacelle strakes on the two right engines due to the high angle of attack.  I really enjoy looking at the details in a pic like this : ) 

 Having the A380 on display thru the week was a huge treat (no pun intended), and I'm so glad I had the chance to see her up close.  I'm really hoping we'll see a fanplastic 787 on display this year, but so far I haven't heard a word about the possibility.