Glasair Factory Tour and the Sportsman 2+2

Today I got the pleasure of taking the family to Arlington, WA to tour the Glasair factory and to check out their Sportsman Two-Week To Taxi (TWTT) program.  This is an aircraft that I have seen several times at the Oshkosh Airshow and have always been amazed at the performance and versatility of this experimental aircraft.  Although I am not all that ambitious at this point to take on a full blown “kit” plane, this TWTT program allows you to build a really fantastic aircraft under factory supervision, quickly and safely.  The endstate is a really great and safe aircraft.  Before I get too far into this, here are some of the basic specs & performance figures:

Performance	180 h.p.	210 h.p.
Top Speed (TAS at sea level)
	167 m.p.h. / 145 kts.	186 m.p.h. / 162 kts.
Cruise Speed (TAS)
75% power at 8,000 ft.	158 m.p.h. / 137 kts.	172 m.p.h. / 150 kts.
65% power at 8,000 ft	154 m.p.h. / 134 kts.	167 m.p.h. / 145 kts.
Stall Speed (at max. gross)
No flaps (Vs)	58m.p.h. / 51 kts.	58 m.p.h. / 51 kts.
Full flaps (Vso)	48 m.p.h. / 42 kts.	48 m.p.h. / 42 kts.
Rate of Climb
Solo	1,850 f.p.m.	2,100 f.p.m.
Max. gross	1,000 f.p.m.	1,200 f.p.m.
Range (at 65% power)
Range Standard Fuel VFR Reserve mi.	829	733
Range Standard Fuel VFR Reserve n.m.	721	638
Fuel Consumption (at 65% power)
	8.5 g.p.h.	10.2 g.p.h.
Service Ceiling (estimated)
	20,000 ft.	21,500 ft.

 

Specifications	Standard Model	Carbon Fiber Option
Fuselage Length
Lycoming engine (rigged for flight)	23 ft.	23 ft.
Lycoming engine (wings folded)	24 ft. 8 in	24 ft. 8 in
Wing Span
Rigged for flight	35.0 ft.	35.0 ft.
Wings folded & tail removed	8.5 ft.	8.5 ft.
Other Wing Data
Area	131 sq. ft.	131 sq. ft.
Aspect ratio	9.1	9.1
Wing loading (at max. gross)	17.5 lbs. per sq. ft.	19 lbs. per sq. ft.
Structural limit loads (at max. gross)	+3.8 / -1.5 Gs	+3.8 / -1.5 Gs
Maximum Height
Tricycle (on gear)	9 ft. 4 in	9 ft. 4 in
Tricycle (wings folded)	7ft. 1 in.	7ft. 1 in.
Tail dragger	6 ft. 11 in	6 ft. 11 in
Cabin Dimensions
Width (at hips)	44.0 in.	44.0 in.
Width (at shoulders)	46 in.	46 in.
Door width	37.0 in.	37.0 in.
Door height	31.5 in.	31.5 in.
Baggage space / Rear passenger area	37.0 cu. ft.	37.0 cu. ft.
Rear door width	26 in	26 in
Rear door height	31 in	31 in
Weights
Maximum gross weight (on wheels)	2,350 lbs.	2,500 lbs.
Maximum gross weight (on floats)	2,500 lbs.	2,650 lbs.
Empty weight (typical)	1,350 lbs.	1,350 lbs.
Useful load (typical)	1,000 lbs.	1,150 lbs.
Full-fuel payload (standard tanks)	700 lbs.	850 lbs.
Maximum baggage capacity	300 lbs.	300 lbs.
Fuel Capacity (usable)
Standard tanks	50 gals	50 gals

So this morning (Friday) we showed up to the factory which is typically closed except for the TWTT program.  Harry DeLong, the Directory of Customer Service gave us the tour of the factory and showed us all the steps on how the parts of the kits are built and packaged.  In many ways, it’s very similar to the Cirrus factory, only most of the aircraft is metal except for the fuselage.  The factory is much larger than I expected and Harry said they employ 35 full time employees.  Just recently Glasair was purchased by a Chinese investor and one of the big projects for them is to create a certified version of the Sportsman, but that’s a ways off. 

After the factory tour, we went into the TWTT building where there were four Sportsman aircraft at different stages being built.  In here, the owners and factory assistants were hard at work working on the aircraft doing different tasks as directed by the FAA.  The TWTT program is unique in that at the end of two weeks (14-days), the plane is ready to conduct a run-up and then taxi.  The following Monday, it will be inspected by the FAA to insure that it is airworthy and then it will be flown for 40 hrs to test all systems and flight characteristics.  Once this is done, the plane goes in for paint and then after 4-6 weeks, they call the owner to come fly it home.  Pretty amazing when you think of what all goes into the plane.

The first thing that caught my eye was the amazing fit and finish.  The plane is every bit as quality, if not a higher level of quality to a Cirrus (yes I know, apples vs oranges), but at a fraction of the cost.  Up close everything just fits really well and the design has truly been messaged to show that it was thoroughly thought out.  The next thing was the paint.  WOW, I always thought the guys at Midwest Aircraft Refinishing did the best job, but this place is equally as impressive.  IT IS STUNNING!

Glasair has built a lot of these aircraft to date and they have plenty of options to choose from.  Although the basic airframe is the same, but beauty of being able to make the plane a tricycle gear, tail dragger, floats, skis, or tundras, all converted over in a couple of hours is pretty amazing.  There are several engine and propeller options as well as different avionics packages too.  Below is the Deluxe IFR package which quite frankly would give my SR22 a run for its money.

Although I was not able to fly the plane since it was LIFR all morning, I did sit in them and snooped around a bit.  They aren’t huge inside, but still pretty roomy.  The back area you can configure with two rearward facing seats and in that area you can put 300lbs of stuff.  The CG envelope is huge, so weight balance shouldn’t be much of an issue.  Most aircraft have a useful load of just over 1,050 and if you go with the carbon fiber fuselage, you get an additional 150lbs of useful load.

 

Do to the fact that owning an airplane is pretty expensive; the option of experimental is much cheaper and makes it legal for you to do the work on the aircraft yourself.  The fact that this aircraft flies at 150 knots at 75% on 10 gallons of gas, can carry over 1000lbs of people and stuff, and land and take off from 400’ (depending on weight) is pretty darn impressive. 

Although I will own another Cirrus someday, the performance figures are really amazing and at this point in time, this plane would meet our mission and be a lot of fun to fly and explore the area in.  It also would be cheaper to own than the Cirrus, but the problem is that it would probably cost more upfront to build and own a Sportsman than to buy a used Cirrus.  Lastly, I would like to have “built an airplane” on my resume, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see and do a little more research.  As I am quickly finding out, the fact that you have so many options to choose from, the price of the plane can quickly grow, so I’ll have to take a good hard look at my requirements and see what I can come up with that might be affordable.  It will be interesting to see if we go this route.  If not, I look forward to going back up to Arlington to take a test flight.

Instrument Proficiency Check

Redbird SD1000 AATD

Today I was going to get checked out in the C172 w/G1000 that is down at Rainier Flight in Renton, WA.  I’m not a huge fan of the C172, however it is easily one of the nicest aircraft around and I know that since it is nice my wife “might” actually come fly in it with me.  Ever since we sold the Cirrus, both my wife and I have gotten pretty spoiled in what is out there to fly.  This is the closest thing that I can find that kind of fits the bill, so I booked the plane three weeks ago (earliest I could get in it), so that I might be able to get her up in it someday.  Unfortunately the weather was typical crap for this time of year with 500’ OC and mist.  Great day for flying IMC, but unfortunately KRNT doesn’t have any approaches low enough to get back in to (800’ for non WAAS, and 600’ w/WAAS).  Since the weather was solid IMC, it wasn’t a great day for doing a check ride either.  So instead, I asked Jack if we could do some instrument work in the Simulator instead and he said no problem.

The simulator at Rainier Flight is an Advanced Aviation Training Device (AATD), Redbird SD1000.  This is a non-motion unit that has a reconfigurable cockpit and for our purposes my instructor set it up for the G1000 C172.  My goal here was three-fold.  One, I really wanted to try out the Redbird and see how well it worked.  Two, I wanted to reacquaint myself to the G1000, since I hadn’t flown one in about four years,  and three, I wanted to get some IFR practice in and make use of the time.  Since this simulator is a certified AATD and my instructor is a CFII, the time spent in the simulator is log-able for IFR training.  Excellent!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since this was the first time using this simulator, I wanted to experiment a bit, so I took off from KRNT and flew to KPAE.  Yes, you could “magic move” the plane, but I wanted to see how it felt and get a good feel for the simulator.  I have heard many people complain about the simulator being too sensitive and unrealistic, and I found that it wasn’t bad at all.  It may be a bit sensitive, but nothing outrageous and the system as a whole worked pretty well.  I will say there are some quirks with the programming of the G1000 that are not correct and the knobs are too sensitive with minimal feel, but if you take your time and pay attention it works fine for the most part.  Some functions like bringing up a “direct to” function, does not auto-populate with “K”, which isn’t very realistic, but overall the functions were pretty good.  The KAP 150 autopilot also doesn’t like to hold its altitude, and if you don’t stop the vertical speed rate at “0”, it will blow through the assigned or set altitude.  That was more annoying than anything and it actually hand flies pretty well when you use the trim wheel.

We started off with a published hold at EYWOK for the ILS Y RWY 16R into Paine Field, then shot the ILS.  I screwed up the missed (failed to brief and UNDERSTAND) the procedure, but then unscrewed myself and went back into the hold again.  The second time I shot the approach, I hoped to better fly the missed procedure, but screwed it up a little the second time too (I was a little rusty ;-) ), but salvaged it.  The third approach was an RNAV (GPS) Y RWY 16R.  This approach went fine no issues and we started to wrap it up since we thought there was someone waiting on the sim.  I landed the sim and Jack check the schedule and the sim was not booked after all. 

Since the sim was open, Jack asked me again about my currency and said that if I had the time, we could do some partial panel work and unusual attitude discuss and he would write me off for an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC).  AWESOME!  I wasn’t planning on this, but it works for me, so I took off again and this time shot the RNAV (GPS) RWY 34L.  Since Jack killed my PFD, I was working crossways off the MFD with other issues and proceeded to shoot the approach.  We had some good discussion about scenarios, whether or not to declare an emergency and other topics and in the process, I noticed the approach didn’t sequence to the next waypoint (RARYO to USDAW).  Not a huge deal, I thought maybe in my talking I forgot to activate the approach.  I went in and activated the approach and the system reset the approach and expected me to go back to RARYO (IAF).  WRONG.  At this point, I declared missed, and came back around for another try.  One option Jack told me was that I could have just punched in vectors to final, and it would have populated the entire approach.  Good idea, just didn’t think of it.  Second time around, I flew the approach with no issues.

Once we finished we had some discussions about unusual attitudes and the IPC was complete.  I wasn’t aware that you could even do it in a simulator, but according to FAA regulation you can.  Obviously as a simulations guy, I had a blast since I love the idea of training in the sim.  You have the ability to do so much that you are really only limited by your imagination as to what you can do.  Next step for me is to get up and fly.  Although my skills are still ok, I definitely need to spend a little time doing some VOR work.  At least now I can fly again in IMC, I just have to find a plane that I’m comfortable in before I go fly it in actual IMC.  Good stuff and I will definitely spend some more time in the sim in the future!

Dr. Richard McGlaughlin's BRS Deployment

It's an amazing story.  Why all GA aircraft don't have a parachute is beyond me.  It just makes sense!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKwMLGxZJ4w&feature=c4-overview&list=UUzzKrtcSbLq28-JuTfYmZDg

Aircraft Checkout

So it has been a while since I have flown last.  With the Cirrus sold back in May, I have flown only one time and that was during my biannual flight review/DA40 checkout at Boeing Field.  I was pretty excited about that flight since I had about 35 hours in a DA40 already and I really like the aircraft.  Unfortunately, the flight school at Boeing Field that has the Diamonds treats flying like a self-licking ice cream cone or herpes in that it’s like the gift that keeps on giving (in a negative sort of way).  First off their prices are pretty steep at $180/hr wet, but on top of that there is a $30 “fuel surcharge”, so you’re really looking at $210/hr.  I rented a like new DA40 in Kansas City that was $155/hr.  What irked me even more is that you have to do a checkride to rent the aircraft, a checkride to fly at night, and a checkride to fly IFR.  It doesn’t matter how current you are or how much you fly, they just want to milk more money out of you and I just don’t agree with that.  The planes are decent, but pretty well used and the whole organization made me feel kind of dirty the way they do business, so I continued to look elsewhere. 

As I looked around I came across a really awesome flight school with great aircraft, great prices, great atmosphere, and an ownership attitude that is committed to helping people to fly.  They have a great fleet of aircraft (3x C162s, 1x C172 with steam gauges, 1x C172 G1000, 1x PA28RT, 1x American Champ Taildragger/float plane, and a nice Red Bird Simulator).  Although I have been trying to get scheduled in the C172 G1000 now for over two months, its limited availability due to all the private pilots renting it (very popular) it’s almost impossible to get.  I have had it scheduled twice, but had to cancel due to IFR weather and you can’t do an aircraft checkout in IMC.  My IFR also lapse, so I have to get that current again before I can actually fly in the IFR system again.  I did notice though that the Arrow isn’t flown very much and since I have over 150hrs in an Arrow, I thought that might be the ticket for me.  Hourly price on the Arrow was only $145/hr wet which was also a pretty good deal for a complex aircraft.  Arrows are fairly fast and this one has semi-updated avionics (new GTN750), and a descent useful load that would allow me to fly the family around since this aircraft is available for overnight travel. 

So today I met up with my instructor Jack and we talked a bit, did preflight and went out and did some air work.  Jack is a pretty knowledgeable instructor and pretty laid back, so we got along well.  After flying around a bit and showing me all the landmarks we came in and did three touch and go’s and the checkride was complete.  It was probably the easiest checkride I have done to date, but then again I used to fly an Arrow a lot, so it came back fairly quickly.  One thing that will take some time though is working on my instrument scan.  Being that my last 614 hours have been behind glass cockpits, I find I’m a bit lost going back to steam gauges again.  This of course will come back with more time in the plane, so I’m not too worried about it.

Although the plane is ok, I must admit, my Arrow seemed like it was much newer than this one even though it was 13 years older.  Mine had 2500 fewer hours on it and was really like new inside and out.  The new GPS in this Arrow was pretty awesome and the paint looks great on the plane, but he interior definitely needs some work and all of the systems seem to be real stiff and tough to move.  Rudder, throttle, prop, mixture, yoke all felt real heavy and tough to move.  Maybe I have just gotten used to how easy the Cirrus flies and how responsive it is to inputs, but this thing felt like I was flying a truck.  This particular Arrow being built in 1980 is a PA28RT, a T-Tail and that might have something to do with it too.  I had always heard that they fly a bit different and I would seem to agree with that.  I really noticed it when trying to land in that I seemed like I kept running out of elevator when flaring and had a difficult time getting the nose up.  Jack said that my landings were better than most and had no issues, but to me they just felt crappy, so I will have to work on those a bit to get them perfect.  I guess flying the Arrow again will take some getting used to, but regardless it was really great to be flying again.  I miss the freedom and challenge of flying and I look forward to getting some more time in the Arrow to get familiar with its quirks and then it will be time to do a Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) and get back my IFR privileges again.  Life is good!