Yamma-Fox

Hey guys, I was super lucky to get to ride with Steve Henry this summer and have meant to write a short description of part of that ride.

Below is that story which I will post on Facebook, but for thoae of you who are smart enough to stay off Facebook - here is a copy:

STOL DRAG RIDE ALONG 

I count myself as a really lucky dude.

Lucky not so much for what I've done in aviation: just another high time pilot (transport), but relatively low time "low and slow" STOL wanna-be.  Owned a couple Kitfoxes and a Maule, but a pretty average pilot in those planes.

What (in my book) makes me really lucky is the chance I had this summer to ride along with one of the greatest STOL / Backcountry / STOL Drag pilots in the world.

Steve Henry is that, but even more impressively he is one of those very rare people that you meet and from the first impression find that he is a really great guy.... someone who's superb skill as a pilot is envy'd by me as much as his superb character.

So for those like me that wonder what's it like to make that STOL Drag run, here is my description from when I got that 'ride along of a lifetime' and felt that thrill of an elite pilot pushing a highly capable plane for every penny it is capable of, and a few pennys extra.

This ride with Steve was before he had his "Yee-Haw 7" running with the Edge Performance 300 HP EPeX.  I rode in Yee-Haw 6, a Just Aircraft Highlander (modified by Wild West Aircraft) and powered by a 150 HP Yamaha Skytrax Apex.

Next time you fly a plane similar to that (one that stalls below 50 and tops below 150), get it ripping down final approach at 100 mph.  Take it down low right to the threshold at 10 feet and 100 mph over a narrow asphalt runway about 2000 feet long.  

From there only imagine  (and do not attempt) the next steps:

From that snapshot you should feel as I did:  "We have NO chance of landing here... it is out of the question ENTIRELY.  He must be doing a high speed fly-by."

In the next moment I am slammed up against Steve's right shoulder, and the runway I was looking at over the cowl is found practically out the Highlander's left door window.  I think I remember bending my head forward to see the runway from around Steve's mic boom.

So now I'm thinking "OK... that left wing is maybe 5 feet off the ground, we're sideways going 100 and the runway end is approaching fast"  

"Did I remember to tell my kids and wife that I love them this morning??"

But this unthinkably proficient pilot has got it nailed.  Smack down the centerline while flying sideways with that left wing pointed seemingly down the runway stripes.

Next I see that we are halfway down the runaway and slowing fast... but dammit we are still sideways!!  Not just a LITTLE  sideways... we are re-inventing sideways to a whole new degree.

My flight instructor taught me that stalling when sideways is BAD.  And maybe more bad is LANDING a tailwheel airplane sideways!  We are apparently about to do one, the other, or BOTH!!

At this point I am really glad that I fully relieved my bladder before we took off.

As the Highlander gets "squishy" slow I take a gulp and blink.  When I open my eyes the runway is once again right where it should be, perfectly straight ahead.  Our tailwheel touches first and paints the centerline for a moment and then it pushes the big fat main tires securely on the asphalt.

I'm thinking "Hot damn, it's over!"

But next we are braking so hard that there is no way we can NOT flip over.  

I am actually relieved with the thought of that.  Surely I can walk away from a nose-over.  This seems like a much better way to crash!

I am so happy to have just overcome the far worse option of being balled up in a small compact heap out of that 100 mph sideways thing!   But for some undeserving reason God saw me through that... and now again he sees me through the inevitable flip over.

The braking doesn't last but a second and we are stopped.

At that moment I was convinced that Steve had nothing to do with our present situation of safety, and I remind myself to never doubt God again.  

"YEE-HAW" I blurted!

But no, it's still not over yet!  Next I intimately meet the right window pane as we wheel around in a full power intentional ground loop, one that ends in a perfect 180 degree left snap turn.  

The tach counts the Yamaha at 9400 rpm.  I'm being pushed into the seatback.

'One potato' -  tail is up
'Two potato' - tail goes back down
'Three potato' - we're off and flying, accelerating back to 100 and making the home strech in this ultimate thrill ride of a race demo.

Next would come that adrenaline rush in testing again how far, and for how long possible an airplane can go sideways.

Yeah... The most fun I've had in an airplane!

One lucky dude I am!
Brett

Thanks!   I emailed them to see if they can produce some in small dia sizes.   Might work good too on the wires that support the horizontal and vertical stab on some planes.

Good thinking!  Here's what a quick search came up with.  I'll keep digging.

https://deepwaterbuoyancy.com/product/mooring-line-cable-fairing/

Taking it like a man.  No excuses.  Gotta respect that.

Haha!  Yeah I am not the guy to make rocket science out of stuff but when I learned (from this video) that those tiny 1/8 wires are causing as much drag as the expensive streamline struts and spreaders I bought then I wondered if there was a simple way to help em "go with the flow" a little better.

First though I better tackle my round tube lift struts that are dragging as much as 10" cross sectional streamline would!  

Then I'm doin the jury struts with R/C aileron balsa...

Oh yeah, and then fair that brick of a belly radiator...

Then it'll be a Ferrari, damnit!

Ok so what do I do about the cross wires on my floats?  How would you get an airfoil shape on a 1/8" wire?

I assume something as simple as doubling gorilla tape over it (wire is the leading edge with a "tail" of tape behind) might get a bit of airfoil shape but would probably flutter and cause more problems than it solves?

Yeah it sure has been neat to see how much this group has meant to Ed over the years, and a lot of us have missed him here lately!

It has clearly been a real important part of life for him and hopefully it will be again during his recovery.

Count me in to chip in if he needs new computer hardware.  I can set up a GoFundMe and we'll have it in a flash!

Might be good to get a laptop with the "geek squad" type of support package where they deliver the laptop to his house and help him get it set up and online with favorites and everything.

Had the same thing with my last plane I sold. 

There'll be a better buyer.

Or this buyer might get "better" when you say no to his "valet parking" idea of a plan.

Didn't think it'd take long.  

It's a no brainer for someone looking for a plane like that. 

Not often you can find something that is done meticulously right like that.

Man that thing looks like you stole it off the showroom in 2002!

Heres the manual for it:

Not sure if you mean my pics?

If so then no I'd never use a Mohawk ANYTHING.  Mine is a Skytrax with C box.

I was friends with Greg at Mohawk early on but have unfortunately gravitated entirely away anything he does.

Biggest reason:  He builds prortotypes, posts videos of them and advertises them as the next greatest thing...  without testing / proving them / working out any issues with them.

Greg leaves the testing and R&D up to his customers.  That is fine if he were upfront about it because then you could decide if you wanted to be the test pilot of his engineering.  But he is most definitely not upfront about it!  Quite the contrary.

I talk to him often.  Last word was that he hoped to adapt the new apex adapter-gearbox to the RX1 but is first focusing on the Phazer kit.

With the lightweight phazer and less cantilever distance id bet that would do fine.  But I might upsize it since i like to overbuild things 

Yeah from my view of Edge's turbo Yamaha (EPeX) build, I will say that they definitely do NOT take any shortcuts in what they do.

Welcome!

You may have seen my RX-1 build post (link below).  It has some info in there.

When deciding about the yamaha my main question was also about the c gearbox.  Through my research I have found it to be very durable and can point to several examples with over 400 hours on them.

FYI There are approximately 120 yamahas with the c gearbox (some flying for over 10 years now) and the only two examples of problems were bearing failures that were tracked back to improper assembly.  Those two planes did not suffer powerloss.  The pilots noticed excess noise and some play in the pinion shaft on preflight.

As with all aircraft engine types, someone flying a yamaha will have a failure out at some point.  That is inevitable.  I won't tell you that it won't be you or I to be the first to see that happen but so far the gearbox (and the yamaha) have proven out really well with no reports of power loss in the air.

Mostly all .049 x .75

Mount locations are .75 x .059 with brass bushings for the smaller dia bolts.  I did it that way to allow for some warpage and still get er to bolt up.

Big side tubes are 1.5"

Here are pics of the one I made for my 4 cyl RX-1.  It is based off of several other examples of successful Yamaha mounts by other people.

The extra cross member on front left is for my oil tank and I needed to canteliver the right support that goes to the bottom mount location in order to clear the crankcase. 

Angles should be easier on your short 2 cyl Phazer and you wont have to stretch out so far so it should be a cinch.

This is for a KF1 right?

I thought I heard that the early model Kitfoxes had a built in angle on the firewall?   You should be able to detect it (if it is there) by measuring back to the airframe.

Otherwise need to know which direction your prop turns.  Some people will angle about 2 to 4 degrees left for a left turning prop and opposite for a right.  That to counter P factor.

Some people say they mount zero angle and shim the mount later if they need to.

Id sell my complete KF5 bungee type landing gear, brakes and new tires.

I think it measures the same as the KF4?

Just pulled it off for float install and I'll go with a full gear and tire upgrade if I switch it back.

Thanks guys.  Yeah I'm running the stolspeed VGs.  I'll ref the builder's manual and check to see where my washout is set.

I know it can be adjusted up on the top of the lift strut attach points.

If you have a lot of washout set what is the effect?  More draggy?

Planning on doing the  factory wing extensions on my short wing KF5.

Think the washout will need to be reset?  (The KF instructions do not specify to do so)

And bigger picture: what is the effect of having more (or less) washout than spec?

Man I bet this will sell fast.

A flying condition stol airplane, hangar, and extra engine for 15k!

Post in the Kitfox FB group too?

Short hijack here...  One of my favorite books written by an Alaska flying warden back in the 70s and 80s.  Great stories in here and this topic reminds me of one where he was holed up in a shack with crazy winds... the (supercub?) was actually flying in the tiedown ropes!  Read the book to see the rest of the story when they decided to fly it out!

And BTW my favorite story is Chapter 18!  Just about died laughing!

"From a Bush Wing: Notes of an Alaska Wildlife Trooper" by Stephen Santiago Reynolds.

Start reading it for free: http://a.co/gN3RM7k

Oh and it always amazes me how strong steel is. When I was building my mount I kept asking myself if it will be able to hold 500-600lbs of thrust.  Then I realized that it really comes down to merely the THREADS on the AN4 bolts / nuts!

From some of the Yamaha mounts Ive seen (that are working just fine) and also my old highly cantilevered sub NSI mount, I would say that the most other mounts must be overbuilt.

Maybe draw something up that is very lightly built and run it through a FEM / FEA program to see what it is calculated to hold up to.