Goats are crazy

13 posts in this topic

Posted

So I was out playing this weekend and I have been intending on trying to get a goat tag for this area since it is close to home.  I have been watching where the goats like to be to see if I think I can get to them and be able to recover one if I shoot one because they tend to like the most vertical landscape there is available.  So I landed in a new spot on the river the other day intending to hike up to another spot to see if I could land there and what is there on the river bank not more that 100 yards away when I shut down?

Oh, and the other new spot is nice, it even has a supply of spare parts available if you need them.  Maybe someone knows what the airplane was?

DSCN3456-1.jpg

DSCN3469-1.jpg

DSCN3470-1.jpg

DSCN3475-1.jpg

DSCN3477-1.jpg

DSCN3480-1.jpg

DSCN3483-1.jpg

DSCN3485-1.jpg

DSCN3503-1.jpg

DSCN3508-1.jpg

4 people like this

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Looks awesome Randy, those goats know its not hunting season yet :BC:

2 people like this

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

would be nice if they stayed that low for ya!  No clue on the bird.  Helio maybe?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Hope it's a good omen; Sheep and caribou opens in a couple of weeks.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

The parts are from the last airplane to land there intending to shoot a goat...

 

2 people like this

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Ha, ha, that might be the answer!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Ohhh man i tell u i cant wait till im able to go do that kind of flying, fishin, huntin, campin!!!! Ill have to say im jeliouse

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Maybe the sheep purchased a Stinger or two off the black market.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Guess I better watch out for those terrorist sheep and goat groups! lol.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Late replay from my side .... but it looks really awesome ... place and plane there as well.
btw. I can read basic data about your plane here ... but would it be possible to write more technical details about your plane? Like empty weight, engine performance...maybe some real life numbers regarding performance as well ...

Thank you

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted (edited)

Hi Jenki,

 Thanks for the comments.  I'm not sure what you already know so I will give a brief rundown on the plane; The airframe is an Airdale Avid +, so it is basically 18" longer and 6" wider than the Avid MKIV. The tail is quite a bit larger with a balanced rudder.  The mixer controls are under the pilot seat and it uses push/pull cables for the flaperons.  I had Steve Widner build a few mods in it for me with extended baggage so it is 6' from the front seat truss to the back of the baggage.  I have actually slept in the plane.  Also had him put in 3 mount points for the gear instead of 2 and I built the gear 5.5" taller (and much heavier duty) than the Airdale extended gear.  It has 30" X 13" Airstreaks on the mains with Matco triple puck brakes and a TC3 suspension tail assembly with a Matco 8" TW with a one piece machined fork.  The wings are basically Avid HH wings extended 16.5" so just under 33' wingspan, spars are greatly strengthened with 36" triple laminated spar inserts, lengthened and strengthened lift struts, extra riveted attachment brackets, 4130 chrome molly drag struts, semi squared wing tips, washout reduced to 7/8", Kitfox leading edge cuff, metal leading edge to 18" back, vortex generators at 1.5" from the LE, 18" extended flaperons with travel increased to 26 degrees, and VG's under the HS about 1.5" in front of the elevator hinge.  The engine is a 912 ULS with Hal Stockman 114hp Zipper kit, zero thrust lined, and a 72" IVO Medium IFA prop. With all this stuff, the plane comes in rather heavy at 830 lbs.

I will have to get some more accurate numbers for you but at about 1150 to 1200 lbs  it climbs at around 1000 to 1100 fpm, and lands in 150 to 200 ft  if I do my part.  The takeoff  distance is about the same as landing distance.  Cruse at 60 mph shows less than 1 GPH fuel flow, 80 mph is about 4.5 GPH, 90 is about 5 to 5.5 GPH and max level flight is about 105 at 6+ GPH.  (For those who don't use big tires, there is a huge difference in drag between the 30" Airstreaks, and the 26" Bushwheels, not to mention the tiny little stock tires).  The stall numbers are not that much different than with the stock MKIV HH wing, about 40 mph power off without flaps and about 35 mph power off with flaps, but the extended wings are much easier to keep right above the stall and arrest the sink with just slight additions of power, so it is easier to land slow and precise and much shorter. They also handle the heavy loads (loaded to 1500+ lbs.) significantly better than the stock HH wings.  The performance difference between the stock and extended wings is much greater as the weight increases.  For me, this is important since I load this plane pretty heavy with 38 gal of fuel and all my hunting gear when I hunt with it, plus hauling the game out. It makes a pretty good single person hunting platform.

I have to say, the amount of help and technical knowledge received from so many of the members here is amazing and has really been a benefit to making this plane what I wanted. I am very grateful, and special thanks to Jack and Leni for all your work in helping build it!

Edited by SuberAvid
1 person likes this

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted (edited)

Hi Randy,

what to say ... just THANK YOU very much for comprehensive answer. ;)

As far as I understand, your AVID is about the same size as current modern S7 Kit Fox. Just your tail feathering looks bigger, more effective, at least rudder visible on the pictures. This is for me again the important package of information. Although I am now proud owner of Bristell TDO, and very happy due to travel performance with still nice capability for landing on unpaved rough strips, I am still building my knowledge for future real STOL bush plane.

The most important for me is to know the impact on the CG, balance, steering control and stability when modifications are made. The size and efficiency of control surfaces is very important as well.In the case of modification of my former plane STYLUS  (still in my profile picture) - which is still possible way, I am afraid exactly about possibly insufficient steering control capability. That is the reason I am gathering as much as possible information.
Regarding Rotax modification - did you start with 80 HP engine or 100HP?  How long do you use this modification? What is your experience with this modification?

Thank you in advance.

P.S.
on more question - what does it means "Soft Start" ? I have Rotax engine on hte second aircraft, but we don't have such option here ...

Edited by Jenki

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Hi Jenki,

The ground handling is a bit easier with the Longer Avid+ than the Avid MKIV I had before it and I think this is a combination of the longer fuselage and the larger tail and rudder.  Additionally it will cruise hands off and stay on line for miles in smooth air; a lot easier than the MKIV, probably for the same reason. The size is pretty similar to the Kitfox S7 and the Just Highlander, but I am not sure how wide they are at the shoulder,  the Avid+ might be a bit wider.

I had a Stratus Subaru on the plane up until last winter when I swapped it for the Rotax 912.  The Subaru was very reliable but was much heavier and I don't think I was getting the full 100hp out of it with the prop all the way flat since it would not reach redline of 5200 rpm.  I wanted to keep my CG in the same location so I could continue to load the plane heavy without worrying about to rear a CG so Leni built the engine mount to place the Rotax 4" further forward than the Subaru.  This came out perfect with the  CG almost exactly the same with the Rotax being 64 lbs less installed weight. 

The engine is a later model 912 ULS 100 hp stock.  I put the zipper kit in it before I installed it so I don't know what it would have been like for performance as a stock motor. I completed the install about the end of Jan 2019 and have 87 hours on it now so that is the extent of my time on it and have had no issues with the modification to date.  The only issue I have with the motor is one of the  ignition systems has a larger than normal RPM drop when the other ignition is switched off and I have not been able to determine the cause.  When I talked to Hal before I bought the kit he had over 1000 hours on his motor with this kit in it and it was originally an 80 hp motor.  I did see he blew his motor on the way to Oshkosh this year but I am not sure if it was the same motor.  If it was, it probably had over 1500 hours on it by then.  I also saw that Trent Palmer blew his motor with this kit on it but it was also an 80 hp motor and had a lot of hours on it.  The bottom line might be not to run them much over 1000 hours between rebuilds but there are many others on this forum with many more hours of experience with the 912 who can give you much more knowledgeable advise based on their experience with them.  I would also suggest talking directly to Hal Stockman if you are considering getting the kit since he is a very straight up guy and will honestly tell you his experience with it and what he would recommend.

The soft start works very well; the engine starts easily with no shaking or knocking.  About 3 seconds after starting it, the RPM jumps up about 300 RPM when the soft start kicks off.  If I understand the system, it retards the timing for starting and then after a few seconds it resets the timing to the correct advance. 

The other mod I got from Hal Stockman is the large crossover tube between the intake manifolds.  He modifies the intake manifolds to replace the small little crossover tube with a 1" crossover tube which makes the motor a lot less sensitive to exact carb balancing and lets it idle smoothly down below 1800 RPM.

Hope that give you some useful info,

Randy

 

2 people like this

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!


Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.


Sign In Now