Tom Smythe wrote:
Hi,
Sorry I took so long getting back to the group - I was on pager last week (no sleep) plus the war
started.
When it comes to six-place kits, I had researched/looked at the following:
Make Engine Kit Price Empty Gross 75% Stall Fuel Endurance T/O Cabin
(less Wt Wt Cruise Dirty Capacity in Run Width
eng/inst) (lbs) (lbs) (KTAS) (KTAS) Gallons nautical
miles
Avia 435HP $125,000 2,490 4,200 235 @ 59 176 1,565 680' 45"
Bellanca 5,000' full fuel
Skyrocket or 587
III full
seats
Aircraft 300HP $71,750 2,200 3,800 <200 @ 62 180 2,200 1,800' 49"
Designs 12,000' full fuel
Stallion or 1,175
full
seats
Murphy 360HP $32,000 1,650 3,500 140 = 45 120 1,090 600' 44"
Moose (standard) - ~55% full fuel
$48,000 AND seats
(quick-build)
Aerocomp 385HP $64,995 (plus 2,600 4,600 ~167 52 190 1,460 600'+ 47.5"
CompAir options) full fuel
7SLX or 1,215
full
seats
The only caveat I would add concerning the Aerocomp info is it's all clobbered together. They
never post any definite numbers on their website or in their literature (one reason I'm leery of
buying anything from them).
Plus, I looked at the vjaqua six place and it's interesting, but no specs, costs, etc... (but
looks very nice).
I tried to find a six-place Extra 300, but could only come up with the two seat tandem acrobatic
plane - sorry.
The other plane I found during search was a BARRSIX at http://www.barraircraft.com/. This one is
further along than the six place at the vjaqua site (still took over a decade to get to this point
- which gives me cause to reconsider what I'm doing). The site includes lots of real numbers and
an airplane that's close to being ready to fly. However, a big knock against this plane is his
choice of engines (VERY heavy). So, I doubt a 20b would drop into this airframe without MAJOR
mods...
Were I picking from those selling on the list above, I'd pick the Moose as I still have a family
to raise and retirement to consider. Granted, the cruise isn't that fast, but it has lots of good
things going for it (a big one being the company is VERY well renouned in this industry).
But, I do need to know if the numbers listed above sound realistic for turbo'd rotaries. If so,
then I'll continue my quest to design my own for another six months or so. If, by that time I find
that I can't really improve much or the cost to "improve" a design is prohibitive, then I'll fall
back to one of the above (unless something new comes along this year at Oshkosh).
Again, I really enjoy all I'm learning on this group and appreciate all the efforts/achievements
that are helping further the rotary as a viable aircraft engine.
Thanks,
tom
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