Paul
Your comments on a rotary package to replace the turbine in the legend
was very intriguing.  What will the turbine Legend really do?
And what does it appear to take to do it ? I do not Know if any were
flown wit V8s to compare.

Incidently equal speeds are in ,And my old friend Parker squeezed past
Greenameyer at 361 and the both beat out the NXTs

Vance

Glad to see you are up and about Vance. I was going to go to Reno but
changed my mind. What does Parker fly? I also take it Jim Wright is
flying his NXT. The Legend was originally designed for the Chevy big
block. It flew for awhile but the cooling passages in the heads, among
other things, were not up to it.  The designer, Jeff Auckland and I had
a long talk about it at Copper State a few  years ago. He gave up and
put a turbine in it.

I was at this Symposium below. I talked to the engineers at Orenda there
about their  failed $50 million dollar effort to get the Chev big block
to work. They told me they  would kill their grandmothers for 1/4 inch
more bore spacing so they could put real  aircraft engine style fillets
in the main and rod journals :)

Paul Lamar

-------------------------------------------------------
http://members.eaa.org/home/flight_reports/legend.html

"     LEGEND
BY BRIEN A. SEELEY, C.J. STEPHENS AND THE CAFE BOARD

    This report documents the extremely high performance capability of a
new prototype
aircraft, the Legend. It is an all composite, 500 hp V-8 powered
kitplane. Jeff  Ackland, the builder of this aircraft and president of
Performance Aircraft in  Olathe, Kansas, brought the prototype Legend to
the CAFE Foundation flight test  facility primarily for the purpose of
setting a new all-time high score in the CAFE  Triaviathon. However, he
also prepared the aircraft with the necessary equipment for  a complete
Aircraft Performance Report.

The Legend's visit to Santa Rosa served as the stimulus for a
world-class gathering  of engine experts at the CAFE Foundation's Reno
Air Racing Engine Symposium on March  22, the same day the Legend flew
for the Triaviathon record. The Legend is built from  molded composite
sandwich skins using graphite facings and nomex honeycomb core. Its
engine is a 620 cubic inch Donovan "high deck" aluminum block, fuel
injected  derivative of the big block Chevrolet. It uses steel cylinder
sleeves, four-bolt main  bearings and Brodick single-plug cylinder
heads.

The propeller turns at 1/2 engine speed through a Hy-Vo 2"wide,
chain-driven speed  reduction unit designed by Fred Geschwender. An
excellent summary of the development  of the Legend appeared in the
October 1996 issue of Sport Aviation.

For the future, Jeff plans to standardize the Legend on a 541 cubic inch
Donovan  block Chevy-based V-8 with a shorter stroke crankshaft than
that in the prototype  N620L. It is possible that the new engine will
use a different cylinder head which  may include dual spark plugs.
TRIAVIATHON FLIGHTS

Jeff Ackland performed his Triaviathon record attempts solo with reduced
fuel to  improve the climb and stall speed performance. The current
record score of 1316 was  set by John Harmon in the Harmon Rocket II on
May 8, 1993. The table shows how the  Legend performed.

The Triaviathon scoring formula is:

                28110625 x [Vmax  x  ROC]2
    Score =     [4100625 + Vso4]  x  109

This formula rewards aircraft which combine a high maximum speed, a
rapid rate of  climb and a low stall speed. It is a curve fit in which
stall speeds between 35 and  70 mph are rewarded somewhat
proportionately. Stalls below 35 mph do little to  improve the score and
stalls above 70 mph impose a progressively stiffer penalty upon  the
score. The measured rate of climb is converted to be that for the
altitude window  of 2500'-3500' in standard day atmosphere.

It is remarkable that the Legend's stall speed is so low. Only 1300 prop
rpm were  used during these stalls, which were approached at 1 G. The
flap system and Viken  airfoil on the Legend are apparently delivering
exceptionally high lift at low speed.

Although the Legend did not break John Harmon's CAFE Triaviathon record,
the  computations show that the Legend could break the record with only
minor  improvements. Jeff Ackland said that he hopes to soon have a new
supercharged 800  horsepower engine installed for another assault on the
record.

Jeff has plans to race the N620L at the Reno National Championship Air
Races in  September 1997.


      This report documents the extremely high performance capability of a
new prototype
aircraft, the Legend. It is an all composite, 500 hp V-8 powered
kitplane. Jeff  Ackland, the builder of this aircraft and president of
Performance Aircraft in  Olathe, Kansas, brought the prototype Legend to
the CAFE Foundation flight test  facility primarily for the purpose of
setting a new all-time high score in the CAFE  Triaviathon. However, he
also prepared the aircraft with the necessary equipment for  a complete
Aircraft Performance Report.

The Legend's visit to Santa Rosa served as the stimulus for a
world-class gathering  of engine experts at the CAFE Foundation's Reno
Air Racing Engine Symposium on March  22, the same day the Legend flew
for the Triaviathon record. The Legend is built from  molded composite
sandwich skins using graphite facings and nomex honeycomb core. Its
engine is a 620 cubic inch Donovan "high deck" aluminum block, fuel
injected  derivative of the big block Chevrolet. It uses steel cylinder
sleeves, four-bolt main  bearings and Brodick single-plug cylinder
heads.

The propeller turns at 1/2 engine speed through a Hy-Vo 2"wide,
chain-driven speed  reduction unit designed by Fred Geschwender. An
excellent summary of the development  of the Legend appeared in the
October 1996 issue of Sport Aviation.

For the future, Jeff plans to standardize the Legend on a 541 cubic inch
Donovan  block Chevy-based V-8 with a shorter stroke crankshaft than
that in the prototype  N620L. It is possible that the new engine will
use a different cylinder head which  may include dual spark plugs.
TRIAVIATHON FLIGHTS

Jeff Ackland performed his Triaviathon record attempts solo with reduced
fuel to  improve the climb and stall speed performance. The current
record score of 1316 was  set by John Harmon in the Harmon Rocket II on
May 8, 1993. The table shows how the  Legend performed.

The Triaviathon scoring formula is:

                28110625 x [Vmax  x  ROC]2
    Score =     [4100625 + Vso4]  x  109

This formula rewards aircraft which combine a high maximum speed, a
rapid rate of  climb and a low stall speed. It is a curve fit in which
stall speeds between 35 and  70 mph are rewarded somewhat
proportionately. Stalls below 35 mph do little to  improve the score and
stalls above 70 mph impose a progressively stiffer penalty upon  the
score. The measured rate of climb is converted to be that for the
altitude window  of 2500'-3500' in standard day atmosphere.

It is remarkable that the Legend's stall speed is so low. Only 1300 prop
rpm were  used during these stalls, which were approached at 1 G. The
flap system and Viken  airfoil on the Legend are apparently delivering
exceptionally high lift at low speed.

Although the Legend did not break John Harmon's CAFE Triaviathon record,
the  computations show that the Legend could break the record with only
minor  improvements. Jeff Ackland said that he hopes to soon have a new
supercharged 800  horsepower engine installed for another assault on the
record.

Jeff has plans to race the N620L at the Reno National Championship Air
Races in  September 1997.
FLYING QUALITIES REPORT
BY C. J. STEPHENS - CAFE Foundation Test Pilot

A 'Legend' In Its Own Time

By the time the Legend arrived at the CAFE Foundation's test facility in
Santa Rosa,  rumors about its upcoming Trivathon record attempt had been
circulating at the  airport for several days. This was exciting.

At first look, it was apparent that the Legend designer had done a
beautiful job of  making a good looking ship with clean lines.

The 620 cubic inch aluminum block V-8 under the cowl made a throaty
sound with its  short stacks protruding directly from each cylinder. The
sound reminded me of the  Merlin engine that hangs on the front of the
famous P-51 Mustang.

Most of the planes tested by the CAFE Foundation have had conventional
aircraft  engines. This has lent a lot of commonality from one test
airplane to the next. It  also has given me confidence, as the test
pilot, to fly behind conventional engines  that have proven to be
reliable in many years operation. Because the Legend uses an
unconventional V-8 engine, I was very attentive during all of Jeff's
briefings  regarding each feature of this airplane. There were a number
of unfamiliar systems  that had to be studied and related to one
another.
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS

The landing gear system and the wing design (with the exception of the
airfoil) were  similar to the Glasair III design which was the subject
of our last report (see Sport  Aviation Feb. '97). The tires and brakes
were slightly larger (6.5"x6") than those of  the Glasair III. The
tricycle landing gear was powered hydraulically and the flap  operation
was by electric motor. With the propeller length necessitating long
landing  gear legs, a large step up onto the wing was required to gain
access to the cockpit  without stepping on the flap. A no-skid step area
was conveniently located on the  wing root.

The large clamshell canopy fits perfectly flush to the outer surfaces of
the  fuselage. Gas shock struts hold the canopy in the open position for
easy cockpit  entry. During all engine running operations it is
necessary to either manually hold  the canopy nearly closed or to
completely close and lock it to prevent damage caused  by the
significant propeller wash.
COCKPIT IMPRESSIONS

The Legend is a two-place craft with a tandem seating arrangement. This
puts the  pilot in the middle of the cockpit with an equal field of view
over each side of the  cowling. Both the front and rear seats have
adequate shoulder room and lots of elbow  room, giving an overall
feeling of spaciousness. One CAFE member who is 6'3" fit  comfortably
into the rear seat with his knees just touching the forward seatback.

The cockpit layout was beautiful, with a conventional throttle quadrant
on the left  in a very natural location. Instruments were only installed
in the front cockpit;  however, many of the instruments could be read
while sitting in the rear seat. Rudder  pedals were fairly standard,
with toe brakes which lacked a provision for leg length  adjustment.

I felt that the mixture control was a little too sensitive and required
too little  movement to achieve the required settings. The fuel system
included a panel-mounted  fuel shut-off knob. Dual boost pumps were used
during all operations below 1,000',  with each pump connected to a
separate battery. Above 1,000' it was acceptable to  operate with only
one boost pump. There was no mechanical fuel pump and the engine  would
die quickly if both boost pumps were turned off. There was a fuel flow
measuring system which automatically subtracted the fuel burned from the
total fuel  amount, which the pilot could set before engine start. By
our measurements it  provided better than 0.7% accuracy for fuel flow.
The panel-mounted analog fuel gauge  would only read approximate fuel
status and then only when the fuel remaining was  below the top of the
sensor (about 2/3 tank remaining).

The ignition system was interesting in that it used dual batteries and
inductive  pickups, but only a single distributor. There was a single
spark plug installed in  each cylinder. No flop tubes were installed for
inverted flight.
ENGINE START

The plane started quickly after minimal priming. It had to be started
with the boost  pump off (to prevent overpriming), but the pump then had
to be turned on immediately  after start to prevent fuel starvation.
After a couple of starts the procedure proved  to be manageable. In
about four minutes the engine was warm enough to complete the  preflight
run up. The tachometer displayed the engine crankshaft rpm, rather than
propeller rpm. Simple arithmetic would compute the propeller rpm as one
half the  engine speed, given the speed reduction ratio of 2 to 1.
During run-up, both  ignitions and both boost pumps were independently
checked for function on each  battery position at 2,000 rpm. This
important step to ensure maximum redundancy of  these critical systems
was emphasized in my briefing on the aircraft's operation. The
propeller was cycled at 2,500 engine rpm using very conventional
methods. GROUND OPERATIONS

Even with full tanks, the plane can be moved about on the ground by one
person using  a tow bar connected to the nose wheel. Refueling of the
single fuel tank can be done  through either fuel cap located near the
wing tips. Since the airplane is mostly  carbon fiber, adequate static
discharge grounding can be accomplished by connecting  the grounding
wire to the nose wheel strut. During taxi operations the castering nose
wheel worked very well with only light braking required for directional
control. The  tricycle gear afforded a good view of the pavement ahead.
TAKEOFF

Everything checked perfectly at run up and the flaps were visually set
to  approximately 15 degrees. The plane was taxied into position for
takeoff. As the  throttle was advanced, the hefty V-8 sounded like the
throaty purr of a big racing  boat or a Merlin engine. With one last
scan of the engine gauges, the brakes were  released and the throttle
was advanced to the forward stop. The sensation was  exhilarating as the
500 hp engine accelerated the plane down the runway like a high
performance Corvette. Only slight right rudder was required to keep the
nose wheel  tracking straight down the center line of the runway. As the
airspeed approached 90  mph, slight backward stick pressure was applied
and the plane lifted off smoothly at  95 mph. Gear and flap retraction
were normal with only slight rocking of the wings as  I adjusted my hand
to the sensitivity of the ailerons. The airspeed rapidly increased  to
and stabilized at 160 mph for the climb.

WATER COOLING

It was necessary to use somewhat unconventional cockpit procedures for
proper  operation of the Legend's water cooled V-8 engine. The radiator
was evidently sized  very well for this application. Both the oil and
engine coolant circulate through the  radiator for cooling; therefore,
coolant door operation directly affects the  temperature of both fluids.
We did not evaluate any long duration ground runs, but  all normal
ground operations had plenty of cooling available. During the takeoff,
climb, and all high-powered flight regimes, the cooling door was left in
the open  position and both the oil and coolant temperatures remained
normal (Water: 180*  F/Oil: 210* F).

Upon leveling off at a cruise power setting, the coolant door could be
closed and  temperatures remained normal. On the brief full power Vmax
run with the coolant door  closed (minimum drag) the temperature began
to rise but recovered as soon as the 5  minute run was complete and the
door was opened. The door had to be activated  manually. I think that
its operation should be automatic. While no intermediate door  position
indicator was available, there were limit lights that indicated when the
 door was fully open and fully closed. An emergency "T" handle was
provided to release  the door to trail freely in the event the electric
drive motor failed. During cruise  and descent the door was left in the
closed position. It was opened in the traffic  pattern to anticipate any
event in which a high power setting would be needed. With  the door open
a very slight aerodynamic vibration could be felt throughout the
airframe.

At first I felt that the time required to monitor and operate the engine
cooling  system caused an excessive added work load for the pilot. As I
got more used to the  systems that level of distraction was reduced.
With practice, or on flights that had  fewer speed and power changes,
the pilot workload would be tolerable.


The Legend?

The answer to a question we've received several times in the last year
(will the  Legend be at Reno '98?) landed and whined it's way past where
Mark and I were taking  a break from the 100+ deg temps that graced this
weekend at Reno...... the answer is  a very big YES, but not as a race
entry. Those of you who attended this year's Sun 'n  Fun EAA Fly In
probably already know the answer to this one.... The V-8 powered
Legend, seen at Reno last year, has undergone a very exciting
conversion....Jeff  Ackland and the people at Performance Aircraft have
hung a 650 hp turboprop on the  nose of this already fast airplane!
Slated to share pace plane duties with a factory  Lancair for this
year's Sport Class events, it will be a real head turner!...(there  is
something sexy about an airplane that can taxi backwards:) trust us.....
this is  one E-X-C-I-T-I-N-G airplane! (More on this one in a later
update!)