7-22-2009 = 10 years
720 TT
555 SMOH
220 SRD1B
Vote for me!
Canard Light Sport Aircraft ideas and concepts page.
How to install a rotary in a Long-EZ, some fundamentals.
Videos
January 2007, Flight to Hoquiam WA, 12Meg
July 1999, First Flight, 53Meg
Photos
July 2008, Arlington WA
August 2006, Kansas trip
July 2006, Arlington WA
May 2006, Columbia CA
July 29 - August 3, 2005, photos from the trip to Kansas.
July 18 - 28, 2002, photos from the trip to my home state of Kansas.
February 9, 2002, photos from the Northwest Canard Club gathering at Paine Field, Everett, Washington. All photos were taken by Canard Airshow Pilot Tom Staggs, including shots made by Tom while flying in formation.
January 2001, photos taken by Paul Lamar of my visit to Fox Field in Southern California and tour of the Space Shuttle Columbia at the Boeing facility in Palmdale.
July 2000, photos taken by my friend Claus Bohm with a digital camera. High bandwidth required!
A virtual trip along the west coast of the Americas. Click on the markers for airport information. Zoom in on the airports, you will see runways, airplanes, other vehicles and structures. This would be an easy trip in a Long-EZ. Maybe I'll do this one day after putting 12 inch numbers on my airplane and learning some Spanish.
The Pacific Coast of Mexico. There is a canard parked in the aerial photo at MMCN!
The Pacific Coast of Central America
The Pacific Coast of northern South America. There are 18 airports between Panama and northern Peru but I am having trouble getting Google to plot the points on this one.
The Pacific Coast of southern South America
Airports on the Baja Peninsula
Kansas trip, August 2 - 6, 2006
Photo courtesy of Steve Emley. Steve, Roger Ray, and I are enroute to the Columbia California Cinco de Mayo gathering May 5 2006. Steve shot this photo of Roger in his Midget Mustang and me as we are passing Mount Shasta.
Here are Paul Werner's photos of the event.
I recently increased the main tires to 5.00X5 and installed a set of Vans RV wheelpants. Gained around 10 knots (160 knots cruise). Repainted the cowl. 580 total hours.
Obtaining Mogas when travelling, resources for experimental/mogas STC pilots:
Do
you live near an airport, and could assist experimental/stc pilots in
obtaining mogas during their cross-country travels? Meet some
interesting planes and their owners. To have yourself added to this map, send an email (link at bottom of this page) with your contact email, and airport identifier.
Mogas Assistance Network
Other Resources:
You can help, request that 82UL unleaded aviation fuel (ASTM D6227, no alcohol content) be stocked at your local FBO. Caution: 82UL is NOT a substitute for 100LL.
More information about 82UL:
Status Summer 2005
540 total hours
375 hours SMOH
On the recent trip to Kansas, the first long trip with the PSRU/prop, fuel burn was about 8.8 gph cruising 150 knots TAS @ 11,500 feet. This calculates to 172 mph and 19.6 mpg. This burn-rate could be improved with the addition of a lean control for cruise flight, as the ECU runs the engine rich-best power, with automatic altitude compensation.
July 29 - August 3, 2005, photos from the trip to Kansas.
!News Flash February 2005!
Duckt is now ductless! Duckt was converted from ducted fan propulsion to PSRU/prop December 2004 (still powered by a rotary engine - of course!). The short story is: takeoff distance remains the same, climb rate improved, cruise speed much improved. Detailed specs and photos will be published later. The information and links below will be "frozen", to help those designing and building ducted fans. Ducted fans remain a viable alternative, especially for slower applications such as Light Sport Aircraft and gyrocopters. The Long-EZ, other than being a pusher, was probably not the ideal testbed to develop the ducted fan, but I did get almost 500 enjoyable flight hours in over 5 years from the configuration.
ductedfan.com will remain, but it may change in the future to include more information on other ducted fan projects.
Now, back to the previously scheduled program:
This homebuilt aircraft project was started in 1986 as a conventional Rutan Long-EZ. The basic airframe was completed in 1994. Sanding and finishing consumed more time through 1996.
An ad by Moller International in 1994 advertising the SkyCar, which is still under development, inspired the idea to develop a ducted fan for homebuilt aircraft built around the readily available 13B rotary engine. By using a Wankel engine with only three basic moving parts, and utilizing it in a direct-drive configuration with the ducted-fan, the goal was to produce cost-effective, reliable propulsion for homebuilt aircraft.
Research into propeller and ducted fan design was begun in 1994. Installation of the rotary engine into the Long-EZ began in January 1997. Other than the engine and ducted-fan installation, the aircraft is basically stock Long-EZ, with a few minor modifications such as split forward-hinging canopies and landing lights in the strakes. However, it was decided to call the airplane "Duckt". The registration number "N7XR" ("RX7" in reverse) was obtained from the FAA. The aircraft was moved to the McMinnville, Oregon airport in June of 1998. Taxi-tests were performed for a year, from July 1998 to July of 1999, before the first flight was made.
Vote for me!
Duckt Specifications:
Stock
Long-EZ except modifications: Landing lights in strakes; Split front
and rear canopies, hinging forward; Modified nose with Weather Radar
antenna installed; 13B rotary powerplant; Ducted Fan.
Empty Weight: 1050 pounds
Gross Weight: 1600 pounds
Cooling: Stock RX-7 oil cooler. For water cooling, a 13 X 18 X 2
radiator is mounted under the engine. There is also a small cabin heat
radiator under the pilot's seat, plumbed from the engine heater port.
Ducted Fan Specifications (Fan3, Duct2):
Fan Drive: direct, using a custom built flywheel/SAE-2 adaptor, plus a standard Saber 8 inch prop extension.Performance Specifications (Fan3, Duct2):
Static RPM: 4800Ducted-Fan Development Information
An unofficial log of the First Flight and the Flight Test Period.
A description and photographs of the 13B Rotary Engine Installation.
In 1998 the first ducted fan experiments were performed. Taxi-tested only, these experiments provided the knowledge to design improved ducts and fans. The early experiments that never flew were performed with Fan1 and Duct1.
In the summer of 1999 the first test flights were performed with an improved duct and fan combination: Fan2 and Duct2.
After about 10 hours of flight time, a lighter weight, improved fan design was built from carbon-fiber, Fan3. This fan allowed the engine to operate at slightly higher RPM, due to thinner blades and a tapered blade chord.
It was believed that the venturi-shape of Duct2 was possibly a mistake, that perhaps this shape was limiting the top-end speed of the aircraft. A new duct was designed with a venturi of 10% (air velocity in the fan plane is 10% higher than aircraft velocity), a significant reduction from Duct2 that has 30%. Duct3 was built in the Spring of 2000 and installed to the existing mounting points on the engine, and initial tests performed. The takeoff distance was increased, climb rate decreased, maximum speed about the same with Duct3. Duct3 loaded the engine more, such that the reduction in RPM offset the speed increase. Duct3 will probably be a desirable duct to use when more power is available, such as when a turbocharger is installed.
Stators were installed in June 2000. It was believed the stators would have little effect, but surprisingly, they improved climb rate by up to 50%. No effect noticed on takeoff distance or maximum speed.
The current operational configuration is Duct2 with stator blades and Fan3.
Mods performed in early 2003 were engine improvements. A new custom intake manifold was built from composites and relocated to the right wing-root area. This got the bulky and heavy stock manifold off the top of the engine. The big bumps were removed from the cowl, allowing more airflow into the fan and a more streamlined profile with less drag. Top speed increased 5 knots.
Known instances of Duckt in periodicals.
Photos
July 2000, photos taken by my friend Claus Bohm with a digital camera. High bandwidth required!
January 2001, photos taken by Paul Lamar of my visit to Fox Field in Southern California and tour of the Space Shuttle Columbia at the Boeing facility in Palmdale.
February 9, 2002, photos from the Northwest Canard Club gathering at Paine Field, Everett, Washington. All photos were taken by Canard Airshow Pilot Tom Staggs, including shots made by Tom while flying in formation.
July 18 - 28, 2002, photos from the trip to my home state of Kansas.
July 29 - August 3, 2005, photos from the trip to Kansas.
Related Links, Informational
The fan and duct designs were developed using the book "Ducted Fan Design" by F. Marc dePiolenc and George E. Wright, Jr.
The Rohr 2-175, way ahead of its time.
The propeller/fan analysis program is from the book "Modern Propeller and Duct Design" by Martin Hollman, available from Aircraft Spruce.
For an incredible amount of information about putting a rotary engine in an aircraft see Paul Lamar's site.
FlyRotary, another page with a lot of information about and photographs of flying Rotary-powered aircraft.
Here is a list of people with rotary-engine aircraft projects.
A comprehensive site about Wankel engines.
The Hummingbird Project, including a page of ducted fan myths.
Previous Wankel Ducted Fan Aircraft: 1974 "Powered-Blanik" and Powered gliders Sirius I and Sirius II, and RFB Fantrainer.
Peter Garrison's articles in Flying Magazine: 1999, 2003.
Related Links, Vendors
Mazdatrix, Rotary Engines, parts, accessories.
Rotary Aviation, Tracy Crook's site for aircraft rotary engine products.
Atkins Rotary, Rotary Engines, parts, accessories.
 |
Your Internet tour guide to Homebuilt Aircraft! Want to join the Ring ? |
 |
| [Prev 5] [Skip Prev] [Prev] [Next] [Skip Next] [Next 5] [Random] [List Sites] | ||
|---|---|---|
Visit a complete list of WebRing memberships here 
© WebRing Inc. Homebuilt Aircraft << Prev | Hub | Sites | Join | Rate | Next >>
All contents Copyright 1998-2012
