GLASAIR III SPEED MACHINE

[rhytmfreak]

last september,before the terrible mustang crash in reno,jeff lavelle qualified his twin turbo glasair3 @396 mph before the races were cancelled.in the sport class.its an absolute record.it is supposed to be a stock airframe.next races.i think he is gonna break the 400mph barrier.

[mlloyd006]

Can't fly into icing. The gap between the wing and ailerons is very tight and will ice up, restricting control movement. Fantastic airplane- had one and raced it at Reno in 2006. The Lancair Legacy can be made to go faster, but the Glasair III flies much nicer.

[Coderoid]

Can Glasairs fly into known icing?

[KHarvDX]

@Coderoid No. I have never heard or seen one in person that had any anti or de-icing equipment installed. It is an experimental home built so you could put that stuff on if you wanted to spend the money, and take a hit on the extra weight.

[Danger555]

I've listened to the prop noise at 2:42 about a thousand times now, and it NEVER gets old!! What a 100% badass plane!

[Coderoid]

@Danger555 so true!

[michaelpilot1000]

Does the Glassair 111 have the same flat spin probs that early Glass air had? Killed quite a few people.

[ChrizRockster]

Fast! Its got a P-51 thing going on during the flypast!

I think i'd lose in the C172N haha.

[kcoikid]

Now that there is one fantastic airplane and a good job reviewing it as well

[yakovlev3a]

IMO i prefer Lopresti Fury. It is not as fast but it handles much more like a fighter than glasair does.

[N137LA]

@yakovlev3a The Lopresti Fury is never going to go into production. It's a failed design. No one is really interested in a high performance Swift. 

[yakovlev3a]

@N137LA

If people are not interested, then its not the design that is failed. Its the PR. I dont think people are not interested. I think people just dont want to spend that much money on that kind of a plane (hell I know I dont). The Fury's full kit costs 180k which is utterly ridiculous. The Glasair III is has higher rated performance but its price is 67% less. I did not know it was discontinued though.

[ouzts12]

i want one sooo badly ahaa

[schlusselmensch]

What shrewd understanding of thermodynamics leads you to say that pray tell?

[schlusselmensch]

I'm not a big fan of the IO540 as I've always found them to be not terribly smooth and a bit of a fuel pig. Good power and reliable though. Did they have a Continental option for the Glasairs?

[CaptainAndrew1991]

@schlusselmensch It's time to ditch piston engines.

[Disco11seven]

I build those babys

[Danger555]

The sound is just pure, raw power. What a plane!

[davoe1976]

Great video, gorgeous aircraft...what was the build time from step 1 to wheels up?

[blackhawkce]

davoe, as I was growing up my father built the first Glasair II in the mid 80s. It took him a solid 3 years, and he did not "dilly dally" on the build. I believe he spent 3800 hours building. Glasair didn't offer any type of quick build options back in the those days, today you can have completed components of the aircraft on delivery. I'll try to find some vid's to post, they're really old.

[davoe1976]

Thanks blackhawk, I would love to see what you have from that time...it's interesting how things have some so far in the kit-built world...I hope to be able to swing one within the next two years!!!