Short Take-Off, Windy Day in New Zenith CH 801

[stealhty1]

runways are no longer necesary

[andrea973100]

Almost like an helicopter!Very nice!Greetings from genoa,Italy.

[roko914]

that landing is so beautifull men congrats for you stol, it was like an albatros jaja awesome

[rasputinsdog]

You just can't keep that plane on the ground!!!! I'm envious!!!

[corneliouscarrot]

amazing pilot. Wow!!!

[jimmythesnagglepuss]

ground speed rotation: 40 km/h lol?

[suburbanstyles]

Wow what a short field landing and takeoff haha!

[flycrazy1123]

thats not STOL thats VTOL!!

[jyokid]

I realize that the 801 is designed for STOL operations and not XC cruising, but what's your typical cruise speed and fuel consumption in that airplane? I'm interested in buying one, which is why I ask.

[801pilot]

70% Power 8.6 gph at 100 mph. 60 gallons of fuel gives us 600 mile range with a hour reserve. We don't last 6 hours so we've never taken it that far with no stops. But we could... if I could. Girls just don't last in planes. ;)

[bnther36]

Wow.

I was actually cringing in my seat watching this.

I love this plane, it's just the range and cruise speed that have me hesitating.

Thanks for the vid

[MetaView7]

very impressive !

do you have the VG installed?

[801pilot]

Yes but not on the wing. The wing wouldn't stall. The tail would stall and drop the nose first so I installed VGs on the underside of the elevator. It made about 4-5 knots slower airspeed before droping the nose.

[bagelboi66]

Great landing in some challenging conditions. And that takeoff, wow. What was that, 5 or 6 x the length of the aircraft? Truly amazing.

[FFTVAviation]

Oh wow! Good job on the landing. Talk about bumpy.

[leapoffaith20]

its amazing what you can do with a headwind :)

[801pilot]

I just finished adding a turbo to this plane and posted a video above. Please no comments on my ugly cowling. It will get painted soon.

[leviterande]

wow man that was the shortest take off/landing I have seen.. but i have a question eating my head for a while, what if the engine quits. how is the landing speed then, is it then just like any cessna with an engine out or is the zenith capable of landing much slower then the others even in engine out?

[801pilot]

Even with engine out it will land much shorter than almost all planes. After my laitest mods my power ON stall is about 26mph indicated, with power OFF the stall is still only about 38mph indicated. The stall speed increases because in a power ON stall it is the main wing that stalls, when I'm power OFF the tail stalls sooner and results in the nose droping before the wing can stall. It needs the extra air from the prop to hold the nose up. Still the same, VERY low stall speeds.

[charluzzu]

fuel injection makes that much of difference! will you and plane be at sun n fun this year, would love to see it up close. am thinking of building 801 and going there to talk to zenith.

[801pilot]

Yes, fuel injection makes that big of a difference, especially at higher altitudes. It feels like a different airplane, more power, and much smoother. Before my EGT's where nearly 100 degrees between the coolest and the hotest, now they are within 20 degrees. I'm also now able to fly lean of peak and get MUCH better fuel economy with my CHT's almost 30 degrees cooler.

[nearadyn]

holy crap! I could fly out of my back yard with that! I'm in the market for a 4 seater. I was thinking hard about getting a cessna 182, but now this little plane has my full attention!

[emeart]

well done

how fast does your ch 801 go

my dad is building a 701 what engine did you put in it??

[801pilot]

80% power cruise is 116mph TAS.  It has a licombing 0-360 180hp.

[801pilot]

UPDATE: I just finished flight testing after intalling fuel injection. I'm now 122mph TAS at 80%, and needless to say I'm very happy with the fuel injection.

[flycory]

nice whoohooo!

[350142]

In how many feet does it land with no wind?(gross weight, sea level)

[801pilot]

I don't know for sure.  The closest we have had it to sea level was a couple weeks ago in AZ but it was still 2000 feet MSL and a hot day. We had 3 people on board and full of camping gear. Take off was under 200 feet and landing was closer to 250, maybe 3 knots headwind. I'm excited to try it at sea level on a cool day. I'll post a video if we ever get it down that low.

[stolflyer]

Awesome - great slow flight handling!