Sonex (Aerobatics/Smoke) 6-14-08

Another test flight with video of Aerobatics & Smoke System!

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Sonex
• test
• flight
• experimental
• aerobatics
• smoke
• airplane
• aircraft
• aaron
• knight

[impultion]

Thanks for youre reply Aaron. What manuvers have you pulled 6g`s in ? Bank turns, or loops ? Do you know where I can find entry speeds for various manuvers ? I recall that the sonex operation handbook only listed weight and type of manuvers the sonex was approved for. Are you flying with the 3300 ?

[aaronknight7]

6G's happens when you pull hard out of a fast dive (is - elongated loop). I'm running the 3300. All maneuvers should be at 130mph to 150mph. Any faster and you're in the yellow. Any slower and you might not finish the move... :-)

[JetPilott]

That is just awesome !!! Are you using the Aerovee engine ? Did you do anything to beef up the structure of the Airplane ? How many G's have you put on the Sonex ?

I would like to build one of these one day, does the airframe seem up to the task of years of aerobatics ?

[aaronknight7]

The airplane doesn't need any beefing. It would probably be dangerous to the CG/design. The spars are the thickest I-beams i've ever seen. Crazy strong. The 6G rating is under-rated. They speced it way beyond the nomal x2 or x3 engineering margin. It's structure is more like unlimited 10G+ rated planes, but for homebuilt safety purposes they publish the +6/-3 G rating. It's nor going to budge. I will stay under 6G's just to be safe - I will black out before this thing even bends!

[impultion]

How many G`s have you pulled ? Ever done any negative G while on idle ? I have done loops and barrel rolls in my sonex, but never exceeded 4.5Gpos and -1Gneg. Since I baught the sonex scratch buildt, I for some reason are not as confident with the wing structural as a kit buildt. But the beefy mainspars will hold up no mather if they are build by a 10years old and from scratch ? Any inputs wether a propper scratch build should be any weaker than a kit plane. Thomas Sonex 0037 NORWAY

[aaronknight7]

I've pulled about 6 G's. Negative G's results in the engine "burping" or temporarily stalling... so... NO negative G's! Unless your scratch built was built Wrong, and half the solid rivets in the spars were left out, you have nothing to worry about. Your scratch built will be the same as kit built, as long as all rivets were set properly. But you could say the same about the kit built - it's all up to the integrity of the builder to assemble SOLIDLY and per the plans... :-)

[skidrum11]

@JetPilott He's right...I visited the Sonex headquarters, and they showed us some of the test wings. They stack sandbags on them until they break- none of the wings had been broken, just some oilcanning. The planes are built to ridiculously high strength standards.

[impultion]

I see, well the few loops I have done I have enterd in 130+ kts I tried once slower but then it almost stalled at the top of the loop. I guess I`ll need to pull up harder to complete the loop with less entry speed since I am flying around with a lazy vw. I am soon done with my EFI turbo convertion so we will have to wait and see if it will produce some more punch.

[kyqx]

Nice job, Aaron.

Kip

W0082