Would You Fly

[SandburRanch]

if airplanes had the same quality safety switches as tractors?:laughing:

 

[blueriver]

I can see it now ... the Pilot gets up to go to the rest room and the seat safety switch shuts down the engine's !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bird]

if airplanes had the same quality safety switches as tractors?:laughing:

Yeah, but would you own a tractor if it cost as much as those airplanes?:laughing:

 

[flyerdan]

What safety switches, the '46 Taylorcraft that I soloed in doesn't even have an electrical system.

 

[Redneck in training]

Not all airplanes are expensive. In fact they are in about the same range as tractors of the same HP. No. I wouldn't fly airplane with safety switches but I guess it is hard to get wrapped in the prop when siting inside cabin.

 

[firedog]

How do you pull a bushhog with one?

 

[grsthegreat]

The only safety switch my old Turbo Arrow IV had was an automatic gear extension if air speed got too slow. Supposed to prevent a wheels up landing. Glad it didnt have a seat whitch:laughing:

 

[KYDan]

Not all airplanes are expensive. In fact they are in about the same range as tractors of the same HP. No. I wouldn't fly airplane with safety switches but I guess it is hard to get wrapped in the prop when siting inside cabin.

I beg to differ with you about this. A new light sport airplane will cost between $80,000 and $165,000 for an 80 hp version. a new GA aircraft a whole lot more. Ultralights are a different matter, however, I don't know of any ultralights that have more than 65 hp, so I guess you could buy an ultralight for about what a new 50hp tractor would cost. Of course the government doesn't recognize ultralights as an aircraft, they are a vehicle that may happen to fly. I fly GA, light sport, experimental and ultralights too. It's something that I enjoy even more than seat time on the farm. I built my aircraft and it cost a whole lot more than my tractor although they are not the same Horsepower.

 

[mjw357]

The only safety switch my old Turbo Arrow IV had was an automatic gear extension if air speed got too slow. Supposed to prevent a wheels up landing.

I read a story once about a Piper that had that system, problem was for the pilot only one main wheel was going down, or maybe it was only the mains and not the nose. Anyway, it made it quite a challenge to do a belly landing. Forget how he got around it. Pulled the breaker for the gear pump?

 

[HarryVanderpool]

What safety switches, the '46 Taylorcraft that I soloed in doesn't even have an electrical system.

Isn't the stall speed on your plane around 30 MPH?
Doesn't get much safer than that!

 

[284 International]

How do you pull a bushhog with one?

It's got a similar thing mounted up front already, one just needs to get low enough....:laughing:

 

[grsthegreat]

I read a story once about a Piper that had that system, problem was for the pilot only one main wheel was going down, or maybe it was only the mains and not the nose. Anyway, it made it quite a challenge to do a belly landing. Forget how he got around it. Pulled the breaker for the gear pump?

There was a simple lever that you could pull to bypass the wheel extension... used while practicing stalls, etc.

The turbo arrow IV was a transition plane between the fixed gear and the retractables in the 80's. They installed this system cause the fixed guys kept forgetting to lower the gear hehe:laughing:.

I have a friend thats building an RV8 in his shop right now. Even building it himself hes going to spend a fortune. Id be lost in a modern flat glass panel aircraft... give me the old 6 pack dials. Too much info and not enough looking out the window.

 

[mjw357]

Id be lost in a modern flat glass panel aircraft... give me the old 6 pack dials. Too much info and not enough looking out the window.

I'm with you on that. Brain overload.

 

[Redneck in training]

I beg to differ with you about this. A new light sport airplane will cost between $80,000 and $165,000 for an 80 hp version. a new GA aircraft a whole lot more. Ultralights are a different matter, however, I don't know of any ultralights that have more than 65 hp, so I guess you could buy an ultralight for about what a new 50hp tractor would cost. Of course the government doesn't recognize ultralights as an aircraft, they are a vehicle that may happen to fly. I fly GA, light sport, experimental and ultralights too. It's something that I enjoy even more than seat time on the farm. I built my aircraft and it cost a whole lot more than my tractor although they are not the same Horsepower.[/QUOTE

You don't have to buy new airplane or you can build it by yourself. I see Zenair 701 in your avatar. I want to build 750 but my wife is trying to talk me out of it and build a kit car instead. I have the runway on my property and the hanger built in my house. No, wait it is the other way around. I have a house built into the hanger.

 

[Redneck in training]

How do you pull a bushhog with one?

You don't need to. Just fly low enough.

 

[KYDan]

You don't have to buy new airplane or you can build it by yourself. I see Zenair 701 in your avatar. I want to build 750 but my wife is trying to talk me out of it and build a kit car instead. I have the runway on my property and the hanger built in my house. No, wait it is the other way around. I have a house built into the hanger.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I finished the 701 in November 2004, and now have 520 hours on it. I orignally built a 500' strip for my trike (flexwing) and it was a little short for that. I had a Pegasus Quantum that was fairly fast for a trike and 500' is OK unless there is a crosswind and at my place there usually is a quartering tailwind on 33 (one way strip, land north/takeoff south). Anyway I started expanding it as time and money permitted. I custom designed and built my 701 to be pretty (a relative term as a 701 is sort of like a pekingnese, only its master thinks it's pretty?). The runway is now 750' X100 and growing. My new tractor, Kubota MX5100 HST 4WD with LA844 Loader, HD roundback bucket, toothbar is quickly adding to the length of the runway. I can extend it about another 200' so it will be pretty close to 1,000' when done. I have an EZ Dumper trailer that I use to haul dirt from my dirt mine for the runway. I am cleaning out an old pond when it is dry enough and composting the muck for the topsoil. When this is all done I hope to build a Sea Rey amphibian if I am able and the dollar doesn't totally collapse. I think I can get it in and out of a 1,000' strip. If I had the $$ I would build a large dam below and beside the ridge that the runway is on and have a water strip as well. Big plans to keep me busy following retirement. Even if none of it gets done I am enjoying myself and keeping busy. That said, the runway project and the farm in general are greatly cutting into my flying time. BTW I have the Rotax 912S engine (100hp) and I cruise about 100-105 this time of year and 90-95 in the summer and burn about 4.2-4.5 gph at cruise. My best short field landing was 30' with my wife on board. Best take-off roll 90' solo.

 

[Redneck in training]

You don't have to buy new airplane or you can build it by yourself. I see Zenair 701 in your avatar. I want to build 750 but my wife is trying to talk me out of it and build a kit car instead. I have the runway on my property and the hanger built in my house. No, wait it is the other way around. I have a house built into the hanger.

Yes, I finished the 701 in November 2004, and now have 520 hours on it. I orignally built a 500' strip for my trike (flexwing) and it was a little short for that. I had a Pegasus Quantum that was fairly fast for a trike and 500' is OK unless there is a crosswind and at my place there usually is a quartering tailwind on 33 (one way strip, land north/takeoff south). Anyway I started expanding it as time and money permitted. I custom designed and built my 701 to be pretty (a relative term as a 701 is sort of like a pekingnese, only its master thinks it's pretty?). The runway is now 750' X100 and growing. My new tractor, Kubota MX5100 HST 4WD with LA844 Loader, HD roundback bucket, toothbar is quickly adding to the length of the runway. I can extend it about another 200' so it will be pretty close to 1,000' when done. I have an EZ Dumper trailer that I use to haul dirt from my dirt mine for the runway. I am cleaning out an old pond when it is dry enough and composting the muck for the topsoil. When this is all done I hope to build a Sea Rey amphibian if I am able and the dollar doesn't totally collapse. I think I can get it in and out of a 1,000' strip. If I had the $$ I would build a large dam below and beside the ridge that the runway is on and have a water strip as well. Big plans to keep me busy following retirement. Even if none of it gets done I am enjoying myself and keeping busy. That said, the runway project and the farm in general are greatly cutting into my flying time. BTW I have the Rotax 912S engine (100hp) and I cruise about 100-105 this time of year and 90-95 in the summer and burn about 4.2-4.5 gph at cruise. My best short field landing was 30' with my wife on board. Best take-off roll 90' solo.[/QUOTE]

You got me motivated again. I think I will build the airplane after all. I can build about 1200 ft runway with only minimum work. Just smooth the ground. Adding another 600-700 ft will require removing few trees and some bulldozer work.
How much money you put in your airplane? Is 35 000 realistic figure for 750? I am thinking about Corvair engine.

 

[KYDan]

I really don't know as I don't know how much the kit components are for the 750. 6 years ago you could build the 701 with a Wynn's Covair conversion for that. However, everything airplane has increased exponentially since then. Have you priced the kit, or are you planning a scratch build project? There is a father son project on a neighboring farm building a 750. I have helped them minimally, they are using the Jabiru 120hp for the powerplant. I really don't enjoy the build process as it is extremely tedious for me and not fun. But, I get the plane I want and it is a whole lot less expensive to build it yourself, particularly the maintenance and modifications. I have a good bit more than that in my 701, but as I said it is a modified design with a lot of custom parts, most of which I had machined or molded to suit me, hence the enhanced cruise speed. It decreased my short field capabilities somewhat, but I can still short field fly with the best of them. I also have 24 gallons of useable fuel capacity which added some weight. I used steam gauges in the panel as I like them better and that saved some money, but I do have a Garmin mode C transponder and a Bendix-King radio with intercom. If you build I suggest the Grove landing gear rather than the Zenith, it is far superior, but costs 3 times as much, well worth it though. 7075-T6 heat annealed. The Zenith is 6061-T6 cold rolled. Do you already have a shear and brake press?

 

[Redneck in training]

The kit sans the engine and avionics is about 20k now. It is CNC predrilled so it should speed the building time. I am in process building a shop. The building is up. I just need to buy few machines such as lathe, milling machine, CNC plasma cutter etc.

 

[PapaPerk]

In the words of Mr. T.... "I ain't gettin in no plane fool!"

:laughing: