When I first noticed this framework going up in a neighborhood driveway, I thought it was going to be some kind of kiddie toy airplane. Silly me. When it sprouted an engine and gas tank, I realized it’s the real thing, although it doesn’t exactly bowl me over with confidence. But hey, folks have gone up in the skies in lesser devices, and some lived to tell the tale.
Here’s the wing structure. Looks pretty well designed and sturdy, actually.
That’s genuine 6061 – T6 aluminum alloy tubing, so no, it’s not built out of electrical conduit.
Some more detail of the fuselage.
The wheels look to be from a wheelbarrow or such, and are starting to rust.
The engine is mounted, and awaiting a prop.
It’s a 246cc two stroke single.
Its exhaust curves back to the front.
I don’t know enough about these to identify it as a particular kit, which it undoubtedly is.
When we moved to Eugene 25 years ago, our neighbor across the street started on a homebuilt airplane, but it was drastically more sophisticated. It was made from composites and fiberglass, and he had to learn how to work with those materials. It had a Rotax four cylinder boxer engine, and it was very sleek and fast, although I’ve forgotten the name of it. I helped him out a couple of time when he needed a hand, and he promised me a ride. That finally happened a couple years later, and it was a memorable flight, over the Cascades, a bit into Eastern Oregon near Bend, and then a loop back home. The only problem was that I didn’t really fit very well into the extremely snug cockpit with its removable canopy. I had to tilt my head inwards the whole way. But it really scooted along.
Update: I just walked by there this morning, and it’s gone. I doubt it flew away, but I sure hope it didn’t get filched by thieves who saw a lot of expensive aluminum sitting there.
“I don’t want you flying around in a plane you built yourself!”
LOL! Only Homer Simpson would be dumb enough to build a car from a bed mattress–AND with flashlights for headlights!
The Experimental Aircraft Association has a website with many different kits or plans. Personally, I would not have the patience or tolerance for the long slog such a project would entail for something that is relatively useless as an aircraft when finished.
Considering that turbine engine,pressurized home-builts are available now I wouldn’t say that they’re useless.
Then perhaps homebuilts have moved beyond the low altitude VFR playthings for sunny days that most of them were when I last paid them any attention in the late 80s.
https://vansaircraft.com/
They sure have.
The level of sophistication really started to rise in the ’60’s with airplanes like the Thorp T-18 and my favorite as a teenager.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brokaw_Bullet
There a mildly supersonic homebuilt in the BD-10.
And something a bit more comfortable and modern https://www.flyingmag.com/aircraft/turboprops/lancair-evolution
A guy around the block from us had an airplane in his 2 car garage when I was growing up. One day he took it outside to test the engine and let it run. Only the prop was facing the neighbor’s yard, who had just finished two hours of raking leaves into big piles. You can probably guess what happened next.
I don’t know anything about experimental airplanes, and very little about engines, but observing that the engine is only 246cc, I wonder if that engine would really have enough torque and power to lift that airframe with a full tank of gas and an average size pilot. It is obviously set up for a prop so I guess it must have an aviation bonafide. I also wonder if that landing gear would work without considerable extra rigging. For that matter, I wonder where you would even put the pilot.
But then, I know little of such things. Anybody?
It’s possible it could be a large remote-controlled airplane. Or as they call them nowadays, drones.
It’s not a drone – there’s a wooden rudder bar visible in one of the photos, which also answer the question of where the pilot will sit.
I see what you mean, Lokki. From the photographs, space for a pilot seems very limited. With the engine above and in front of the wing, if that is to be its ultimate location, it seems that the pilot would have to sit behind it with an obstructed view, or in front of it, which seems unlikely for reasons of safety and comfort.
Perhaps it will be a remotely controlled craft.
Ultralight planes are an expensive way to commit suicide.
Like the Piper Cub, ultralights are among the safest aircraft in the world – they can just barely kill you.
FWIW, you’re far more likely to die driving to work…
I don’t recognize what aircraft it is (there are hundreds of kits out there, and even more you can build from plans), but I’m almost certain this is an FAA Part 103 Ultralight:
Sec. 103.1 Applicability.
This part prescribes rules governing the operation of ultralight vehicles
in the United States. For the purposes of this part, an ultralight vehicle
is a vehicle that:
(a) Is used or intended to be used for manned operation in the air by a
single occupant;
(b) Is used or intended to be used for recreation or sport purposes only;
(c) Does not have any U.S. or foreign airworthiness certificate; and
(d) If unpowered, weighs less than 155 pounds; or
(e) If powered:
(1) Weighs less than 254 pounds empty weight, excluding floats and safety
devices which are intended for deployment in a potentially catastrophic
situation;
(2) Has a fuel capacity not exceeding 5 U.S. gallons;
(3) Is not capable of more than 55 knots calibrated airspeed at full
power in level flight; and
(4) Has a power-off stall speed which does not exceed 24 knots calibrated
airspeed.
I find it interesting that it appears to be a direct-drive engine (no reduction gear for the prop). It’s very typical with these to use a high-rpm engine and a reduction drive to keep prop tip speed subsonic. This also keeps the engine in its powerband. The Hirth 2702 is a commonly used two cylinder, two cycle ultralight engine that makes 40hp at 5,500rpm.
Folks will also sometimes use a “½ VW” which is literally two cylinders cut off a VW 1600.
My guess is that the wheelbarrow wheels are temporary units for moving the airframe around – they’re far too heavy to be practical on a flying craft.
Hanging in the rafters of my machine shed is a ⅞ scale Nieuport 11 biplane replica that is designed to use a VW engine for power. I got the airframe about 90% done before we moved to the Middle West, and have maybe put 10 hours in on it since (17+ years). It will likely never fly, but I would still like to cover and rig it and maybe donate to a local museum that already has a Fokker Dr.1 triplane replica.
The pic is of a friend’s N11, painted up in the colors of the Lafayette Escadrille from around 1916 when a number of Americans had joined the French Foreign Legion so they could “see the war” before Christmas, when it would surely be over (American would not formally enter the war until 1918). So the Nieuport 11 was the first fighter aircraft flown by Americans (discounting the handful of Curtiss Jennys that were used briefly with General Pershing’s attempt to capture Pancho Villa in 1916).
I have never gone up in one, but minimal homebuilts have an appeal to me, for the elemental flying experience.
Spotted these two Breezys at Oshkosh last summer.
A Bell 47 is pretty elemental, for a helo. I had a blast riding in this one.
I’m no expert, but a Google search suggests that may be a Yamaha snowmobile engine, based on the 8R400 cast into the crankcase, or maybe that’s the barrel.
My father-in-law has been slowly restoring a Piper Cub over the last several years, and may have it flying this year. He also owns an amphibious ultralight that they keep in Florida, and it’s always fun to go up for a quick tour. I don’t think I’d have the patience to build an aircraft, but I respect those who do.
At first I was worried for the idiot building this, but after I saw the 246cc of raw 2-stroke power, I quit worrying. He’ll need a much bigger engine to put himself in danger.
He may get a nasty bruise when the landing gear collapses, though.
God watches over fools and horses…
Not at all sharpshooting, I just love idioms and turns of phrase: I always thought the saying was that “Only fools and horses work,” taken to mean effectively that for certain types of folks, scamming and grifting is preferable to more honest ways of making a living. Reference classic British sitcom “Only Fools and Horses” about a ne’er-do-well father who always has a fresh scheme to get rich quick which inevitably fails, and his perennially embarrassed son.
I like “God watches over…” also, just never heard it as such. 😊
“God watches over fools drunks and babies” is indeed the correct phrase — Years of horse ownership leads me to lump them in with fools!
Thanks! That’s good stuff, appreciate the clarification. I’ll use that. At times having consumed more booze than wholly necessary myself and living to tell the tale leads me to believe it’s definitely true. 🤣
Horses and babies are lovely. Whether or not I qualify as a fool I shall leave for others. God bless us all 🙏😉
I used to have aircraft in my front yard. Before it was my front yard, it was a WW 2 airstrip. Lancaster St, Spitfire Avenue, you get the picture.
Definitely not a kit as I see a lot of angle and bar stock that was purchased at Home Depot, pretty much the round tube is the only aluminum on that thing that is something I’d trust as actually meeting a spec.
The Wright brothers began with less than this and that worked out ok,cool project though,
Can’t identify the configuration. Engine mounted atop the forward fuselage is odd.
At least he didn’t built it inside his garage. Recall an anecdotal story about a guy who did and he couldn’t get it outside. Seems the wingspan was too wide for the garage door opening, so he clipped the wingtips and managed to get it outside.
A friend built a canoe in the living room. Wife wasn’t thrilled about it, but appreciated the project keeping him out of the bars
That’s the plane that’s a friend of mine built. It’s named after a German who landed close to the Red Square during Soviet Union time. Yes, I’ve seen him fly. It uses a 30 HP motor from a boat. He used some titanium tubing for the construction as well as fiberglass.
That’s a picture of a friend of mine with his airplane.
That might explain the “exhaust facing towards the front” – it’s not, it’s a pusher.
a czech guy did exactly that for commuting