Oshkosh Airventure Fly-In 2010-3
More photos from Oshkosh 2010.
Front end of the Icon. Pretty slick looking. Very large for an LSA, but it's supposed to meet the rule.
Close up of the wing fold. That opening forward and below the hinge is probably where the power wing-fold mechanism goes. They had to delete that to cut weight for LSA. But the two paddles are a slick way to get the flap and aileron pushrods out to the outer wing without having to reconnect anything.
Red Bull air racer on a stick.
The Viking (Eggenfellner) / Honda Fit engine. New product. Not sure if there's more than this one flying. Nicely color coordinated and NC-milled, though.
Homebuilt parking, Monday, day one of the big show. Oh, don't mind that there aren't 200 airplanes in this photo. That's the soggy ground. Nowhere to park, airport still closed.
More soggy ground, less airplanes.
This little fleet found somewhere to park just fine. Took some kids getting aboard for me to realize that the ropes are there because the props spin when pedaled.
These guys knew how to beat the airport-closed problem. Just drive it in. They drove this up from Florida - to prove that their concept of decent car with limited airplane capability might be more viable than all those other crappy car / crappy airplane concepts that have failed in the past.
Subaru power.
I had to ask the guys - yes, the wing is stowed in that zippered flap in the roof. Yes, the wing is already packed inside. Doesn't look all that bad as a car. Not sure if it's LSA, as it appears to have a back seat for carrying 4 people. Their secret is that 6 inch diameter 25-foot radio antenna. It holds the flex wing to a known position over the vehicle so there is no ground run lost in lofting the wing up over the vehicle, and it has what normal flex wings don't - crosswind capability. There is also a semi rigid spar in the flex wing, which is steerable to a degree - so they can crab the wing relative to the fuselage/car for crosswinds.
Ah, the elliptical wing. It all appears so simple, until you get close to stall. Sure looks nice. I think these guys were advertising 385mph cruise. May become the current-day Lancair. With those oval windows, I also think they were selling pressurization as well.
Ah, nothing like a prop-speed-reduced, twin-turbocharged automotive conversion with a new custom prop and pressurization system to ask for things to go wrong. In a big dollar kind of way, of course. Which reminds me - the guy's hand in the photo above is indicating that there is a huge radiator in the fuselage about where his hand is.
Back to something more likely to stay in the air. A WWI-era replica at the Rotec radial engines display.
That there is a whole lot of airplane for a single-seater.
Hatz.
I'm generally not too keen on military-themed paint schemes on fun-flying homebuilts, but this is pretty cool.
