Wild West Aircraft

For general discussion of the Just Aircraft family of aircraft.
Includes: Highlander, Escapade, Summit and SuperSTOL.
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taildrgfun
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Location: Nampa Idaho

Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by taildrgfun »

My exhaust did look good but it was too loud so I had to change it some. It has a much bigger muffler on it now but it sure is quieter than it was. I'm still trying to get home from my Texas trip so I can get back to work on it.
Steve Henry, Wild West Aircraft
(the Dead Stick Take-off Guy)
AV8R Paul
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Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by AV8R Paul »

Steve has a Facebook Page he’s got some good video’s on there.
This is one of his engine running, sounds like an old Hot Rod. Very nice install. :evil: :twisted:
https://video-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hvide ... e=57210B45
AV8R Paul
Certified Light Sport Repairman LSRM-A
Clark in AZ
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Location: Cave Creek, AZ

Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by Clark in AZ »

Sounds great! Nice to see it installed and running. Steve looks like a proud papa.
Building SuperSTOL Kit 512
Cave Creek, AZ
AV8R Paul
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Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by AV8R Paul »

Clark in AZ wrote:Sounds great! Nice to see it installed and running. Steve looks like a proud papa.
I wonder how well the noise cancelling headsets would handle the Street Rod rumble.
AV8R Paul
Certified Light Sport Repairman LSRM-A
taildrgfun
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Location: Nampa Idaho

Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by taildrgfun »

I made it home from Texas Wednesday afternoon after a total flight time for the trip of 40 hours. My Rotax Highlander performed pretty much flawlessly the entire trip usually cruising at about 105 mph. It was a fun trip flying most of the way down there with Pops Dory and about 500 miles of the way back with Hal Stockton. I flew the other 1500 miles or so by myself but that was still fun too.

In the contest itself I felt like I was just off a little. The Texas stol round up website says there were 87 competitors something like 350 airplanes there that weekend. I think there were about 15 airplanes in the light sport class including two other Highlanders and a bunch of carbon cubs and others. I still have not seen the published results but I'm pretty sure a guy named Chuck from Florida won our class in a carbon cub with a combined score of 150 feet. I don't know who finished second but I was third with a combined score of 162 feet.

I should have practiced more for the clearing the obstacle stol event because I kind of blew that one. My buddy Pops got second in that event in our class. This is the event where the airplanes with slats excelled because they can decend at such a steep angle.

I did not stick around for the flower bombing on Sunday because I don't really care that much about it and because I wanted to start heading for home while the weather was good

The one thing I would sure like to see is more judges marking take off and landing points. They only had one or so every hundred feet and I watched a lot of landing and takeoffs get marked pretty in accurately. Overall it was a very fun and well run event that was welcomed by the city of Llano and I'm sure next year will be even better! I hope next year that I do better! :)
Steve Henry, Wild West Aircraft
(the Dead Stick Take-off Guy)
ja30driver
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Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by ja30driver »

Steve,

Sounds like a great trip!
Looks and sounds also like you had a great time and performed well too!
Are you planning on attending Billy Payne's fly-in in Septemebr?
Can't wait to see the new plane fly!
Looks like it will be pretty soon!
taildrgfun
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Location: Nampa Idaho

Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by taildrgfun »

I would like to go to Billy's flyin but it is so far away from here that it is highly unlikely that I will make it.
Steve Henry, Wild West Aircraft
(the Dead Stick Take-off Guy)
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rmullins
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Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by rmullins »

Steve, I had a question about your leading edge cuff. You said it was the single biggest improvement you had found for the Highlander. The vortex generators and the flap gap seals are both big improvements so this one must be pretty special. Where is the improvement, stall, top end, both?
Rick Mullins  #144
Cincinnati, Oh
taildrgfun
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Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by taildrgfun »

Even with the so called flap gap seals and VG's my Highlander landed in twice the distance of my SuperSTOL. After adding the leading edge cuff it took only 10% more distance to land than my SS. It makes my HLDR land 5 to 6 mph slower than without it. It did not hurt the top end at all. It makes it land slower and softer with more angle of attack. Not drastic like landing a SS, but enough to lower the stall speed and land slower without giving up a bunch of visibility. Landing the SS with the nose way high is fun if you have a very well known landing spot but when I land in wild unknown places I want all the visibility I can get along with a slow landing speed.

Afriend of mine bought a stock 100 hp HLDR and I let him fly mine after he got good and used to his. He was amazed at the difference, especially at how much slower and nicer mine landed.
Steve Henry, Wild West Aircraft
(the Dead Stick Take-off Guy)
ja30driver
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Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by ja30driver »

Steve,

I wanted to shoot you a quick "Thank You" for your time on the phone with me the other day!
The Garmin Gx3 has a chip in the connector that stores the config files... it must have dumped a few sporadically leaving me without a few engine gauges.
The steps to re-config were quite simple and have "stuck" since my entering things back in appropriately.

On another note... hows the progress on the yamaha motor coming along?
You said it was running great "on the ground"... but not so much in flight!
Can't wait to hear an update!

Share...share....

Blake Blomquist
av8rps
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Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by av8rps »

Steve,

How much do you think extending the wings and tail have to do with the lower stall speed compared to the cuff?

Paul
taildrgfun wrote:Even with the so called flap gap seals and VG's my Highlander landed in twice the distance of my SuperSTOL. After adding the leading edge cuff it took only 10% more distance to land than my SS. It makes my HLDR land 5 to 6 mph slower than without it. It did not hurt the top end at all. It makes it land slower and softer with more angle of attack. Not drastic like landing a SS, but enough to lower the stall speed and land slower without giving up a bunch of visibility. Landing the SS with the nose way high is fun if you have a very well known landing spot but when I land in wild unknown places I want all the visibility I can get along with a slow landing speed.

Afriend of mine bought a stock 100 hp HLDR and I let him fly mine after he got good and used to his. He was amazed at the difference, especially at how much slower and nicer mine landed.
taildrgfun
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Location: Nampa Idaho

Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by taildrgfun »

The cuff definitely did the most, 5 mph slower landing. Lengthening the wings probably 1 mph.

No Yamaha update yet.
Steve Henry, Wild West Aircraft
(the Dead Stick Take-off Guy)
av8rps
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Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by av8rps »

I'm really surprised the wing lengthening didn't do more. You apparently have got that cuff really dialed in, as in the old Avid Flyer days a guy in Washington did something similar to your cuff, but all it did is add weight and more work. None of us felt it was a justified modification.
taildrgfun
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Location: Nampa Idaho

Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by taildrgfun »

I'm pretty sure it really makes a difference where the cuff is placed on the spar. Troy told me years ago that they were not worth messing with. If you put them in the right spot they are most definitely worth messing with. I have them available made of fiberglass for any of you that really want to improve your Highlanders.

I have decided to take this Yamaha engine off of my beautiful brand new Highlander and find something that is much less valuable to test and get it figured out and dialed in. I ordered a new 912S to put on my Highlander and then I'm going to put it up for sale after I fly off the 40 hours. It is the best airplane I have built so far and I'm going to sell it brand new after getting any bugs out in the 40 hours. For now I will keep my 2 year old Rotax powered Highlander. It's the second best plane I've built and I really like it and how it flies and lands.

I do think these Yamaha's have a lot of potential but I'm not the most patient person and it is taking longer than I had hoped to get it all working smoothly and reliably. It is very powerful! On my scale my big bore Rotax pulled 470 pounds. When I hit the nitrous button it went up to 530 pounds. My Yamaha pulled 540 pounds without nitrous, and it will keep on putting out that much power to climb out too. I've seen as much as 2,000 feet per minute in sustained climb. It is different flying behind it because it has so much more power and because it sounds so different. I have been cruising anywhere between 7,000 and 9,500 RPM. Mine is geared down 4.13 to 1 so my prop speed is not too fast. At an idle the prop is only turning about 350 RPM which is really nice when you don't want any thrust.
Steve Henry, Wild West Aircraft
(the Dead Stick Take-off Guy)
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marl59
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Location: Oakland, CA

Re: Wild West Aircraft

Post by marl59 »

Steve, thanks for the Yamaha update. I've been following your progress on the RX1 engine with some interest. I have your original Highlander and the Rotax is getting a bit tired. What would you say the biggest negative issue is with the engine? Did you get it running right? Meaning did you get the intake/exhaust combo working well with the engine? In retrospect at this point, would you have approached the project differently? In other words, how would you advise me if I wanted to follow in your footsteps to make the RX1 work? Thanks for building a great airplane, the original Yee Haw, I am enjoying it immensely !
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