One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane • Hacker News Board

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#11

Post by bc_skier » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 5:09 AM UTC

ehnto wrote: post #5

I watch a few aviation YouTube channels and this plane has popped up a few times. I had no idea of the story behind it, that is super cool! Minor article nitpick, bushplanes are more like the Land Rover Troopy or Enduro motorbike bike of the sky, and not at all like an SUV. SUVs are lumbering, fragile and impractically large people busses, often with all the luxuries you can think of. Bush Planes are nimble, barebone…

I definitely agree with bush planes being pragmatic vehicles of utility, and are generally stripped down pretty bare. But I've heard more than one bush pilot refer to his plane as the SUV of the bush, generally these were larger planes like Beavers or a 206 though. Seeing a full size fridge placed sideways in Beaver (with the doors removed and the ends sticking out either side) and you'll see why that say that!

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#12

Post by pdelbarba » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 5:13 AM UTC

As someone who does this kind of work, the timeline is absolutely insane. The aircraft started out as a PZL-104MA Wilga 2000 but he redid part of the wing, built an entire carbon fiber cowling and redid the wiring, all on top of the engine install, though that and the carbon fiber he had fairly extensive previous experience with. One thing you'll notice if you watch the build videos is he makes extensive use of very complex CNC machining for the wing tip extensions and some other odds and ends. I would be very interested to know how much risk management went into the design though, as on the surface DRACO and Turbulence (his other PT-6 project) seem to have a lot eyeball engineering going on as neither airframe was ever designed to handle the flight loads that the engines put on them. There's only so much you can see in YouTube videos though so I'll give him the benefit of a doubt.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#13

Post by sandworm101 » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 5:14 AM UTC

TylerE wrote: post #9

It's an impressive achievement, but I would say the true beauty of good engineering is in being the best while also keeping costs under control. Getting 50-80% more performance isn't hard when you cost 5x as much (or more).

And most true in aviation. With enough funds you can buy some very magical things. But it isnt a bush plane if it cannot be fixed in the bush. Things like turbines and carbon fiber dont lend themselves to repair in an actual field.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#14

Post by toomanybeersies » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 5:14 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #4

The Luftwaffe Storch was the granddaddy of these designs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fieseler_Fi_156

I would argue that the Piper Cub, and subsequently the Super Cub, were the predecessors of modern bush planes.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#15

Post by pdelbarba » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 5:16 AM UTC

mmirate wrote: post #10

A turboprop ? On that small a chassis, volume-wise? I wonder if he gets even a full hour of flight time from a full fuel tank...

If you watch the videos he adds some fuel capacity. The particular engine he's using isn't horrible on fuel consumption, particularly at altitude, though definitely worse than the original IO-540

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#16

Post by sandworm101 » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 5:17 AM UTC

An article about bush planes, but no mention of the beaver? If you cannot strap a canoe full of beer under it, it aint a bushplane.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#17

Post by pdelbarba » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 5:23 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #13

TylerE wrote: post #9

It's an impressive achievement, but I would say the true beauty of good engineering is in being the best while also keeping costs under control. Getting 50-80% more performance isn't hard when you cost 5x as much (or more).

And most true in aviation. With enough funds you can buy some very magical things. But it isnt a bush plane if it cannot be fixed in the bush . Things like turbines and carbon fiber dont lend themselves to repair in an actual field.

Carbon:

One of the most popular high performance light bush planes at the moment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CubCrafters_Carbon_Cub_EX

Turbines:

The money makers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_DHC-3_Otte... (plus it's twin cousin)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherpa_Aircraft_Sherpa

So these aren't bush planes?

Edit: further, there's nothing inherent to carbon or turbines that make them unsuitable for the backcountry. Turbines are generally more reliable and have fewer moving parts. There's nothing on them that you can't fix with bailing wire that you can on a piston engine. The Wilga is overwhelmingly aluminum monocoque but if you need to fix the cowling (the main carbon part) some speed tape will do as it's not really load bearing. The cessna I took my checkride in was probably missing half it's cowling bolts :/

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#18

Post by WalterBright » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 5:25 AM UTC

toomanybeersies wrote: post #14

WalterBright wrote: post #4

The Luftwaffe Storch was the granddaddy of these designs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fieseler_Fi_156

I would argue that the Piper Cub, and subsequently the Super Cub, were the predecessors of modern bush planes.

The Storch was specifically designed with STOL in mind and for very rough runways.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#19

Post by komali2 » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 5:32 AM UTC

halbritt wrote: post #6

Hasz wrote: post #2

This is very cool. I had to look around a bit, but I found a link to DRACO taking off at at a competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp3402SOk8A Apparently this distance is about 100ft. Stats are all over the place, but "DRACO will climb at 4,000 feet-per-minute (FPM) and cruise at 180 mph (290 km/h) at 16,000 feet." which apparently blows everyone else out of the water (and it should for a 1M+ plane) Also, 5 m…

Go watch the build videos and you'll understand how he got it done in 5 months. The guy is definitely "special" in the sense that he's incredibly driven, very positive, and a bit scary. Apparently, he only sleeps a few hours a day.

>Apparently, he only sleeps a few hours a day.

I look forward to the day that that particular trick of genetics is discovered. It took me about eight years to accept that a small percentage of the population is just born with that gift, and that trying to emulate it by restricting my sleep hours was only hurting me.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#20

Post by bdamm » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 5:33 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #13

TylerE wrote: post #9

It's an impressive achievement, but I would say the true beauty of good engineering is in being the best while also keeping costs under control. Getting 50-80% more performance isn't hard when you cost 5x as much (or more).

And most true in aviation. With enough funds you can buy some very magical things. But it isnt a bush plane if it cannot be fixed in the bush . Things like turbines and carbon fiber dont lend themselves to repair in an actual field.

Carbon fiber can be fixed in the bush. What's special about turbines that makes the not field repairable? Nobody is fixing engine cores of any type without flying in parts anyway.