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One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

arstechnica.com

31–40 of 83 posts

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've seen one flying backwards on an air-show. It has an extremely low stall speed.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#32

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…

Insane timeline indeed! I wish I had a work ethic like that. It's interesting how he tells that as a child, he was encouraged by his parents to "always finish his project, no matter how much you disliked it".

I wonder what the reliability of this beast is like, but I guess only time will tell.

If anyone is interested in this kind of stuff (fiberglassing fuselages, building cockpits...), Peter Sripol, a model plane enthusiast, made his own DIY plane that can carry a human with hobby grade brushless motors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNSN6qet1kE

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#33

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…

Insane timeline indeed! I wish I had a work ethic like that. It's interesting how he tells that as a child, he was encouraged by his parents to "always finish his project, no matter how much you disliked it". I wonder what the reliability of this beast is like, but I guess only time will tell. If anyone is interested in this kind of stuff (fiberglassing fuselages, building cockpits...), Peter Sripol, a model plane en…

> "always finish his project, no matter how much you disliked it".

Yeah, I wish my parents would have taught me this when I was young.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#34
post #19
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Don't underestimate the enormous amount of perpetually sleep deprived people who tell themselves that they have that "gift" but don't.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#35

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…

He has/had a prototyping company. The plane didn't take him 5 months, it took him his whole life thinking and only 5 months execution.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#36
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Don't underestimate the enormous amount of perpetually sleep deprived people who tell themselves that they have that "gift" but don't.

And don't underestimate the damage such people can do.

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#37

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…

Speaking of crazy timelines, Robert X. Cringely attempts to build a plane in 30 days in the documentary Plane Crazy:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164814/

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/22/arts/television-review-th...

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#38
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…

That short take off took me totally by surprise. That's not even 100m

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#39
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!

Are there even any SUV out in the bush?

Re: One man designed and built the ultimate bush plane

#40
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I've seen one flying backwards on an air-show. It has an extremely low stall speed.

Apparently the Antonov An-2 [1] can also fly backwards. There is no published stall speed in the flight manual and realistically it's around 25 kt (50 km/h).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-2

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