EcoDragon now part of Team Raven!

[TX-EcoDragon]

I have recently had the opportunity to attend a day long seminar and dinner with Wayne Handley (yes, the Wayne Handley) and I also did some flying with him in his Extra 300L! (it is a real hot rod, that  goes 0-100 in 8 seconds, has a 380 degree/second roll rate, can climb straight up for 2,500 feet, and is certitified to +/- 10 G's). For anyone looking to get an opportunity to meet and learn from one of the masters,  the seminar is a must do. Im not new to aerobatics and much the seminar was geared towards the straight and level pilots out there, but he shed light on many things that I thought I had thought about from every angle. The most amazing thing about it was how candid and honest Wayne was, there wasn't that usual presentation factor or big ego in the way of his teaching, and he took time for even the most rudimentary of questions and seemed genuinely interested in promoting aviation safety. He didn't steer clear of the Turbo Raven questions, and in fact at the dinner session he had tape of the incident, and a few other films of other incidents/accidents and he dove right into picking them apart, from both a technical aviation safety aspect, as well as the emotional and physical aspects of his accident, and the impact that it had on his wife (who was there as well).

We showed Wayne the videos of the PAV and one of Hwkmn (Ben) and I flying our two ship show in FB, and after we explained more or less what he was seeing he seemed to really get into it, and despite the 400 people there all trying to get autographs or to ask questions he stayed there for the full duration of both videos and ultimatelly seemed quite impressed.

By the end of the day it seemed as though we had moved from an instructor/student type situation, to friends, and before we flew out of the beautiful Pine Mountain Lake airport (we departed at 10:40 pm so we had a lot of deer to scare from the runway first) Wayne suggested that we join Team Raven as ground/support crew at the California International Airshow at Salinas. . .needless to say I accepted on the spot!

http://www.waynehandley.com

http://www.salinasairshow.com

This is during the same weekend as the wings over houston show unfortunatelly, but I couldn't really have afforded or squeezed in a weeked flight to Texas. . . but I will be there in spirit! Also, my half-brother, his wife and daughter live in TX, and my father will be heading out there fairly soon, I am not sure if they are flying or driving, but I will see.










S!

TX-EcoDragon
Black 1
TX Squadron XO

[TX-EcoDragon]

For those who don't know, the one of a kind Turbo Raven has the engine off of a turbo prop like those used for charter by the airlines, this enabled Wayne to have the first prop driven aircraft on the show circuit with a positive thrust to weight ratio, meaning that he could climb vertically, stop in a torque roll or hover and hold there, back up, then return to a hover, then accelerate out of it straight up! This aircraft also had a featherable and reversible prop on it so that Wayne could extend down lines by slowing down, and he could also back into his parking spot! The Turbo Raven was destroyed during an airshow presentation when Wayne was coming down the bottom of a loop where he rolls the blade pitch towards reverse, and then a few hundred feet up comes out of reverse, lands, and goes into reverse, allowing him to complete the loop aand land at the bottom it in only a few feet. Sadly as Wayne went to roll the prop out of Beta the engine flamed out, and wayne could not arrest the sink rate,  though he did pitch up a bit and the aircraft pancaked hard, breaking Wayne's back and destroying the aircraft. He has fully recovered, he instructs current airshow performers and up and coming performers and still uses the original Raven in shows occasionally (he is retired after all!).S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX Squadron XO

[TX-Zen]

My lord man, that is righteous!No time to reply today but damn man, you rock!TX-ZenBlack 6

[TX-Raptor]

Im not certain, but I think my old squad mate Tom worked on the Turbo Raven  Prop.

[TX-Bomblast]

Lucky you, that is SSSSOOOOO cool.

[Seeker]

Eco, when do you not rock?That's some cool beans.

[Shadow]

Ssss Eco !!!Awesome !!and then some... :-)Keep us posted ! , so how many G's did ya pull in your first bout with it and doing what maneuvers ?and how did you ever get to fly with him ?and how many horses ?   hehe..!!!Shadow

[TX-EcoDragon]

Extra 300LBase price: $225,000Price as tested: $249,000SpecificationsPowerplant    Lycoming AEIO-540 300 hp @ 2700 rpmRecommended TBO   2,000 hrPropeller   MT, 3-blade wood composite, constant-speedLength   22 ft 10 inHeight   8 ft 7 inWingspan   26 ft 3 inWing area   115 sq ftWing loading   16.6 lb/sq ftPower loading   6.39 lb/hpSeats   2 tandemCabin length   7 ft 7 inCabin width   front cockpit 29 in, rear cockpit 28 inCabin height   41 inEmpty weight   1,474 lbMax takeoff weight (aerobatic, two seats occupied)   1,918 lbMax gross weight (when flown Normal category)   2,095 lbUseful load (Normal category)   621 lbUseful load (Aerobatic category — two people)   444 lbMax landing weight (Normal and Aerobatic category)   2,095 lbFuel capacity, std   45.1 gal (44.6 gal usable)Fuel capacity, center acro tank   13.4 gal (12 gal usable)PerformanceAerobatic limitations   plus or minus 10 GTakeoff distance, ground roll   305 ftTakeoff distance over 50-ft obstacle   656 ftMax demonstrated crosswind component   15 ktMax operating altitude   16,000 ftRate of climb, sea level, single pilot   3,200 fpmVertical Penetration 2,500 ft (straight up!!)Max level speed, sea level   180 KIASCruise speed/endurance w/45-min rsv, std fuel (fuel consumption)@ 65% power, best economy   152 kt/2.6 hr (14.5 gph)Landing distance, ground roll   538 ftLanding distance over 50-ft obstacle   1,663 ftLimiting and Recommended AirspeedsVX (best angle of climb)   89 KIASVY (best rate of climb)   99 KIASVA (design maneuvering)   158 KIASVNO (max structural cruising)   158 KIASVNE (never exceed)   220 KIASVR (rotation)   62 KIASVS1 (stall, clean)   57 KIASFor more information, contact Aero Sport, Post Office Drawer 1989, St. Augustine, Florida 32085, telephone 904/824-6230, fax 904/824-4509; or, Extra-Flugzeugbau GmbH, Flugplatz Dinslaken, 4224 HŸnxe Post, Germany, telephone (from the United States) 011 49 28 58 6851, fax 011 49 28 58 7124.This flight was made possible by the Pine Mountain Lake Airport Assoc. otherwise I would have never been able to pay for it!! Wayne's normal rate for himself and the airplane is $400/hour, which includes ~ a half hour breifing and debreifing (not bad when you compare it to other comperable rentals, and with who knows em instructors, but waaaaaaaay more than I can pay for)This all came about when I heard that Wayne was doing the occaisional safety seminar at various airports, and for an additional fee, you could get a half hour of flight time with him. At first I wasn't sure this was for me as I figured I could fly acro in a Super Decathlon, Pitts, or Extra 200 at LVK where I ahve ben flying for less cash. . . but then I looked at the cost, and the amount of time he spent during the seminar with everyone, and I realized it was a bargain and a rare opportunity to meet, listen to, and have Wayne Handley critique my flying. In the end it was an amazing experience not only becasue of Wayne, but because of the community at Q68 (Pine Mountain Lake). This is a town that is built on the airport, the houses are right off the runway, and usually the entire ground floor is a hangar, with the house on top. I saw tons of classics, WACOs, Stearmans, A bunch of Extras, tons of RV-4s and 6s, luscombes, a Spartan Executive, a lockheed electra. . .  man, the list goes on and on. The people were totally cool also, amazingly nice, and despite all being millionaires, remarkable humble and giving. It really was one of the better days of my life. . . to think I almost didn't go!!S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX Squadron XO

[TX-EcoDragon]

Well, I have pulled more + G's in previous flights actually, because this was my first flight with Wayne in his  Extra 300L, but we did +6/-3 Maneuvers:max performance takeoff (wow!! light and powerful, felt like a 427 Cobra, Jet-like)dutch rolls upright and inverted  slow fightaccelerated stalls in coordinated and uncoordinated flight  from~ 60-80 degreed banked turnspower off stallsloops1/2 cuban eightsimmelmansplit-shammerheadsnap rollfalling leafleft/right spinsaileron rolls4-pt hesitation rollsinverted flighttumbles from knife edge after 270 degree rolland the "dink" which is entered from wings level climbing flight (but looks less agressive from the ground)(like a sideways outside snap roll -3 G)Left and right knife edgeit was an action packed sequence as we only had .5 hour of actual air time.This wasn't the usual routine for his seminars, but they are geared for pilots who have no aerobatic experience, and who want to try spin recovery for the most part.This is definately one of the most high performance aerobatic aircraft out there, and yet it is remarkably well mannered, and unlike the other Extras I have been in the 300L has the wing mounted lower which makes landing visability much better since you can actually see the runway!! The large prop was amazing also, it is a light composite so there is next to ZERO hesitation between moving the throttle up, to being jammed into the seat with acceleration, converselly the prop is also  capable of being high drag when you want it to be, cutting power pulls you forward into the  harness, it was quite the stop/go lever, unlike all other planes I have flown that hesitate a bit and power changes are only felt when  you look for them. This plane was like flooring the gas in a sports car, and getting on the brakes when you throttle back. The advantage to this is for down lines, where you don't want to build up tons of speed and force maneuvers to be rushed, or force the pilot to have fewer maneuvers while diving, it also enables the pilot to maintain a more uniform speed throughout looping maneuvers (instead of really fast at the bottom and really slow at the top)For a visual representation, pretty much everything you see here other than the cobra takeoff, and the torque rolls. ( I also recently met Kirby Chambliss, the pilot of this aircraft)http://www.chamblissaerobatics.com/media/kirby1.wmvAs I told Wayne on takeoff. . . " man, this thing takes the Super out of Super Decathlon!"S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX Squadron XO