Sonerai w/ flaperon on youtube

[4trade]

I was at EFNU and see that plane today. Owner fly couple hammerhead and barrel roll´s. Plane fly very well and it was pure joy to watch it. They take some video too and i think those ones can find at youtube soon...

That torque tube travel is very short and it can´t affect much for that pushrod action. It change only few degrees that angle.

Elevator and stab was approx same size as Sonerai 2. I dont know is there any difference with S1???

[smoothmat]

4trade,

Thanks for the info i will be looking forward to seeing those video's on you tube.

Thanks
Matt

[Schmleff]

I would like to know what the cruise and top speed numbers are with the thick airfoil. I have to confess, that does not look like 45mph in the video. Is the airspeed properly calibrated.

[toma]

Hi fellow aviators,

I'm one of the owners of the bespoken Sonerai 1, and i'm also a builder for another one currently residing in my garage. The gentleman who owned this beast decided to give up flying due to medical reasons and we were very very happy to relieve him of this beautiful aircraft.

Like 4trade said the angle is not an issue and the mechanism in its simplicity works very well. You will also notice very distinctly the third position as you feel the assembly in your rear end ;-)
It is hinged so that there is no twisting, using brass bushings.

There are three flap positions and the 1:st and 2:ns position is mostly used. The third position is used if you really need a short landing. to you skeptics, it really does stall at 40mph with no power and flaperons in 3:rd position. (I will try to make, at some point, a video from inside the cabin to prove this for you, with GPS speed as well as airspeed and from 2 directions)

The cruise speed settles comfortably at 165-170 km/h (~105 mph) WOT speed is about 200 km/h (125mph)

As i promised in the first video, i did another video from our flying yesterday it was a beautiful weekend over here and we mounted some cameras at the tail and at the wingtip using the aviators best friend, duct tape.
I have had some problem with cameras CMOS sensors and their rolling shutters which makes the whole plane look like it is made of jello if the camera is even a bit loose and starts to vibrate. Now we used quite a bit of duct tape and taped the cameras to rigid structures and not to the fabric.

Judge for yourself here is the result:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYFLHHT7cRw

Please don't criticize my poor aerobatics it was only the 7:th time flying this extraordinary piece of machinery, someday i will hopefully get the hang of it.

Happy to provide you with more answers if they are within the grasp of my understanding.

BR, Tom

[hans]

Hi Tom,

thanks for joining and thanks too for your additional background information and that cool video. Where in Finland are you based? I'm based in northern Germany.

cheers
Hans

[toma]

The flights in the video and the plane as well as me are located at EFNU (Nummela) Airport in Vihti

here you have the place, courtesy of Google earth:
maps.google.fi/maps?q=Nummela,+VIhti,+Finland&ll=60.333491,24.293346&spn=0.03046,0.078106&gl=fi&t=h&z=14&vpsrc=6

BR, Tom

[hans]

ok, thanks! that's 600NM from EDXR, where my plane is based.

[toma]

This one?: maps.google.fi/maps?q=Rendsburg,+Schachtholm,+germany&ll=54.219883,9.599648&spn=0.034777,0.078106&fb=1&gl=fi&cid=0,0,2330610695413962078&t=h&z=14&vpsrc=6

Nice area, could even probably land a seaplane in the river nearby.

[hans]

Sept 19, 2011 5:05:47 GMT -5 toma said:

This one?: maps.google.fi/maps?q=Rendsburg,+Schachtholm,+germany&ll=54.219883,9.599648&spn=0.034777,0.078106&fb=1&gl=fi&cid=0,0,2330610695413962078&t=h&z=14&vpsrc=6

Nice area, could even probably land a seaplane in the river nearby.

Yes, that's the one.
As to landing a seaplane: that's a canal (the one connecting the Baltic Sea with the North Sea) and the Germans are rather restrictive about seaplanes (designated/approved seaplane sites only...). Odd when considering that so many seaplane developments originate from here...

[toma]

That's strange, well i'm happy then that we have 60000 "landable" lakes in Finland with very few restrictions, and obviously the archipelago is very nice as well.
Good to know that your government is strict on that if I ever fly over to your neck of the woods in my trustworthy little amphibian

[raceair]

I agree with Jeff, the Landing Speed in the video looks faster than is published....Ed

[hans]

Sept 19, 2011 6:50:01 GMT -5 toma said:

That's strange, well i'm happy then that we have 60000 "landable" lakes in Finland with very few restrictions, and obviously the archipelago is very nice as well.
Good to know that your government is strict on that if I ever fly over to your neck of the woods in my trustworthy little amphibian

As I wasn't born here, I don't really consider them to be 'my government'...

[toma]

Sept 19, 2011 7:40:33 GMT -5 raceair said:

I agree with Jeff, the Landing Speed in the video looks faster than is published....Ed

The landing was done with flaps in position 2 (there is a big difference between 2 and 3). The speed being at the approach around 75mph during the flare about 50 and the touchdown is at about 42-45mph.
The stall speed was measured at the time with a precision meter with a auto leveling pitot tube, because the aviation officials over here were as suspicious as you guys and they had some bad experience with people claiming ultralight stall speeds for a KR2. when in reality it stalled at 50mph.

But still, don't take my word for it, I'll produce a video for you from the cabin the next time we get some weather around here. Now it is just poring down and will apparently continue to do so for the rest of the week...

[Schmleff]

Just wondered. My airspeed is calibrated but the airspeed drops to 0 before it stalls.

[4trade]

Auto leveling pitot tube keeps pitot always straight in airstream. Your pitot is rigid and at angle when stall. Sonerai airfoil stall at 15-16 degrees and rigid pitot tube don´t work properly at that angle.

You need auto level pitot with calibrated airspeed indicator to proof it for aviation official people here.