flyrotary@lancaironline.net Mailing List Archive

Thanks for additional info on the VariViggne, Bill

I guess there are now four or less left flying. Yes, my understanding was stall resistance and slow flight was suppose to be a feature of the design.

Presumably, losing power with the higher thrust line was the cause of the sudden nose pitch up – quickly bleeding off airspeed (with no power). I believe that wing platform has a fairly high drag coefficient at high angles of attack unlike the higher aspect wings of most other canards. But, best I leave that speculation to the canard folks who know that area better than I.

Its really too bad, because as I have er… demonstrated {:>) on two occasions - having an engine fail/stop should normally not preclude you from making the runway – especially if you are in the pattern. But, then the RV is known for its docile handling characteristics and the thrust is on the centerline axis or very close to it. I was also very fortunate and had the “luxury” of being forewarned of impending engine stoppage which enable me to get mentally prepared (to some extend) for that moment the engine quit. Oly clearly was not as fortunate in that aspect, but VERY fortunate to be able to walk away from the accident.

Different airplane, different conditions. Just fortunate to have a pilot with the right reflex – get the nose down - which believe me under those conditions with the ground already close and closing fast is a very, very hard thing to do.

Ed Anderson

Rv-6A N494BW Rotary Powered

Matthews, NC

eanderson@carolina.rr.com

http://www.andersonee.com

http://www.dmack.net/mazda/index.html

http://www.flyrotary.com/

http://members.cox.net/rogersda/rotary/configs.htm#N494BW

http://www.rotaryaviation.com/Rotorhead%20Truth.htm

From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Bill Bradburry
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 10:13 AM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Accident - Oly Olson Down but Alive and well!!!!!!!!!!!

I am glad Oly is OK. Sounds like he did a great piece of flying to get upright before the tree caught him. Apparently God placed the tree there for him. It is a shame he didn’t have a lottery ticket at the time!

There is a lot more going on here than just a rotary engine. The plane is supposed to be plastic and stall at 48 mph and is stall resistant as well. This plane was a metal variant (MiniViggen??). When Rutan gives up on a plane, there may be a reason. Then there is that high thrust line???

From Wiki:

The Rutan VariViggen is an airplane designed by Burt Rutan. He named it after the Swedish fighter plane, the Saab 37 Viggen, which had partially inspired his design. The aircraft is a two-seat (tandem arrangement), wood and fiberglass canard utilizing a 150 hp Lycoming O-320 piston engine in pusher configuration. The prototype was designated Model 27, and the production version was Model 32.

Rutan became interested in aircraft which resisted stalls and spins, and the VariViggen was his first full scale design. He began working with the design as a student at Cal Poly in the early 1960s, and started building the prototype in his garage in 1968. After four years of work, the aircraft made its first flight in April, 1972. The Model 32, also known as the VariViggen SP, utilized a slightly longer fuselage, larger span and winglets in order to increase efficiency. Rutan also began work on an all-aluminum variant, the MiniViggen, but later abandoned the project and focused his efforts on the VariEze.

The Rutan Aircraft Factory sold over 600 plan sets for the VariViggen to homebuilders, and eventually about 20 of the aircraft were built. Fewer than five are currently still flying following the crash of one in New Brunswick, Canada in September 2006. The prototype aircraft, N27VV, was donated to the EAA AirVenture Museum in 1988.

A Rutan VariViggen was used in the 1975 film Death Race 2000.

Bill B

From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Ed Anderson
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 8:46 AM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Accident - Oly Olson Down but Alive and well!!!!!!!!!!!

I am posting the contents of a report of an accident involving my friend Oly Olson and his rotary Vari-Veggan that was posted on Van’s RV List by David Domeier. Oly was using an Ellison Throttle body rather then EFI and was working on sorting it out. I was attempting to assist him over the phone and via e mail. He seem to have a problem getting the Ellison to both idle well and still provide adequate fuel flow on the high end. He was thinking of going to a different size Ellison to see if that cured the problem. I have no further details at this time and no indication of what the cause of engine stoppage might have been. He had flown several times with the Ellison. Oly and his wife had stopped by to visit me last year, a great couple.

I think it clear that having the right “reflexes” are necessary in such a situation – because there is no time to think – just react. Even so Oly clearly is a great stick man to get the aircraft oriented up right before striking the trees.

The body of the report follows:

REPORT

“…

I received a cell phone call from a friend at KSUS (St. Louis Spirit) this afternoon at about 1:35 pm. He was upset and could hardly say what had just seen. From his open hangar he witnessed a mutual friend on down wind leg suddenly pitch up, roll nearly inverted and disappear behind an adjacent row of hangers in what appeared to be 45 degree dive. He said we just lost Olie.

Olie is one of the guys in a local group messing around with experimental airplanes, he was trying to get the one and only metal built VariViggin to fly with a Mazda rotary engine. This was the second or third time Olie had attempted to fly the airplane in the past several years. It was a beautiful machine copied from original drawings and built by a couple engineers in Canada and painted like a Blue Angel F-18. Olie bought it and had it trucked in. We were in total shock and not feeling well at all about this happening to a guy we knew so well.

I was really in the dumps when the phone rang again about 20 minutes later. It was the same friend calling to say local guys were reporting Olie was walking around the wreckage which was up in a tree. I said, this is the best phone call I have ever received, wow!

I had Olie's cell phone number and called him. Sure enough, he was alive and well, and I said man am I glad to hear your voice. He said things happened real quick and he would brief everyone as soon as possible, meanwhile he was waiting for the FAA and also looking for a ride back to the airport. (he may not have been aware of it, but there was quite a traffic jam developing on Airport Road as a number of people saw him go in, one said he couldn't believe he was not killed, all this on a local TV web site)

This evening I received more info on what happened. The engine quit at about 90 knots on down wind leg and the airplane pitched up immediately, probably due to a high thrust line, speed dropped off to about 70, and the machine rolled nearly inverted about that quick. Olie said "some basic instinct kicked in - I pushed the nose down trying to recover some speed and kicked rudder real hard trying to get the airplane to roll back up right" - it did just that before it hit the trees. He climbed down with hardly a scratch.

We are thankful our friend Olie is with us tonight....”

__________________

Needless to say so are we. I sent Oly an e mail asking that when he got things sorted out to provide any information he could about what he though the cause of the engine stoppage was. One thing from this incident shows that regardless of whether using and EFI system, a Carburetor or other means of providing fuel – they all require sorting out and you can encounter difficulties with any of them.