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New guy wonders what they fly like?

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Wantaberacer

New Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
3
Location
Oconomowoc, WI
Hi everyone! This is Patrick and I have been interested in the Sonerai design for about 15 years. Love the concept of the airplane, but always wondered what it's flight characteristics where similar to
 
Thanks for the response. How's the visibility on landing. I have almost all my time flying from the front seat of a Citabria.

If you fly the final with the ball in, trimmed at 1.3Vso, you'll never see your aim point. If you stick a little rudder in there and slip it all the way down, visibility is great!

Once on the ground, prop the canopy up just a tiny bit and you can peek around the cowling on either side for taxi.
 
As Kenny says, a small slip or a little steeper approach until over the numbers. If you fly a flat, powered on approach you won't see the runway. Just use the correct technique. Sit as high as you can in the seat and visibility on the ground isn't an issue. I flew a couple of hours in the back seat of a Citabria as first flight practice.
 
Or, you can move the mains back a bit and put a wheel on the front. Then you can see what's there when you land or taxi. Regardless of your age, TW is an art that requires consistent practice. I can tell you that learning TW at 70 is different than at 30. If you've got TW down, then see the advice above and from 2012:
"ncam said:
I bought my sonerai S2 with 200 hours of gliding time and a PPL in Cherokee 140 and 172. I then proceeded to fly completely around New Zealand in the S2, it was the first airplane I owned. About a year later I got too low and too slow and gently sunk into the harbour mudflats. I drank a lot of salt water and it was an hour before I was found, the plane had inverted and I could not get out.... and the tide was coming in. It was not the planes fault, except that with a mid wing, vis. is limited. I now slip on finals, gives good vis and descent control.
Never go slow low. Make a curved approach on final or slip. I am not a good pilot, but I can assure that if kept going at a reasonable speed the Sonerai is a great plane, economical and fun to fly, thats why I am trying to buy another. Go to a long grass runway and practise until you are sick and tired, and eventually, suddenly you'll find you don't notice it anymore. Someone will say to you "how do you land that" and you'll have to stop and think.
Regards
Neville :)"

Videos: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sonerai+landing

Cheers!
 
Carrier type approach @ 85 to 90 over the numbers @70 and float on down to touch down. Piece of cake! I only had 120 hours of C-150 time and about 15 dual tailwheel in a cub. The Sonerai was my first tailwheel solo and the first flight in my Sonerai. NEVER get slow in a turn!
 
That's just about right... Ken Anderson wrote a book in which he recounts flying nearly every Homebuilt around, including some from Europe. He writes, "Sonerai is a Completely Honest airplane." What that means practically speaking is if built to the plans, then whatever you tell it to do with the controls it does that, until you tell it something else. OR in other words it has neutral stability. If you take your hands and feet off the controls, it does NOT return to straight and level. It does what you told it to do. SO, you bring your A-game when you fly it.
In my case the Sonerai II I bought came with a Jabiru 2200 engine weighing 120 lbs. So the builder lengthened the engine mount to 10", to correct forr CofG. . That entailed a 10" longer cowling. That additional area, compromised the neutral stability in YAW. I found a drawing created by Ed Fischer from Idaho in which he enlarged the Vertical fin which corrected the yaw issue,. I based my empennage on his drawing but also increased the rudder by say 40%. Transport Canada's graduate engineers approved it.
Now if I press a rudder pedal to the floor and the aircraft yaws out say 20 degrees on the ball indicator, then release the rudder it comes back to say 5 degrees from neutral, the same each way,. If I advanced the throttle, the yaw would decrease further.
A jabiru 3300 A engine became available and I installed it. I get say 3300 rpm in fast cruise delivering `127hp and somewhere between 180-200 knots. It's just breathtaking to fly at altitude at 3300 rpm.
S0 building this aircraft to the plans really matters. Before you change anything, fly it and what you though you wanted to change will become inconsequential, and you'll find out on test flight what you really NEED.
Bill Evans
ps I love my Sonerai, love to fly it,
 
Ken Anderson's Boook is Choosing your Homebuilt(the one you'll build and fly" ISBN 0-932579-26-4. Butterfield Press
375PP. I paid $20.
 
That's just about right... Ken Anderson wrote a book in which he recounts flying nearly every Homebuilt around, including some from Europe. He writes, "Sonerai is a Completely Honest airplane." What that means practically speaking is if built to the plans, then whatever you tell it to do with the controls it does that, until you tell it something else. OR in other words it has neutral stability. If you take your hands and feet off the controls, it does NOT return to straight and level. It does what you told it to do. SO, you bring your A-game when you fly it.
In my case the Sonerai II I bought came with a Jabiru 2200 engine weighing 120 lbs. So the builder lengthened the engine mount to 10", to correct forr CofG. . That entailed a 10" longer cowling. That additional area, compromised the neutral stability in YAW. I found a drawing created by Ed Fischer from Idaho in which he enlarged the Vertical fin which corrected the yaw issue,. I based my empennage on his drawing but also increased the rudder by say 40%. Transport Canada's graduate engineers approved it.
Now if I press a rudder pedal to the floor and the aircraft yaws out say 20 degrees on the ball indicator, then release the rudder it comes back to say 5 degrees from neutral, the same each way,. If I advanced the throttle, the yaw would decrease further.
A jabiru 3300 A engine became available and I installed it. I get say 3300 rpm in fast cruise delivering `127hp and somewhere between 180-200 knots. It's just breathtaking to fly at altitude at 3300 rpm.
S0 building this aircraft to the plans really matters. Before you change anything, fly it and what you though you wanted to change will become inconsequential, and you'll find out on test flight what you really NEED.
Bill Evans
ps I love my Sonerai, love to fly it,
Bil
That is fantastic performance. Would you mind giving us more detailed information on the configuration with the Jab 3300? Prop, engine placement, airframe adjustments. Other things that I haven’t thought of. Which Sonerai model II (S,L, ) do you have ? With the larger engine what is useful load, two passengers , fuel capacity. Range. What is 65% cruise speed ? Sounds like a great plane.
Bill
 
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