Cozy 540RG, and previous builds (Quickie, Cozy III).

I have been flying my latest project for five year and have approximately 500 hours logged. This is my third Rutan design that I have completed and I wanted something a bit out of the ordinary. I decided to incorporate a number of changes to enhance the performance. The major changes compared to a stock Cozy are large engine (Lycoming I0-540), fully retractable landing gear (drag reduction), stretched fuselage, enlarged fuel tanks and use of carbon material for the increased speeds and induced "G" loads. Performance figures are a step up from the per plans built designed Cozy. Economy cruise - 200 kts, wide open throttle - 244 kts, range - 1300 nm, empty weight -1333, gross weight - 2333, rate of climb - hold on, service ceiling - tested to 25,000. It is a real joy to fly and has the same mannerisms as the per plans Cozy. ​

 

Beautiful. You must be very proud of that bird!

 

Awesome plane Chris. Hats off to you....can't wait to get mine finished. I'm interested what you did with your fuel tanks, I've thought about not having storage in the strakes(as I am buying Gary Hunters pods) and using that for extra fuel, what is your setup? and how much fuel does yours hold?

btw love your video on Google...watch it often for motivation....

Check out Chris's cool vid here...http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2371759739049131623#

Cheers
John

 

Love the plane chris can't wait to meet you and see your cozy in person.
I'm putting my airplane factory togather right now. I have very similar goals with my cozy but I want to hang an all aluminum turbo 20 b rotary for power.

 

Thanks for sharing Chris. A real work of Art. My wife and I fantasize about the Cozy as our retirement grandkid visiting machine. It seems like it would be a nice speedy and stable two seat traveler with the back seats as the cargo area. Do you have any construction photos you could share? Did you do a little something different with your winglets?

Thanks again for posting the motivation.

 

Very Nice
I like the blended winglets
Flyoz

 

What a gorgeous airplane. Love the retracts, your design?
Craig

 

John,
Thanks for your interest, here is a link from one of the Oshkosh presentations that was put together for the project. http://www.cozybuilders.org/Oshkosh_Presentations/2006_Esselstyn/index.htm
You will see the changes to the fuel system are pictured. In summery the quantity was optimize by moving some of the bulkhaeads out to increase the quantity. In addition a fuselage sump tanks was added. The fuel capacity is around 75 gallons which provides a high altitude economy cruise range of 1500 statute miles.
Chris
​

 

I have posted a link from one of the Oshkosh presentations for some of the construction photos for John, please check out the link.

The blended winglets are not per plans and have been a challenge. The original winglets were cut off and the blended winglets were added to reduce drag, increase efficiency and performance. The initial build plus two significant modifications have taken place. It is quite lengthy as to what I did, outward cant, airfoil change, elimination of the lower per plans winglets, etc. What I can tell you is with all of the efforts and changes the performance enhancements are minimal.

Chris
​

 

Craig,

The retracts are similar to the Velocity gear, simple, proven and reliable. I have using Cozy gear geometry and Cozy plans geometry (per plans water line, fuselage station gear locations, etc ) in the build. The gear is operated with a hydraulic pump and has helped with the aircrafts overall performance, by reducing the drag of the gear and installing the six cylinder the top end and climb rate were enhanced by a fair margin.

Chris
​

 

Thanks, that's lots of interesting information. Is the PDF-presentation about the "fluid" winglet mod yours as well?

Do you have any means for relief? And if not, how long is the longest flight you're voluntarily doing?
​

 

There are quite a few for the Oshkosh Cozy 540RG presentations thru Marc Zeitlins forum site. If you look close there are some great ones for drag reduction related to the canard aircraft, outstanding work by Terry and Gary (canard guru's).

To answer your question about the relief tube, we use multiple plastic range extenders. Our longest flight has been from Bishop CA to Cedar Rapids Iowa. We had moderate tailwinds and were cruising at 17,19 and 21K with O2, we stopped for weather otherwise we may have been able to make it to Wisconsin nonstop. I go lean ( 50 degrees lean of peak) up high and get close to 30 statute MPG while cruising at 196 KTS true, the GPH can go way down with altitude. Trips to Lakeland Florida from the Midwest are typically non stop flights.

Chris

 

Chris your Cozy is truly top shelf, I have often admired it over the web, on Youtube, etc. - you have blazed some impressive trails and set the bar very, very high. Great job!

 

Thanks for the great comments, much appreciated.

Latest excursion: Late August my wife and I flew to the Pinedale Wyoming (NW Wyoming) from Wisconsin for a holiday. Each leg was nonstop with a distance over 1100 statute miles. Heading west with headwinds provided a 5.5 hour trip and the return trip was 4.5 hours with a light tail wind. When we arrived in Wyoming we had over 20 gallons remaining and upon landing back in Wisconsin we had over 30 gallons remaining.
The return trip was at 17K with O2.

Lean of peak settings provided 8.6 GPH with a true airspeed of 194 knots. Going high and lean provides the best economy and speeds depending upon the winds aloft.

 

25.9mpg, @ 223 mph, @ FL170 - let's see a Prius do that. Wow!!

What a great example of real world efficiency and utility from a homebuilt. That distance is similar to a possible mission for Wifey and I (SAN - ICT) if I ever buy or build - nice to see how that works out.

Of course, you could get the same performance from a certified bird like the, ah, umm, err, never mind. :roll:

 

Very nice work!

 

NEW VIDEO LINK please

 

very beautiful ！ how long it takes u to make it?

 

​

I think you mean canard. The Cozy was designed by Nat Puffer, as I'm sure you're aware.

 

Being a bit picky, aren't we?
Design | Define Design at Dictionary.com

I'm sure you're aware that Puffer got permission to copy Rutan's Long-ez plans for his Cozys. In many places the text, drawings, and build methods are identical. They can all fairly be called "Rutan designs".