Dear Sonerai Lovers,
Scanning the covers of the Sonerai newsletter, you will find at least three photos of Dave Wilcox's Sonerai 2LTS. This airplane was certified on April 29th 1997. Dave logged 2097.6 hours in both the tail dragger and nose dragger configurations....always in the breeze produced by his trusty Continental A80. On March 28, 2014 Dave performed an annual inspection and signed away his beautiful bird the following day. The plane continued to fly behind that ol' A80 until it just couldn't make enough oil pressure to keep the new owner comfy. Off came the Conti as preparations were made for a VW based power plant. Unfortunately, personal issues cut that project short. That, my friends, is how I came to be the proud caretaker of Experimental Sonerai 136DE. Photo attached. I'll put a few more photos in my gallery.
There is a great deal of Sonerai lore under the wing of this old beauty. I'll share some short stories as I learn more about her. In the meantime, you can read the stories already recorded in the pages of the Sonerai newsletters.
My plan is to finish the conversion using the Revmaster 2100 I built for my other project. I plan to get my TW endorsement in a friend's Waco this coming April. Until then, I can test my engine and get used to Sonerai manners with 136DE configured as a nose dragger. After the endorsement, and some TW practice in other aircraft, I will reconfigure 136DE to her conventional self. By the time I get comfortable dragging the tail of 136DE, my original project should be ready to break contact with mother earth. Perhaps then, another lover of all things Sonerai will want to become a part of this aircraft's amazing history.
All the best,
Chucker
Scanning the covers of the Sonerai newsletter, you will find at least three photos of Dave Wilcox's Sonerai 2LTS. This airplane was certified on April 29th 1997. Dave logged 2097.6 hours in both the tail dragger and nose dragger configurations....always in the breeze produced by his trusty Continental A80. On March 28, 2014 Dave performed an annual inspection and signed away his beautiful bird the following day. The plane continued to fly behind that ol' A80 until it just couldn't make enough oil pressure to keep the new owner comfy. Off came the Conti as preparations were made for a VW based power plant. Unfortunately, personal issues cut that project short. That, my friends, is how I came to be the proud caretaker of Experimental Sonerai 136DE. Photo attached. I'll put a few more photos in my gallery.
There is a great deal of Sonerai lore under the wing of this old beauty. I'll share some short stories as I learn more about her. In the meantime, you can read the stories already recorded in the pages of the Sonerai newsletters.
My plan is to finish the conversion using the Revmaster 2100 I built for my other project. I plan to get my TW endorsement in a friend's Waco this coming April. Until then, I can test my engine and get used to Sonerai manners with 136DE configured as a nose dragger. After the endorsement, and some TW practice in other aircraft, I will reconfigure 136DE to her conventional self. By the time I get comfortable dragging the tail of 136DE, my original project should be ready to break contact with mother earth. Perhaps then, another lover of all things Sonerai will want to become a part of this aircraft's amazing history.
All the best,
Chucker