William Wynne
Active Member
Below are links to thee different single seat aircraft, all designed to be kits or plans built aircraft. I know all of the designers well. The engines are regular Corvair flight engines as we teach builders to make them. I have great respect of any person who meets the challenges of building and flying a plane, but a special status is accorded to the very few who design, build and fly their own plane, and then share this with other builders.
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While there have been countless one off planes built with Corvair engines, most of them were handicapped by the airframe designer trying also to extensively modify the Corvair at the same time, and therefore conducting an experiment with everything as a variable. In contrast, the men below chose to utilize all of our flight proven data to power their own airframe design. This is a big element of their success.
These are fantastic planes, but there is always a tiny buy vocal subset of spectators who can not resist saying how they could have done better: The Personal Cruiser has been covered extensively by EAA publications and was in my display at Oshkosh. It has been well documented to have astounding efficiency, exceeding 50 mpg at cruise. We had one spectator in the display state that he could have "easily made a 75mpg plane", he wondered why we thought this was funny. After Dan Weseman flew a dramatic aerobatic Performance in his Panther, A person, in poor enough health they were winded just walking around, stated that he was going to build a Panther, but since it isn't equipped for sustained inverted flight, and 'outside' maneuvers, he was " just going to have to design and build his own plane." Spenser Gould, designer of the SP-500 gave a forum on his composite design at Sun n Fun. The introduction included mentioning that he is an Embry-Riddle Aerospace Engineer, and is a full time engineer for Pratt-Whitney. The focus of the presentation was on how the SP-500 design was validated in full scale FAR load tests. The presentation was to encourage other designers by sharing his methods. This was appreciated by almost all present, with two exceptions. I asked those two men to tell me about their own designs, and all they had was some story's about a CAD file and something they "could have built," If you are new to homebuilding let me share this ww axiom: No real flying plane can begin to compete with imaginary ones, ones that will be built one day, or could have been built. To understand why ponies can not compete with unicorns, read this story:
Unicorns vs Ponies. | flycorvair
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The SPA Panther:
This is Dan Wesemans design. It is powered with a 3000 cc Corvair with a Weseman 'Gen 2' 5th bearing, fed by an MA3-SPA carb. It is aerobatic and has folding wings. It has a steel tube substructure in the cockpit, but is otherwise sheet metal. I built some of the prototypes engine installation parts and assembled and test ran the engine for Dan. The plane is an Outstanding performer, and has been extensively covered in the media, including making the cover of Kitplanes. The SPA display at Oshkosh is always #615. In slightly over a year of kit building, SPA has sold more than 50 kits, and their website has many pictures of their crew producing dozens of fuselages. The also have a very informative video of the wing being sandbagged to 10G's I saw it done in person, a very impressive test for any plane, especially one with folding wings. The plane can take many engine, but 30-40% of their builders are going with a Corvair.
Some videos:
3,000 cc Panther flight videos | flycorvair
Their main site:
http://flywithspa.com/panther.html.
An overview of the 3000 cc Corvair with the Weseman USA billet crank:
Why Not the Panther engine? | flycorvair
A background story on the designer:
Panther Roll out. | flycorvair
A reference page with dozens of links to Dan Weseman's work with both the Panther and the Sonex
Corvair power for Panther and Sonex reference page | flycorvair
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Personal Cruiser:
The Cruiser is a Design by Steve Rahm, which is marketed as a lit by Scott Vanderveen of Pro Composites. I know both of them well. It is an all composite plane noted for its efficiency. It has been flown to Oshkosh and Sun n Fun a number of times. I built the prototype's engine and made items for it like the motor mount. The plane can take a number of different engines, but the large majority of the builders have selected the Corvair The engine is a 2850 cc Corvair with a Weseman Gen 1 bearing. fed by an Ellison EFS-3A
Scott's main website:
Pro-Composites
A look at the prototypes engine when it was built at my shop:
Torque, HP and Thrust tests | flycorvair
Coverage of Sun n Fun the year the Cruiser made its public showing:
(includes photos of many other Corvair powered planes on hand)
Sun 'N Fun 2007 With www.FlyCorvair.com
Includes photos of Sarah Ashmore's purple 3000 cc Cruiser engine, built and run at Corvair College #28
Corvair College #29, Leesburg, FL. – photo report | flycorvair
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SP - 500
The SP-500 is an all composite single seat aerobatic design which meets the LSA category requirements. It was designed by Spencer Gould, who I know well. The design is noted for its very careful documentation, engineering and testing. The engine is a 2700 cc power plant equipped with a Weseman Gen 1 bearing, fed by an MA3-SPA.
An overview of the design:
SP-500 – 2,700cc – Spencer Gould | flycorvair
A story about the building and test run of the engine at Corvair College #23:
Corvair College #23, 2700cc Engine, Spencer Gould, SP-500 | flycorvair
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-ww.
.
While there have been countless one off planes built with Corvair engines, most of them were handicapped by the airframe designer trying also to extensively modify the Corvair at the same time, and therefore conducting an experiment with everything as a variable. In contrast, the men below chose to utilize all of our flight proven data to power their own airframe design. This is a big element of their success.
These are fantastic planes, but there is always a tiny buy vocal subset of spectators who can not resist saying how they could have done better: The Personal Cruiser has been covered extensively by EAA publications and was in my display at Oshkosh. It has been well documented to have astounding efficiency, exceeding 50 mpg at cruise. We had one spectator in the display state that he could have "easily made a 75mpg plane", he wondered why we thought this was funny. After Dan Weseman flew a dramatic aerobatic Performance in his Panther, A person, in poor enough health they were winded just walking around, stated that he was going to build a Panther, but since it isn't equipped for sustained inverted flight, and 'outside' maneuvers, he was " just going to have to design and build his own plane." Spenser Gould, designer of the SP-500 gave a forum on his composite design at Sun n Fun. The introduction included mentioning that he is an Embry-Riddle Aerospace Engineer, and is a full time engineer for Pratt-Whitney. The focus of the presentation was on how the SP-500 design was validated in full scale FAR load tests. The presentation was to encourage other designers by sharing his methods. This was appreciated by almost all present, with two exceptions. I asked those two men to tell me about their own designs, and all they had was some story's about a CAD file and something they "could have built," If you are new to homebuilding let me share this ww axiom: No real flying plane can begin to compete with imaginary ones, ones that will be built one day, or could have been built. To understand why ponies can not compete with unicorns, read this story:
Unicorns vs Ponies. | flycorvair
.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
.
The SPA Panther:
This is Dan Wesemans design. It is powered with a 3000 cc Corvair with a Weseman 'Gen 2' 5th bearing, fed by an MA3-SPA carb. It is aerobatic and has folding wings. It has a steel tube substructure in the cockpit, but is otherwise sheet metal. I built some of the prototypes engine installation parts and assembled and test ran the engine for Dan. The plane is an Outstanding performer, and has been extensively covered in the media, including making the cover of Kitplanes. The SPA display at Oshkosh is always #615. In slightly over a year of kit building, SPA has sold more than 50 kits, and their website has many pictures of their crew producing dozens of fuselages. The also have a very informative video of the wing being sandbagged to 10G's I saw it done in person, a very impressive test for any plane, especially one with folding wings. The plane can take many engine, but 30-40% of their builders are going with a Corvair.
Some videos:
3,000 cc Panther flight videos | flycorvair
Their main site:
http://flywithspa.com/panther.html.
An overview of the 3000 cc Corvair with the Weseman USA billet crank:
Why Not the Panther engine? | flycorvair
A background story on the designer:
Panther Roll out. | flycorvair
A reference page with dozens of links to Dan Weseman's work with both the Panther and the Sonex
Corvair power for Panther and Sonex reference page | flycorvair
-------------------------------------------
Personal Cruiser:
The Cruiser is a Design by Steve Rahm, which is marketed as a lit by Scott Vanderveen of Pro Composites. I know both of them well. It is an all composite plane noted for its efficiency. It has been flown to Oshkosh and Sun n Fun a number of times. I built the prototype's engine and made items for it like the motor mount. The plane can take a number of different engines, but the large majority of the builders have selected the Corvair The engine is a 2850 cc Corvair with a Weseman Gen 1 bearing. fed by an Ellison EFS-3A
Scott's main website:
Pro-Composites
A look at the prototypes engine when it was built at my shop:
Torque, HP and Thrust tests | flycorvair
Coverage of Sun n Fun the year the Cruiser made its public showing:
(includes photos of many other Corvair powered planes on hand)
Sun 'N Fun 2007 With www.FlyCorvair.com
Includes photos of Sarah Ashmore's purple 3000 cc Cruiser engine, built and run at Corvair College #28
Corvair College #29, Leesburg, FL. – photo report | flycorvair
-----------------------------------------------------
SP - 500
The SP-500 is an all composite single seat aerobatic design which meets the LSA category requirements. It was designed by Spencer Gould, who I know well. The design is noted for its very careful documentation, engineering and testing. The engine is a 2700 cc power plant equipped with a Weseman Gen 1 bearing, fed by an MA3-SPA.
An overview of the design:
SP-500 – 2,700cc – Spencer Gould | flycorvair
A story about the building and test run of the engine at Corvair College #23:
Corvair College #23, 2700cc Engine, Spencer Gould, SP-500 | flycorvair
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-ww.
