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Airplane For Sale Ridge Runner Model 2 STOL, 503, 1 Seat, Has Flown 20 HRS, Needs Little Work to Fly

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Victor Bravo

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2014
Messages
13,447
Location
KWHP, Los Angeles CA, USA
I am about to go in on another STOL'ish low and slow airplane, which will make my Ridge Runner 2 mostly surplus to my needs. The story on it is this...

It was bought from Rocky Mountain Wings, I believe kit serial number 26, and it was assembled by a semi-pro builder in WA. He flew it 20 hours. On the day he was supposed to fly it with the hired gun builder, the owner finally realized that the brochure claim of it being a "2 seater" was about as sincere as Joan Collins saying "ouch!" on her honeymoon. So the guy couldn't fly it with the builder, and didn't do anything with it.

He moved it back down to CA, and it sat in a big hangar until there was a hangar fire nearby and the fabric got singed and sooted up real bad. Sold it to owner number two.

Owner number two tore off the Stits fabric and recovered it with Stewart Systems, and painted it bright yellow with a roller. The fabric job is very airworthy, but nowhere near a show quality job. It's a twenty foot airplane. Just perfect for a desert beater / bushwhacker.

Owner number two died before the airplane had flown. I know this because it had fabric covering bolt holes that I had to cut away before reassembling the airplane. I bought it from the family of Owner number two. The airplane had never been registered, no AW cert, no N number, etc. etc. It was operated as a "fat ultralight", but I do not believe there is a chance in hell it meets the 103 weight.

The hilarious part is that it HAS a big old King transponder, and had a big old King COM radio

Since I got it I have done the following:

Installed refurbished 2 1/4" Becker 720 COM radio with PTT
Used Matco wheels and brakes, with motorcycle brake master cylinders fitted to the existing OEM welded-in heel brake pedals
8.00 x 6 Carlisle golf tires
NEW Matco tailwheel
New aluminum instrument panel and support structure (much thinner/lighter than what was there)
NEW windshield/skylight fabricated (protective film still on)
Nosegear removed (with great glee) and main gear moved forward to taildragger mount lugs.
Wing struts modified with larger diameter steel tube (factory option for 900 lb. gross weight)
Louvers installed in upper cowl with duct from engine cooling shroud (to improve cooling flow at all speeds)
Lower cowl modified with separate aluminum section, allowing cowls to be removed without removing exhaust pipe from engine (duh!)
Support bracket design/fab/installed on rear of pilot seat for 5 gallon jug, bringing fuel capacity to 15 gallons
Support bracket for small lithium battery design/fab/install in rear fuselage
Rebuilt one flap kinked/bowed trailing edge and ribs.

Still needs several small things finalized, fuel line routing and shutoff valves, battery wiring designed and installed, figure out correct bungees and install, finalize engine control routing, hook up and fiddle with pitch trim, install fabric inspection rings and plates where hand access holes were cut in fuselage bottom, finalize flap rigging. Small stuff that matters, but no big repairs or construction.

So the airplane has been put on Barnstormers for sale (11K) or trade for a decent sport glider (Pilatus, 1-26, L-33 Solo, Russia, etc).

The GOOD news is that if someone from HBA buys this, I will make a $500 donation out of the sale proceeds to the forum owner to help cover the operating costs of providing this resource to the community. Fair is fair, I enjoy this forum tremendously, and if the forum puts me in touch with someone who buys this, I will make that contribution. Just make sure you let me know you are a participant here, instead of the general Barnstormers public.
 
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