Greetings,
The Ion seems to meet a lot of the original goals stated. Some posts indicate concerns about Ion Aircraft's lack of updates on the website, engine changes, wing changes etc. and importantly the question of whether it is still an active work in progress. So, having Steve's number on my cell phone, I called him.
Ion Aircraft is definitely alive and kickin'. Here are some updates on their project.
The original Jabaru engine has been retired do to several plaguing issues that were not surmounted during the flight testing regime: Cooling- Difficulties in maintaining even cooling for all cylinders proved a moving target. They did get them reasonably close, but Steve did not like the contortions required, and they still varied more than Steve felt was appropriate. Unexplained loss of static RPM. This problem arose after a number of test flights, and there was no traceable cause. Steve explained (when it happened last year) that they check, rechecked, and re-rechecked everything, prop, balance, track, runout, fuel, air, oil, etc. etc. and could not figure out why they suddenly lost 300 or so RPM on static runup. They returned the engine to the distributor who still doesn't know why they had the problem. As the flight testing of the airframe still has to get done, Steve and company selected their alternate choice, the Rotax. He is now, as I type this, building a replacement engine cowl to accommodate the new mill. Steve did say that the Rotax does have a couple of benefits over the Jab. It is about 60 lbs lighter and is liquid cooled. Knowing from past conversations that this prototype, like many, ended up a bit tail heavy (relative to target weights), the lighter powerplant is a good thing. The one slightly less than optimal characteristic mentioned is that the Rotax has a PSRU gearbox, which was one reason Steve had banked on the Jabaru direct drive 6 cylinder initially on the airframe.
Regarding the new wings- this is not quite accurate. The wings have suffered a few dings and dents during the long development period, and spent a lot of time off the airframe, however, they were reconditioned and sound for the initial test flights. Recently (Steve did not say just when) the right wing lost an argument with an errant fuel truck so Roger is making a new set with the same airfoil and aerodynamic specs. This is actually somewhat of a good thing, as the new wings are going to be lighter. The first set used solid ribs and spars where the new set will be using the updated versions with appropriate lightening features, more in line with what will be used in production.
Regarding the overall lack of documented progress. Steve is busy with the aircraft, and less concerned about the website. From an advertising standpoint, not a great result, but Steve and company are self funded, and not dependent upon outside/customer deposits to keep the lights on. This is both good and bad, good because they do not want to treat others the way Dreamwings (copyright or trademarked) treated them, and bad, because they do not have depositor's funds in the bank to expedite the remaining tasks to bring the product to market.
Steve Schultz is a meticulous individual who has a good grasp of project management, and who is not willing to trade expediency for safety. From a fiscal standpoint, and I have done business with him, Steve is a conservative, pay as you go, stay out of debt, get the best bang for the money, build it right or don't release it until it's ready type of businessman.
The apparent lack of progress is just that, apparent, there is a lot that goes into a project like this, and it takes real discipline to dot all the "i's" and cross all the "t's", discipline that Steve has demonstrated admirably. This is the kind of operation a customer can have real confidence in.
I believe/hope that Steve will be looking for a few, select individuals to take the next step, after flight testing is done, to build several flying platforms concurrently to prove out the production steps and methods before final roll out of the kit. Assuming I have the discretionary funds, I hope to be one of them (unless I build one of Bill Husa's designs first and run out of room/money). Time will tell.
As someone who's taken a huge awesome super duper airplane and simplified it into quite literally a box with wings, the one thing I would not want to sacrifice is the two seater capacity...if it ever does fly, I'd want to share it with someone else, and I might not have the funds for a good while to build another plane.
