SonexBuilders.net

As Spock would say. Fascinating.

This is reminiscent of last years failed Viking Fit project. Taking another design and relabeling it his.
I'm sure the Monnets are not amused.
To me, it looks like a Zenith 650. He has moved the seat up at least 4 inches. Rollover protection is gone. Not sure how he plans to deal with the rudder pedals now that the pilots feet are probably out of reach of them.

He also makes some performance claims like better climb and STOL. How can he do that without actually flying it? Bigger prop only?

almost Makes me want to head down to Seabring to see it. He's gonna have a busy Christmas getting the company Waiex retrofitted by January.

fastj22 wrote:To me, it looks like a Zenith 650. He has moved the seat up at least 4 inches. Rollover protection is gone. Not sure how he plans to deal with the rudder pedals now that the pilots feet are probably out of reach of them.

I don't think the seat is moved? The description says only a new canopy and motor mount.

look closely at the drawings. The pilot's head is well above the turtle deck. This also allows the elbows to be at the longerons, giving more cabin space. He claims better visibility, which is true.

fastj22 wrote:look closely at the drawings. The pilot's head is well above the turtle deck. This also allows the elbows to be at the longerons, giving more cabin space. He claims better visibility, which is true.

I see the drawing....but, if he doesn't provide any parts except the new canopy, and if you start with a normal Sonex how does the seat get changed?

About the only thing that looks sonex like on that plane is the rear fuselage. The wings even look too high on the side view. On the sonex the spar is only an inch from the bottom of the fuselage. Should be interesting what the real thing looks like. Should also be interesting to see if the prototype flies into Sebring or if he trailers it in.

Keith

kmacht wrote:About the only thing that looks sonex like on that plane is the rear fuselage. The wings even look too high on the side view.

Is that the answer to the seat mystery? Did the seats have to go up because the wing (and spar carry-through) is higher? Is the tunnel more forward, too? (to address a CG issue?)

I didn't catch the wing position. I think he doesn't have an accurate 3-view of the Sonex to work from and probably just drew it himself.
Either that or if you convert to a Viking Sport, you will need to re-rig the entire wing with a whole new spar box. Its not impossible, but also not a minor builder "enhancement". He did claim to make a wing incidence adjustment in the factory Waiex. Very interesting development.

The people sit very high in the drawing. I think you need that height if you want the elbow room. If accurate, it would require some modifications to the panel cross tie too. Your legs would probably hit it.

One point in his announcement was a higher thrust line for the engine. Pure speculation but in his quest to correct some trim issues with the Waiex, he raised it and found it solved the trim problem, but the result wasn't visually appealing with the stock windshield and canopy. So he improvised and solved the cramped cockpit at the same time.

fastj22 wrote:One point in his announcement was a higher thrust line for the engine. Pure speculation but in his quest to correct some trim issues with the Waiex, he raised it and found it solved the trim problem, but the result wasn't visually appealing with the stock windshield and canopy. So he improvised and solved the cramped cockpit at the same time.

His trim issues are indeed the reason for all this, apart from estetics I think his solution of raising the engine would seriously compromise forward/downward visibility, hence the change in seating position, canopy etc.
One thing is for sure, Jan is a true experimenter learning trough trial and error, unfortunately his customers are also forced down this path until he gets it right...

More news on the "Viking Sport" (a Sonex/Waiex redesigned to hopefully work better with a Viking engine hung in front of it):
http://www.vikingaircraftengines.com/news.htm