I now have a little over 20 hours flying with Joel Milloways prototype pods. They are 5' long and weigh 8lbs. ea. These are fiberglas the production ones will be carbon, and no doubt even lighter. The nose cones (actual spinners!) snap off for access inside.



One flight up to Seeley Lake Montana to check in with Bob T. and his S-20 build (looking real good, fine workmanship, a good shop to do it in, in a beautiful area, too damn many pet deer on the runway though) I can drift my own thread can't I?




At one point, while we were talking about the drag, or lack thereof, of the pods, I said I needed to check in with some ex military types on that. No need, I already had, Bob told me he flew A-6's in the Marine Air Corps and they hauled plenty of pods, but they called them "bombs". The weight of them seemed to be more of an issue then the drag if I understood him correctly.

Halfway back I made a little off airport landing to drain the sump and for this photo op.



Outside of Deer Lodge they have an exclusive gated community, though I don't know why they need all that security and what or who they are trying to keep out of the fancy resort. A few seconds after taking this pic I remembered I had very bomb like things hanging under the wing and I got the hell out of there



I really can't tell ANY difference in flying with the pods, well, that's not entirely accurate. When I took off the right one and flew with just the left, the plane seemed to need just a tad LEFT rudder, not his is counter intuitive, you'd think a draggier left wing would skew things a bit so you'd need RIGHT rudder, correct? This crude test was telling us the plane was cleaner with the pods then without. I then flew with no pods, and needed no rudder, I just flew it with the stick (straight and level). It can't be right.....but all indications are the pods somehow clean things up a bit and may ADD some performance. Go ahead and call BS, I don't believe it either. Also, the plane seems to land maybe 2 MPH SLOWER, when all slowed up and almost full stalled, it hangs in there just a bit longer/slower. Empty, it seems to climb better also.


The operative theory so far (testing continues, we'll try and quantify that slower landing speed thing) is that they somehow are producing some kind of lifting force and not only negating their drag but adding overall lift. Think of them like a little bi plane wing, here's a good side view I took yesterday that really shows how slick they are, slick and maybe lift producing?

The first time I packed them, I took all my usual crap I carry XC, tent, matress pad, down pillow, etc. With no particular care to maximize compaction or anything, I easily packed more then normal and with room left over. About 30 lbs including the weight of the pod in each. This left my main baggage area totally empty! Then, I realized that I was saving a couple pounds by not using the sleeping bag compacting stuff sack or the tent's bag, they are just jammed directly in the pods, which have no inside protruding hardware to catch on things.This also saves time early in the AM when breaking camp. I could be much less careful how I packed with the pods, though I did give some thought to what I put clear in the back as it would be least reachable.




Two pip pins secure the pods to the carbon mount brackets, which are secured using the existing strut eye bolts, at least for the S-7S. Joel is also designing a carbon strut cuff that will open to slip over the lift strut and then a couple hose clamps will keep it in position, different cuffs for different struts so a universal fit. Even loaded they come off and go on in seconds. Between the Seeley Lake flight and this weekends flight to Hood River, we had one late afternoon that had soarable conditions on the ridge behind my place. It was real handy to just drop the pods, a lot quicker and easier then unpacking the plane's baggage bay. And of course when I left for HR I was all re-packed in seconds when I put them back on. I could see just leaving the pods packed, rather then stowing the camping gear in the hangar separately. The CF mount brackets on the struts are so light and small drag wise I'll just leave them on.

Loss of viz was a concern, until I flew with them, you don't see them until looking 90 degrees to the side. If they happen to be blocking the view a bit you just intuitively lift or drop the wing a bit. More viz is always better of course, but the loss here is pretty minimal for the added utility. Besides, once you get to where you're going, seconds later you are pod free. I know, "get a Maule"! But for us who like our airplanes on the skinny side, with resultant skinny baggage bays, these things are a game changer.

Those are awesome! I'm planning a belly pod for the Bearhawk but I'm also planning to install hard points on the wings just outboard of the wing strut. I could see attaching one or two of those to each wing and not needing the belly pod.

What's the chance he'll get an STC or whatever to strap them to a Cessna? I'd love to have more baggage space, but it seems that no one makes an extended baggage for a P172D, and no one seems to make a belly pod. I don't know whatever happened to Airglas's proposed belly pod which they claimed they would get approval for all 172 variant Cessnas. I haven't seen one since they displayed it at OSH several years ago. My pup dog would appreciate more room in the back seat!

Cary

Probably slim to none Cary, he's an experimental type like me and would probably not want to deal with the hassle involved.

I believe picture 5 is either a PRISON or Military facility -notice guard towers on corners ? Does not appear to have runway ???

182 STOL driver wrote:I believe picture 5 is either a PRISON or Military facility -notice guard towers on corners ? Does not appear to have runway ???

He was being facetious....Deer Lodge is home to the Montana State Prison......and that's it.

MTV

The pods look awesome. How much will they be selling for?

I'm interested. Any idea how much the pods will sell for?

mtv wrote:

182 STOL driver wrote:I believe picture 5 is either a PRISON or Military facility -notice guard towers on corners ? Does not appear to have runway ???

He was being facetious....Deer Lodge is home to the Montana State Prison......and that's it.

MTV

Being facetious, me? I like flying over prisons/gated communities, just like I like the fact my crane yard in Pocatello is right next to the county jail. No matter what kind of day I may think I'm having, it's ten times better then the best day in those lockups. It makes one think, and really puts things in perspective. Hopefully there were no convict pilots down there watching my fly over, that'd be cruel and unusual punishment for sure.

I have no idea what Joel Milloway is going to be asking for these. For those that don't know of him, he is the Wayne Mackay of the Rans S-7 community, or the Burt Rutan for the composite crowd. Over the years he has come up with a continuing series of mods and upgrades to the design, many of which are applicable to other designs. Many that have been picked up on by the factory and incorporated in newer production aircraft, great minds think alike, right? Anything composite is especially his area of expertise.

I am lucky enough to have him now headquartered less then a 30 minute flight from me, and I frequently drop in to see whats new. I managed to be first in line (and available) to do some BETA testing on these. His email is: [email protected] Bear in mind he is a small shop, and always has other projects in the works, so be patient if emailing him direct.

That picture is of the state prison, the gated community is north of this 5 miles and much more eye pleasing. I flew back and forth from my home to work there for 15 years.

bobcatfield wrote:That picture is of the state prison, the gated community is north of this 5 miles and much more eye pleasing. I flew back and forth from my home to work there for 15 years.

The Crowbar Hotel?

Hey tom, Would be most interested if you could get some more close up shots of the mounts, I would be keen to see if I could adapt these for the drifter!

DD, zoom in one that one picture I posted that shows a pod with the "door" open. That shows the carbon attack bracket pretty well, your angle may differ but you get the concept, very simple.

I never noticed on yours, but if I had been asked I would have said the Drifter was cable braced, used to be anyway.

These are awesome. Let's go ahead and get an STC if necessary for the Aviat Husky.

courierguy wrote:DD, zoom in one that one picture I posted that shows a pod with the "door" open. That shows the carbon attack bracket pretty well, your angle may differ but you get the concept, very simple.

I never noticed on yours, but if I had been asked I would have said the Drifter was cable braced, used to be anyway.

It is mate, but I was wondering if I may be able to adapt the mounts to hang them from the cross tube that sits above the passenger seat

I'd like to see how you have the bicycle cart/trailer modified for one on each side when going into town

DrifterDriver wrote:

courierguy wrote:DD, zoom in one that one picture I posted that shows a pod with the "door" open. That shows the carbon attack bracket pretty well, your angle may differ but you get the concept, very simple.

I never noticed on yours, but if I had been asked I would have said the Drifter was cable braced, used to be anyway.

It is mate, but I was wondering if I may be able to adapt the mounts to hang them from the cross tube that sits above the passenger seat

Yeah, that's what I thought, cable braced. You know, back in the ultralight heyday a couple designs changed from cable braced to struts as an effort to make it appear more airplane and less hang glider like, a marketing tool. As I recall they gained weight and did not gain performance, the only practical advantage that with no king post you could get in in a lower hanger, my wire braced 'Dac was 11' tall!

Here's a good shot of the attach bracket, as you can see the strut attached bracket is angled, the pod bracket is not, so it'd be easy to bend up out of sheet aluminum whatever type you needed. If I make it to the big upcoming fly-in, which I believe you plan to attend, I'll bring the pods, take one home as baggage



I now have a total of a bit over 35 hrs of loaded xc flight with the pods, pretty much completing the beta testing as far as I can see. Clear across Wyoming, so that should tell you I've been in rough air with them, slow flight, fast flight (for an S-7S anyway) steep slips with full flaps, and I still fail to pick up on any changes big enough to be apparent. At one point I had a hillside (a Wyoming "hillside", so it was of course at 9200') all setup, a spur of the moment decision to take a break etc., and right at the last 30' or so then saw the rocks hiding in the tall grass, so I blew off the landing and cobbed the throttle and out climbed the hill. While I was prepared to land it if needed (the rocks were an issue but not a live or die thing, just bigger then I wanted to deal with just to take a leak, especially in a very remote area) the plane pretty easily outclimbed the terrain, full baggage, pods and all. If there was a big or even minor performance diference, this was a good test to reveal it, didn't happen.

I have a very short list of minor hardware changes to pass on to Joel, one example being the carrying handles should be a little further back, the big issues of general shape and location are perfect. Yesterday morning in Wyoming, I was up way before dawn and while still pretty dark and with NO coffee yet packed my camp gear for a O dark O clock takeoff. As expected it was quicker and easier just stuffing things in the pods rather then compressing things in their respective stuff sacks and then arranging them properly in the right order in the baggage area.

This pic shows that being at 12,500' was just barely high enough for this area, for you guys that have never flown the best and worst of Wyoming, all I can say is it is all you can imagine, and more, one big BAD ASS western state, with LOTS of the most remote terrain.....and then you'll see a ranch house. One in particular sticks in my mind, it had a LZ (not a strip, just a field,) right there, and I still hadn't had any coffee, and had just flown for 3 hrs straight, the last 30 minutes at 90 mph without seeing any sign of human habitation. I seriously thought about dropping in on them and as an opening conversation gambit, ask them if they had any coffee on. It was like they were living on the moon or something, they got to be tough people and I'd bet also maybe glad to see visitors, (no sat dish if you're wondering) if nothing else it would give them something to talk about the next time they were in town. Sorry for the thread drift

Do want....