I bought the Wilga 35 with a radial engine back in December 2022 and finally flew it home last week. It took a while but thanks to the seller's help and lots of troubleshooting days and nights, I now have the best of all worlds:

1- It's registered experimental, so I can continue to modify freely (autopilot, smoke, cheaper avionics that are exactly the same as the ones needing STC, etc.)

2- It's a roomy 4 seater that with the new Regulations coming soon will even be able to be flown under LSA rules if needed in the future

3- It now has a powerful IO-540 installed, replacing the radial engine


So we replaced the 260hp radial engine with the 300hp Lycoming IO-540 that Mike Patey removed from his Wilga 2000 to install a PT6 turbine engine creating the infamous DRACO. Here's my plane with the radial engine:



Here's Mike Patey's Wilga with what's now my engine and cowling before he installed the PT6 turbine and then after when he finished DRACO





Here my plane's transition is almost done and I'm wiring in the engine EMS. We also did some creative painting to change things up a little



So after 8 months I flew it home and it's just so much fun to fly low & slow. From the beginning my best goal would have been to buy a helicopter, but there's no mechanic 300 miles around me with experience in helicopters and insurance is extremely expensive. So this Wilga is the best of both worlds. It gobbles fuel like a helicopter and it also flies low & slow and with the doors off it's just like flying in a helicopter !

The trip home from North Carolina to Texas started on a Wednesday afternoon. We planned to leave Thursday morning but a storm front approaching the area made us leave early to get past that or we would have been stuck in NC for a few days. The various aviation apps all told us what our best "achievable in this plane" altitude would be, so we climbed to 4500' and had a nice tailwind pushing us along at 135mph ground speed all the way to Alabama where we stayed overnight.



BTW, if you ever have to land in KGAD (Gadsden, Alabama), know that the town doesn't wake up until 10:00am !!! We got up at 5:00am hoping to take off and get to Texas while it was still below 100 degrees only to find out that Uber drivers and local taxis don't start until 10:00am and that includes the city public transportation system. So I just started asking everybody I saw if they could give us a ride to the airport. I finally spoke with a lady also staying at the hotel who was out walking her dog that early who told me her husband was on the way and he could take us, and he did.

The day started rocky and only got worse with a headwind that got stronger as we climbed. At 2500' it was already so strong we that we had a 70mph ground speed and at 3500 it was worse, so we decided to keep it low between 1000 and 1500' MSL and we were able to get our speed all the way up to between 92-103mph. Of course that was flying 24/24 and gobbling 20GPH all the way home.

We finally made it to Texas that afternoon, greeted with 104 degree temps, but the Wilga still took off like a champ at every stop, with full tanks, luggage, 2 coolers for food and drinks along the way, and 2 SOB ( and I was the lighter one at 220lbs ) with a total of 10 stops from NC to TX, and 14.6 flight hours total.

It's roomy, 4 comfortable seats, over 1150lbs of useful load, built like a tank by Polish workers back in the Soviet era so you know it's strong, and when I did my insurance mandated dual in it, we flew out of a 400' grass runway and I never felt we needed more runway to take off or to land. I found the perfect plane for me !

We finally made it home and I did this low pass while one of my hangar tenants took this video. Here's a short video posted on my airport page:

https://fb.watch/moDY75-Sh2/


And finally in front of my hangars



Of course now being a Texas plane it needs more than just a rubber chicken for the pitot tube cover



So now I have both a real Wilga to fly with my friends and family and when I just want to stay on the ground and still fly a Wilga, I have this awesome DRACO remote control plane

Holy smokes....that is wicked. Nice work.

Thanks, The seller was awesome with all of his hard work and after 8 months doing this we've grown to be good friends too, so win-win !

Awesome narrative of your new toy! Excited for you and hope to read more flight reports.

Thank you. I'm now going to be a couple of weeks getting some final things done to it, like removing and selling a new SkyBeacon ADS-B OUT that was installed but after further thought I don't even have a transponder installed yet and where I fly I don't need ADSB-OUT. I do have -IN displayed on the GPSMAP 696 and the Aera 660.

I also have to figure out some wiring issues that aren't a big job but have to be corrected and get the fuel flow sender working so I can fly to display it in the Lincoln, Nebraska Air Show in 2 weeks. https://www.lincolnairshow.com/

Great story and looks like a very cool plane.

Sweet machine!

What made you swap out the radial? I’ve always had delusions of getting one with an m14p in it.

Very cool! Thanks a lot for sharing.
I am interested to know how the CG turned out, compared to how you wanted it? Does it change much compared to the radial setup?

At the risk (high risk!) of getting flamed, I can see a lot of practical reasons to prefer the IO-540 over a M14P or similar radial. Especially in this day and age of fuel / oil prices, climate concerns, parts availability and all the rest. Not to mention operationally. Of course there some pretty big aesthetic, nostalgic, and emotional reasons for going to the radial.

SmokeyTheBear wrote:Sweet machine!
What made you swap out the radial? I’ve always had delusions of getting one with an m14p in it.

I loved the sound of the radial but didn't like their temperamental nature or the lack of experienced mechanics in my area. My neighbor has an RV-4 with an 0-320 and a Nanchang with a radial engine. He says if he just wants to get in and go for a quick flight, he uses the RV-4. If he wants to fly his Nanchange then he has to treat it like a horse and come out and pet it and hope it wants to do what you want it to do.

Battson wrote:Very cool! Thanks a lot for sharing.
I am interested to know how the CG turned out, compared to how you wanted it? Does it change much compared to the radial setup?

At the risk (high risk!) of getting flamed, I can see a lot of practical reasons to prefer the IO-540 over a M14P or similar radial. Especially in this day and age of fuel / oil prices, climate concerns, parts availability and all the rest. Not to mention operationally. Of course there some pretty big aesthetic, nostalgic, and emotional reasons for going to the radial.

Practically no CG change because what I saved in weight with the IO-540, it balanced out with a longer engine mount.

Quick update on the Wilga. I upgraded the avionics and now have a nice modern dash.

LATEST UPDATE :

If anyone is interested in a great backcountry 4 passenger plane with lots of space and STOL performance, give me a shout !

After a couple of years enjoying my awesome Wilga, my health has improved and my priority is now getting to my daughter's house without having to drive 12 hours, so I'm moving on to a faster plane, one that I've dreamed of owning for many decades but couldn't afford to buy back then. Now I can, I found one that I like, and I'm not waiting any longer, so the Wilga sadly has to go for the hangar space. That's the only reason I'm selling it because it's a blast to fly and I love having something very different than the normal plane out there.

Here are my Wilga's greatest highlights: ​​

1- You can fly the Wilga with no medical certificate under Sport Pilot Regulations because it falls under the new MOSAIC FAA Regulations.​​

2- It has all the modern avionics you need, PLUS mine is the only Wilga (not owned by Mike Patey LOL ) with a full navigation autopilot included.

3- It has an Experimental-Exhibition certificate. Thankfully, it's not the same thing we used to have to contend with many years ago, now it's just a letter emailed once a year to the FSDO and nothing else, then you enjoy flying it pretty much like any other Experimental-AB plane.

4- I'll give you 100% Ownership and Admin of the Wilga Owners Facebook group page

5- It's already here in the USA, so you don't have to spend thousands of dollars more just to bring in a $225,000 Wilga from Canada, or a $170,000 Wilga from South Africa !!!

I've prepared a long specs list with pictures and videos, so if you're interested, just shoot me an email and let's talk.