Howdy
I am a new member from Texas and I have been doing a little looking around at some LSAs. Originally I was looking at a Tandem Airbike but I recently talked to a guy selling his L'il Breezy. I am having a hard time finding any information on them and was wondering if anyone here has/had any experience with them. I am looking for an experimental 2-place plane for under $10k. A go somewhere plane would be fun but I have enough land to have a small grass strip and something like the Lil Breezy or airbike seems more practical to fly from home. But if anyone knows of anything else that fits this I'm all ears.

One I have also come across is the Protech PT-2. What are people's thoughts on this one?

I am 6'3" 250lbs and would still like to fly passengers around for local flights. Would the Breezy have any troubles with this? How are the handling characteristics? This plane will be based at my house and have about 500ft of grass to mess with.
I'm sure I'll have more questions but this should get it started.
Thanks

I am a PP with about 120hrs and my tailwheel endorsement if that helps.

Welcome, for Breezy info try Yakima Aero Sports.

http://www.ykmaerosport.com/

As much as I would love one of those, they're a bit out of my range. The L'il Breezy is an ultralight (or E-LSA?).

http://www.lightsportaircraft.ca/lsa-2/ ... eezyB.html

I just can't seem to find anything else about them. The guy that I'm talking to about his is in Chicago and that would be a bit of a haul to go see what his plane's all about without knowing anything about them.

For under $10K, your personal safety and the aircraft's reliability become the big obstacles. With two of you aboard,in most LSA aircraft, 500 feet may be kinda short. The 180HP LSA Super Cub from Cub Crafters will handle this easily, but 10K is a down payment on one aileron.

Some Kitfoxes will handle that weight and operate out of 500 feet. But others will not.

You may be able to find a Taylorcraft or Aeronca Chief for that kind of money if you really turn over rocks.

First I would go to the Experimental Aircraft Association website (EAA) and educate yourself on ultralights, E-lsa, and Experimentals. All three have different restrictions and requirements to fly. Given your size and interest in open air flying have you considered a Powered Parachute? One would easily operate out of 500ft with two people and you could find a good one for 10k easily.I owned one for over 10 years and absolutely loved it.

Stay away from the Pro-Tech PT-1. It is unsupported, the company went out of business long ago.

For under 10k you are going to have a VERY hard time finding a well built, safe plane to meet your requirements. At 250 lbs and assuming another 200 lb passenger with a full load of fuel you will be over the MTOW of the majority of LSAs. It will be hard to get off the ground with most cheap light sports. Try looking for a Challenger, a Rans or a Kitfox/Avid. Even with the current depressed market, you will most likely need to spend 14k to 20k to find something that has a chance of meeting you limits. Unless you are a fairly good pilot, you will find that 500 feet is quite short. Not much room for error. Plenty of planes can fly in and out of a 500 foot strip but is is tricky to stick your landing everytime and in a variety of winds.
Bottomline....10K will buy a decent single place ultralight but most likely not an LSA that you would want to fly with family an friends.
Good Luck in you search

I have about 800ft I could use going East-West, but the prevailing winds here are North-South. I could use the E-W land on days where it's calm to a little bit of wind and maybe on the days where I really need N-S the wind would be high enough it would help on the shorter strip. Most of the time it will be me solo, but sometimes a passenger. I have a nice airport not too far away so something with folding or removable wings and easy to trailer would work too. I wouldn't try to do my short strips until I was very proficient with the aircraft.

Here is a map of my land with possible landing options. It should show the various lengths.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie ... 8&t=h&z=17


I feel like there are a few low to mid time experimentals and LSAs out there for ~10k. I don't know about their actual condition but the pictures look okay. But I also don't know anything about experimentals or LSAs.

I have thought about the PPC option a little but I also kind of want the option to maybe go somewhere in whatever I'm flying (slowly) and PPCs seem short legged. Open air flying would be fun I'm just wanting something to fly. I had a great non-equity deal in a Cherokee that I recently lost so I'm looking to get back in the air somehow without renting. I do need to learn more about the rules.

Should I only stay away from the PT-1? Or any Protech in general? Is someone offering support for the -2?

Thanks for your replies guys. I'm not stuck on one type or another, just want to fly. Even better if it could be stored at home and flown at home or at least transported down to the airport.

I'm not opposed to having a single place and renting to fly passengers if that's necessary. The Protech -2 I'm looking at has a 0-200 on it and a useful load of 600lbs. I don't think I'll be taking anyone >=200lbs out of the strip, I could have them meet me at the airport. The heaviest I would probably fly with out of the strip it ~170lbs.

Well some good deals popped up on Challenger IIs today on Barnstormers.

Can you change the wings on them? If I buy one with the long wings, are they easily changeable to the short ones? Are there plans for the short ones? Do they fold? The one I would be looking at has the 582, how are they? What is the cost to rebuild one? How would a Challenger be for XC trips? Are they comfortable enough to actually go somewhere in them?

Also, would I be able to fly one off of my property? Does it have the short-field capabilities for that?
Thanks

Are you a member...

...of the EAA(Experimental Aircraft Association?) They are the experts on all of the questions that you have asked and knowledgable about every imaginable homebuilt or light aircraft.

bob

I'm not yet. I just began this quest not too long ago and haven't had the chance to sign up yet.

The EAA is a wonderful organization. Kind of like AOPA for homebuilts. It's a national group and then there are individual chapters. Most airports with any activity have a chapter. Great place to tap for information.

bigred177 wrote:Well some good deals popped up on Challenger IIs today on Barnstormers.

Can you change the wings on them? If I buy one with the long wings, are they easily changeable to the short ones? Are there plans for the short ones? Do they fold? The one I would be looking at has the 582, how are they? What is the cost to rebuild one? How would a Challenger be for XC trips? Are they comfortable enough to actually go somewhere in them?

Also, would I be able to fly one off of my property? Does it have the short-field capabilities for that?
Thanks

Yes, the wings can be changed. You can find clip-wings on Barnstormers from time to time.
You can buy them new as well. You would need different struts as well.
The Challenger wings do not fold. Try a Kitfox/Avid ,a Kolb or a Sky Raider/ Ridge Runner if you need folding wings.
The 582 is a decent engine and can be run beyond the TBO of 300 hours by 2 or 3 times if well maintained. Rebuilds run around $2500 if done to full Rotax specs.
You can expect burn rates of 4 to 6 GPH in a Challenger with a 582 so depending on which tank it has you have 2 hours or less of flight time.
They are as comfortable as any of the small light sports. There are a couple of aftermarket seat makers that sell more comfortable seats if you need them. The Challenger is one of the most common light sports so there is plenty of support and info about them on the web. There have been a lot of improvements to the Challenger over the past 15 years so the newer the better. They have some interesting quirks, but they are fun aircraft. I have close to 1000 hours in a Challenger including a few years teaching ultralights in one.
Challengers have decent short field abilities due it's low stall speed and moderate climb rates.
From looking at your property, I still feel that you will have a difficult time flying from there on a regular basis. You are next to schools and high density housing. Not a good combination. At MTOW you would use most of your runway. Not to mention the legal aspects related to local laws and zoning etc...

Just a couple more points.
At 6'3"/250, you will find the Challenger a "challenge" to get into and out of. Even with the "3rd door" option.
There are several X-Air standards list on Barnstormers as well. They would be a better fit and the have suspension on all wheels. A big plus if you are trying to stick a short landing. WAY more comfortable too. Only slight drawback is they cruise about 5 to 10 mph slower than the challenger. They are a tractor vs the challenger pusher so it will fly more like a conventional(ie G.A.) aircraft.

Well dangit. Seems like none of these are working out to be a very good fit. The getting into and out of my house thing isn't a deal breaker I just thought it'd be nice. The housing areas could be avoided with a little special effort, but I'm not sure it's worth it. I have an airport about 15 mile away.

If it helps on any of these planes, I am not a "round" 250. I used to be an athlete and after I lost down to about 250 I called it good there and am about 15% body fat. So I feel that I can go a few different places than if I were 250 put together a little differently. I can get in and out of the front seat of a Champ without any problems if that's anything like the Challenger. The Champ is the smallest plane I've been it so I don't have anything else there.

The Challenger seems like a decent fit with the long wings for short stuff or the clipped wings for going somewhere. I saw one with a pair of clipped wings that had compartments in the wings. Seems like you could rig up some fuel to get some extended time or faster flying if you could stand to be in it that long.

Maybe I should just wait until I have more cash and get a 4-seat EXP or go for a certified airplane?

The X-Airs are interesting. They just seem a little slow if you want to go anywhere in them. 65mph in cruise hurts with anything other than a tailwind. I hear some people say they can get about 90mph in a Challenger with a 582.

I'm not saying that you should not buy a Challenger. They are fun little planes. They are just a bit limited. People "say" lot's of things like 90mph cruise. I would just want them to back it up in real world settings. Your weight, your elevation, Texas heat, full fuel......
I am 5'10" and 210lbs. A challenger is a bit tight for me now for anything more than an hour or two. There are a ton of Challengers floating around. Find one and try it on for size.
Right now you are looking for a Light Sport STOL plane with 500+lbs of useful load that carries 4 hours of fuel and flys at 90mph in the heat of Texas. And all that for under 10K. I just think you might want to shorten the wish list or raise the price. If you can bump your price up to ~15k, you will find much more to choose from.

I'll probably have to wait until I have that much anyway. I was just trying to figure out a way to get my flying fix in somehow soon. I'm not big on giving the flight school $200/hr for an archer and instructor just to go do touch and goes.

What would be in the $15k range?

I'll probably have to wait until I have that much anyway. I was just trying to figure out a way to get my flying fix in somehow soon. I'm not big on giving the flight school $200/hr for an archer and instructor just to go do touch and goes.

What would be in the $15k range? It doesn't have to be LSA either. I would just like it to be an experimental.