Fly Baby it is!

etsisk

etsisk

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iYiYi
Thanks to the lovely and talented Jim Rice (yay!
bravo.gif
), and barring surprises in the plans he's sending me, I'll be making a trip to Oklahoma to pick up the Fly Baby fuselage he started and bring it back to NC. My building partner and I have just spent the last couple of hours checking out a bunch of resources on the internet about it and it looks do-able!
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Thank you, Mr. Rice!
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thats great.

im sure you know that Ron Wattanja, the flybaby website guru, is a regular here. Also, Matt Michael (wby0nder) just got his flybaby back up in the air after a 2 yr restoration, including overhaul of a Continental A75. Its a fun airplane, keep us posted!
 
Cool beans! I've just spent a large part of the evening at Ron Wattanja's website! :) It's pretty great! :yes:

Oh, and Matt's the one that did that neat looking ag-plane-y canopy in the photo at the top of Ron's homepage! :)
 
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I have a difficult time picturing a hard-nosed career cop flying something called a "Flybaby." :)

Awesome deal... pictures shall be regularly expected as you proceed to get it in the air.
 
It is an awesome little plane. Probably the best bang for the buck in GA. The plans are dead simple. How far along is this little gem you are getting?

MM
 
etsisk said:
Cool beans! I've just spent a large part of the evening at Ron Wanttaja's website! :) It's pretty great! :yes:
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Thanks! I'd recommend signing up on the Fly Baby mailing list as well. While I'm fairly knowledgeable on the design, I haven't actually built one, myself. There's a bunch of real experts on the list....

Ron Wanttaja
 
wby0nder said:
It is an awesome little plane. Probably the best bang for the buck in GA. The plans are dead simple. How far along is this little gem you are getting?

MM
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wanttaja said:
Thanks! I'd recommend signing up on the Fly Baby mailing list as well. While I'm fairly knowledgeable on the design, I haven't actually built one, myself. There's a bunch of real experts on the list....

Ron Wanttaja
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Good idea, Ron - I'll do that. :)

Matt, best I can tell the fuse is pretty much boat stage - Jim's description is:
It is not on its gear and doesn't have a landing gear for it. It is nothing but the wood frame......longerons, cross braces, diagonals with both right and left sides sheeted in aircraft plywood. The box structure in the front by the firewall are all closed up as are the lower longeron boxes at the spar carry through. There are no cables, fittings, metal of any kind with it.
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etsisk said:
Thanks to the lovely and talented Jim Rice (yay!
bravo.gif
), and barring surprises in the plans he's sending me, I'll be making a trip to Oklahoma to pick up the Fly Baby fuselage he started and bring it back to NC. My building partner and I have just spent the last couple of hours checking out a bunch of resources on the internet about it and it looks do-able!
smile.gif


Thank you, Mr. Rice!
yes.gif
biggrin.gif
Click to expand...

'bout time you made up you mind!:) Are you going to construct it at your place? Let me know if you need the use of any wood working tools.
Color me jealous!!!
 
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etsisk said:
Thanks to the lovely and talented Jim Rice (yay!
bravo.gif
), and barring surprises in the plans he's sending me, I'll be making a trip to Oklahoma to pick up the Fly Baby fuselage he started and bring it back to NC. My building partner and I have just spent the last couple of hours checking out a bunch of resources on the internet about it and it looks do-able!
smile.gif


Thank you, Mr. Rice!
yes.gif
biggrin.gif
Click to expand...
Where in OK is it? and when you coming after it? I am leaving New Years Day to go to Maine and trailer a plane home. If it close to me, I could bring it east and meet you along the way, this would save you some driving.
 
etsisk said:
Oh, and Matt's the one that did that neat looking ag-plane-y canopy in the photo at the top of Ron's homepage! :)
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yep, and I took the picture! helped with the canopy a little too...
 
Dean said:
Where in OK is it? and when you coming after it? I am leaving New Years Day to go to Maine and trailer a plane home. If it close to me, I could bring it east and meet you along the way, this would save you some driving.
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It's in Lawton, OK, at Lawton-Ft. Sill Regional Airport. Somewhere. :)

Is that anywhere near you?

What sort of plane are you trailering home? How exciting!! :D :D
 
yea tom, the canopy is great. also makes cold weather flying a reasonalbe possibility.
 
cherokeeflyboy said:
'bout time you made up you mind!:) Are you going to construct it at your place? Let me know if you need the use of any wood working tools.
Color me jealous!!!
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oooh.... I'll, uh, be in touch! :D :D

I'll be working on it at a neighbors house just up the dirt road. He's got a big-as... er... a big ol' garage. He'll help me build the plane, I'll help him build a boat! :D

Come on over and have fun with us! You can show me how to use a router for the ribs without putting my eye out! :eek:
 
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etsisk said:
It's in Lawton, OK, at Lawton-Ft. Sill Regional Airport. Somewhere. :)

Is that anywhere near you?

What sort of plane are you trailering home? How exciting!! :D :D
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I am in SW Missouri, Lawton is 8 hours from me, so I don't think I will be able to help you out. I am going after a Challenger CWS, it was to good of a deal to pass up. I spent last weekend building the wing racks to bolt down to the bed of the trailer. The only bad part about my trip is the weather in the NE, I hope it clears up before we head out.:frown2:
 
Thanks for the offer, though! I really appreciate the thought! :) Hope YOU have a safe and successful trip!
 
I'm going to try and coordinate with some folks on the way and while I'm there - so if anyone is on or near the I-40 corridor between NC and OKC, let me know! :)
 
KennyFlys said:
I have a difficult time picturing a hard-nosed career cop flying something called a "Flybaby." :)

Awesome deal... pictures shall be regularly expected as you proceed to get it in the air.
Click to expand...

etsisk said:
well, I'm just a fly baby my own self! :D
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In my demented mind I have a different picture: The pilot pulling back on the yoke as the trees at the end of runway are coming up fast screaming "Fly! Baby, FLY!" :D
 
mikea said:
"the trees at the end of runway are coming up fast screaming "Fly! Baby, FLY!" :D
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"If trees could scream would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? Maybe, if they screamed all the time for no good reason"

Jack Handy
 
no news just yet - waiting for Jim to send me the plans, then I'll do something with those while waiting for the weather to be kind to me to go pick up the fuse. :)

But I'm waiting as fast as I can, so it shouldn't be long now! :D
 
OK...

Here are a couple of pics of what these Babies look like! ;)

barger1.jpg


And you can put a canopy on 'em - there are several choices:
michael_canopy.jpg

The above is Matt Michael's (wbYonder around these parts) plane and his canopy design

a couple more canopy designs...

blod.jpg


fisher.JPG


AND you can build it as a bipe, OR build it so you can switch from low wing to biplane to parasol! :eek: :D :D

david.JPG


... and one more fly baby, just 'cause I think it's beautiful! :yes:

reeve2.jpg
 
Tom, are you going to put an electrical system in it?
 
Dunno - I'll drive off that bridge when I get to it!*



*but I'm thinking "yes"... even in a plane such as this one, I want to go places, and it's rare that a gps blows out of even an open cockpit! :D Not to mention txponders and whatnot... well, ok, I just mentioned 'em, but still...
 
I thought about a FlyBaby quite a bit, but the cost of the electrical system and the avionics I would want (radio, mode c) seemed a bit steep. I might reattack the thought down the road.
 
You can get some pretty cheap micro radios, etc, without too much trouble. I haven't resourced alternators for experimentals, though...
 
AWACSEng said:
I thought about a FlyBaby quite a bit, but the cost of the electrical system and the avionics I would want (radio, mode c) seemed a bit steep. I might reattack the thought down the road.
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My usual recommendation is to *not* put an electrical system in Fly Babies. Install a battery, yes, and run a few cables around. But if you install a generator, then you need a transponder if you operate under the Mode C Veil around Class B airspace. This assumes your home field isn't actually IN Class B or C airspace.

If you don't want to hand-prop, those little Odyssey dry cell battery ACS sells hold enough power to start an engine a half-dozen times or more on a charge. Trickle-charge them in the hangar, and you're good to go. Install a glider hook (or equivalent) to let you safely hand-prop if the battery does go dead on you.

Handheld radios are good solutions. I actually installed mine in the panel and got the best of both worlds.
rad_finished.jpg


Ron Wanttaja
 
Since the subject has come up... I'm in the midst of a panel make-over. Below is a mock-up of the new layout.

I'm all about going places in my plane. That's why I built the canopy.

As far as electrics go, the transponder is somewhat of a challenge. They are costly and gobble up power. The power is fairly easy to deal with and if I had a transponder sitting around I'd install it.

The radio, as Ron points out is easy. A good handheld is totally adequate. Some even have a decent VOR. Mine has too much interference which makes the VOR almost useless. Interference can be a real issue with the old small Continentals as many have unshielded ignitions. I upgraded mine but still have a lot of noise. (according to El Reno it's because I used a cheap Fresno harness). I can talk and be heard on the radio though so it's OK. A remote antenna is a must. Don't expect much utility from a rubber ducky antenna.

For navigation you cant beat the cost of a Handspring Visor with attached GPS and Flightmaster software. Amazing. Check prices on Ebay and google flightmaster. You will be impressed. Insignificant weight penalty and cheap.

Both the Palm and the handheld can be run on internal batteries or easily plugged into a remote gel cell for basically unlimited operation.

A cell phone velcroed to the panel and plugged into the headset is extremely handy. I've used mine a LOT to call ATIS stations out of range and even look at radar. It's not always willing to work but more often than not.

Lights and strobe run off battery are also something to consider. I'm working on putting it together. A few pounds more for another gell cell gives you morning take-off and evening "get home" for those really long trips. Easy to get an hour or two of lighting from a battery, lots more with LEDs.

I find that handpropping my little A75 is easy as pie 90% of the time and I don't even have my tail hook installed yet. I tie it, throttle back, and untie it never taking my hand off the plane. I wouldn't want a starter. Much rather have the weight and cost in gas.

Which leads to fuel capacity. 12 gallons goes pretty quick even at 4.5/hour. I upgraded to 16 during my overhaul and wish I had 24. If you are building a traveling machine install as much as you can The only time you have too much is when you are... You know the saying. My 16 gallon aluminum tank weighed pounds less than the steal 12 gallon cub tank.

The Fly Baby can be a decent traveling machine. It all comes down to speed and range which is a balancing act with weight. It will never be an RV3. It's a delicate equation at this level of performance. Remember, the Spirit of St Louis only went about 95mph and we all know how far it could go!

You have to decide how fast you want to go and for how long to justify adding things like generators and starters. With my 16 gallons, weight and prop I can do 250 nm legs in about 3 hours. By adding only 3 more gallons, tweeking the prop, and doing some streamlining I may be able to do 360nm legs in 4 hours. That's quite a difference. It puts a LOT more real estate in range for a given day.

Burning 4.5 gals/hour of car gas makes this one cheap ride. Being able to go a LOT of places at that rate is a worthy goal. And, even a NICE Fly Baby costs a fraction of an RV3.
 

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etsisk said:
I'm going to try and coordinate with some folks on the way and while I'm there - so if anyone is on or near the I-40 corridor between NC and OKC, let me know! :)
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KRUE is about 5 minutes off of Exit 84 in Arkansas. That is 84 miles east of the Oklahoma line.
 
Well, I'm looking at Amtrak schedules... there are NO direct routes, of course (wouldn't that be silly :rolleyes:) BUT that's pretty ok, in my book - I found a neat option where I could get a sleeper and go from Rocky Mt. NC to DC to CHGO to Ft Worth to OKC; I would spend two nights on the train, get 8 hours layover in DC to look around and 4 hours (all morning) in Chgo (and Union Station is pretty much downtown...) and it costs about $690, one-way. The truck would be about $350 (including motels and gas), but wouldn't be near as fun! :no:

I'd have to find a ride to Lawton from OKC, but we have a bunch of members here and on the blue board, so I might luck out - or I could go ahead and rent the truck and drive it...

Man, two full days on the train! :D :D :D
 
Why don't you do a POA relay, its been done in the past. Henning was relayed clear across the country.
 
I thought about doing that, but figured:

1. it would take a lot longer than 2 days, and
2. I wasn't sure anyone would want to haul my sorry butt anyplace! :eek:
 
etsisk said:
I thought about doing that, but figured:

1. it would take a lot longer than 2 days, and
2. I wasn't sure anyone would want to haul my sorry butt anyplace! :eek:
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Maybe to a dumpster??!!

ehhh - kidding, my brother.

If you ever need a lift up north, drop me a line.
 
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