Rare aircraft spotting: Adam A500

AggieMike88

AggieMike88

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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
Had lunch with @texasag93 and another pilot friend at Delta Charlie's located at KRBD.

As we were walking back to the airplane, this beauty landed on RWY35 and taxied over to Atlantic FBO.

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When I first saw the tail in the distance, I thought it might be the Cessna 337 that @Lowflynjack photographed recently. Nope. Even more interesting than that.

Wikipedia says there were just 7 made and only 5 are in private service. So a rare spotting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_A500
 
I was always intrigued by this aircraft and was disappointed when they closed up shop.. cool to see a different design out there

allegedly there was some very dysfunctional leadership at the factory just based on hearsay online forums

Did you have a chance to talk to the owners at all?
 
Tantalum said:
Did you have a chance to talk to the owners at all?
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Unfortunately no. It parked quite a ways down from us, and Brian was raring to get back into the air.

Had I known how rare, I would have suggested we walk down for a closer look.
 
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Thanks, most intriguing is that apparently it only can carry 160 lb with full tanks.. I think that was the biggest issue was the final empty weight was more than a thousand pounds beyond what they had designed

Pretty cool nonetheless, thanks for sharing
 
AKBill said:
Sharp, IMHO.. Is it a composite?
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Yup.... "The A500 was developed from the M-309 CarbonAero technology demonstrator designed by Burt Rutan and built by Scaled Composites at the Mojave Airport."
 
Every landing is a greaser in a trailing link bird......
 
asicer said:
Even a Sundowner? Heard a few things about their gear. Not sure if it's OWT.
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I believe it’s just like the Mooneys, where it has rubber biscuits instead of oleo struts, which pretty much cancels out the trailing link.
 
Adam Aircraft factory was a couple blocks from KAPA - Centennial, just south of Denver. We got a tour of the factory...hm...maybe 12-14 years ago? Completely composite, we saw the vacuum units and the entire place. Fascinating. I remember one year at Oshkosh they had a huge tent & presence on the main drag. The next year, the Adam Owners group had a small tent off the beaten path. Very disappointing.
As for management, https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/1uvy02/a_few_frightening_tales_of_adam_aircraft_from/
 
The State of New Mexico bought its aircraft amid later claims of misdeed and malfeasance.

They sold for about $1.2 million. That's a lot of money to pay for what will become a ramp queen someday soon. Reportedly two of the five sold are grounded because of parts issues. I think New Mexico still operates theirs under the Public Use statute.
 
Controller used to have one for sale for $500K. Probably not worth it if you can’t get parts. Good drug running aircraft though.

 
Cessna: "Hey, I think we nailed it. We made the weirdest looking small GA plane ever, the 337"
Adam: "Hold my beer..."

I've seen one in person once. They look really cool in a weird way.
 
I love it. @AggieMike88 posts this here and on Facebook and mentions my name. Now I'm in touch with the owner and I'll get an air-to-air photo shoot with this sweet looking, very rare airplane. Couldn't get better? Wrong! Now we're talking about getting the Adam A500, the Cessna Skymaster, and Rutan Defiant in the air together. That will be a sweet photo shoot.

Here are the three planes we would use. Not only are they all cool planes, but these three are all beautiful examples!

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Lowflynjack said:
I love it. @AggieMike88 posts this here and on Facebook and mentions my name. Now I'm in touch with the owner and I'll get an air-to-air photo shoot with this sweet looking, very rare airplane. Couldn't get better? Wrong! Now we're talking about getting the Adam A500, the Cessna Skymaster, and Rutan Defiant in the air together. That will be a sweet photo shoot.
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Whoa, awesome! Aren't there only about a dozen Defiants in the wild too?

I never knew the Defiant existed until I was at the Wings FlyBQ one year and a Long-EZ taxied up without its engine turning. ;) :rofl:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Whoa, awesome! Aren't there only about a dozen Defiants in the wild too?
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I imagine that would be about right. Most people would find them to be impractical, but I'm thankful there are some unique airplanes out there for me to photograph! It would be a boring world if we all flew the same airplanes.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I believe it’s just like the Mooneys, where it has rubber biscuits instead of oleo struts, which pretty much cancels out the trailing link.
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However, the wheels are twelve feet apart. Cancels out rubber donuts canceling out trailing links.
 
Can’t wait to see those pictures,would be a collectors shot.
 
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