"Scrappy" Build - STOL Plane

OkieAviator

OkieAviator

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OkieAviator
I'm sure some other avid YouTube content absorbers have seen this. This is the guy who build Draco, and apparently quite a number of other vehicle projects. The idea is he's taking parts from previous builds and putting together another extreme STOL plane.

Here's a playlist of all the videos related to the build, about 3 hours worth of content right now.

I'm really impressed with the head lockers on his engine, his carbon fiber layout skills and his thought and testing of his design ideas.
 
Mike Patey has, at 50-ish, the energy I had at half that age.
 
How fun would it be to be able to spend all day in a hangar just building toys?
I'm jealous.
 
The dude has a job doing something. He mentions several times on those build videos that he only has the weekends to work on it so he powers through these build sessions. Unless you're retired I think it's how most of us did our builds as well.
 
He and his brother own Best tugs as well as a few other businesses. I do enjoy watching his builds. I’m kinda sad this one has gone this direction as I thought the initial intent of the build was to be a more everymans airplane. Will be cool to see the final results. He says he no longer needs the stringers but I suspect he will if he hopes to tame out some twisting.
 
I took it as he was building a 'cub style' plane around that 8 banger engine of his. He did have stringers taped in while he did his layups so maybe you're onto something where he thought maybe he might need to re-add them later, or at least have that option.
 
I admit I enjoy watching his videos. It really makes me want to build sometime in the future
 
Mike is really an incredible engineer... working across the runway from his build center it is fun to see what magic leaks out of the door seals. He makes his living around oil field engineering and the night job is building great projects. Getting to watch them fly is also wonderful. I do make sure I land at the opposite end of the runway from his build center so he never see's my bad landings!... have my plane parked around the corner... good stuff!

I have 2 new engineers in my group, we build parts for the MQ-9B SkyGaurdian for the air force.. Composite parts... and as part of there training, all of Mike's build videos are on the training list. Working with carbon fiber has different levels of needed skills, and Mike covers them all.... it is good to see an approach to build parts that do not require $50k tools and autoclaves along with CNC trimming!...

Looking forward to seeing Scrappy fly... that will be one amazing airplane! then on to Draco 2.0......
 
Grum.Man said:
He and his brother own Best tugs as well as a few other businesses. I do enjoy watching his builds. I’m kinda sad this one has gone this direction as I thought the initial intent of the build was to be a more everymans airplane. Will be cool to see the final results. He says he no longer needs the stringers but I suspect he will if he hopes to tame out some twisting.
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I think the carbon fiber shell, if attached properly to the framework, will do the trick.
 
Put an 8-cylinder Reno race engine on ANYTHING lighter than an oil freighter and it will be a short takeoff machine. I’d love to see him build something realistic and repeatable. Yeah, I *LOVE* his builds, and admire his skill, talent, and creativity. I’d really like to see him build a true STOL aircraft with fewer than 200hp, and much fewer hp than the 8-cylinder beast. It’s gonna be cool, and totally impractical for anyone other than him. (Which, I guess, is fully irrelevant.)
 
Lachlan said:
Put an 8-cylinder Reno race engine on ANYTHING lighter than an oil freighter and it will be a short takeoff machine. I’d love to see him build something realistic and repeatable. Yeah, I *LOVE* his builds, and admire his skill, talent, and creativity. I’d really like to see him build a true STOL aircraft with fewer than 200hp, and much fewer hp than the 8-cylinder beast. It’s gonna be cool, and totally impractical for anyone other than him. (Which, I guess, is fully irrelevant.)
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It's more than just putting in over-sized engine on a small chassis and hoping it works. He whiteboards out his design concepts and goes into details around how he's making it work. The one off design aspect is what I find especially appealing and through his explanations I end up learning something.

Nothing against production kit planes (I built and fly one), but there's plenty of content out there of the usual kits being built; Kitfox, Cubs, Bears and Zeniths.
 
OkieAviator said:
It's more than just putting in over-sized engine on a small chassis and hoping it works. He whiteboards out his design concepts and goes into details around how he's making it work. The one off design aspect is what I find especially appealing and through his explanations I end up learning something.

Nothing against production kit planes (I built and fly one), but there's plenty of content out there of the usual kits being built; Kitfox, Cubs, Bears and Zeniths.
Click to expand...

He modified his other famous airplane extensively, but one could argue rather successfully that he did not increase its capabilities in a manner that paralleled the dollars thrown at it. He fully modified the landing gear, which flexed excessively and were negatively affected by things like crosswinds, runup braking, etc. He stuffed fuel tanks in the gear legs. Creative use of space to feed an enormous engine bolted to a small, lightweight airframe. Like a Reno racer. Or a Super Cub. I see a design trend: gigantic engines on small airframes. Cool. I love it. I’d like to see what else he can do, like crazy UL in tiny airplanes that fly great, or ultra fuel efficient fast cruisers, or something new and different. A $600,000 Super Cub just doesn’t impress me. Not when the same performance is available for far, far less. Ok, very VERY cool that he can build that stuff in his personal shop. Draco was cool, but I’ll bet you 10 bucks a stock Porter with a good driver would give it a serious run for the championship. ;)
 
Folks seem to be going the wrong direction. The key to a great flying cub is keeping it light and simple. Putting a heavy 800hp engine on it so it can take off shorter is not the correct approach.
 
This is him throwing a middle finger at the STOL events that created a separate turbine class, just to allow the events to remain competitive, rather than Draco winning without needing much skill. This way, he can win by brute force for another year or two until they create an 8 cylinder class.

That said, his brother gave a talk at a university with some of their back story that makes their current results all that more impressive. From what I understand, Mike often works from the hangar, and he has the board room for one or more of his companies in the hangar.
 
Mike and Marks life story is truly amazing. Not many on this planet could do what they did and are doing.
 
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