Wolf Pro 360

whifferdill

whifferdill

Line Up and Wait
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Jan 31, 2010
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whifferdill
Just a little eye candy on what I was generously offered to fly this week. Prototype Wolf Pro 360. Not a Pitts. Baddest 4-cylinder acro bipe on the planet currently.

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If it ain’t a Mooney it’s boring to me. Just kiddddinggg. Thing is awesome
 
I have been meaning to swing by Burlington and check that thing out. I wonder how it would fare in judging compared to a mono. I would much rather own a biplane though.
 
Is this the last one steve built?
 
Last airplane Steve built was his personal Samson Mite. Extremely cool. Steve built the basic airframe for this WP-360 prototype several years ago. Bully Aero in Burlington, NC invested a ton of work and talent in finishing the airplane. Steve recently sold the Wolf Pitts rights to Griggs Aircraft, so this is the one and only WP-360 he touched. #2 is currently under construction by Griggs. Few video clips from my first two and only short flights in the plane. Performance is phenomenal for a 4 cylinder acro bipe.

 
whifferdill said:
Last airplane Steve built was his personal Samson Mite. Extremely cool. Steve built the basic airframe for this WP-360 prototype several years ago. Bully Aero in Burlington, NC invested a ton of work and talent in finishing the airplane. Steve recently sold the Wolf Pitts rights to Griggs Aircraft, so this is the one and only WP-360 he touched. #2 is currently under construction by Griggs. Few video clips from my first two and only short flights in the plane. Performance is phenomenal for a 4 cylinder acro bipe.

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Steve was building a guy named Warren (spelling) one a couple years ago guy was a airline pilot. I took there courses there and got to see a lot of it built.
 
I think you mean Loren, yeah airline guy. Been a little more than a couple years ago, but this is it.
 
Cool always wanted to see it completed.
 
Jeez man when can I take some aerobatic lessons from you? That is some gnarly flying.
 
Ha - I'm not a famous airshow pilot so therefore no good anyway. :D
 
That looks like one hell of a fun airplane!

Maybe this is a silly question, but why would someone design and build a biplane in the modern world of monoplanes? Is there something about the biplane configuration that makes them better? Is it just because biplanes are cooler?
 
Same reason Sean D Tucker still flies a biplane, they are just cooler!
 
Dude that airplane is bitchin' man...one of the coolest ones I have seen.
 
Eric Gleason said:
Maybe this is a silly question, but why would someone design and build a biplane in the modern world of monoplanes? Is there something about the biplane configuration that makes them better? Is it just because biplanes are cooler?
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Mostly because biplanes are easier to build and don't require the expense and development of specialized molds, tooling, and large curing ovens. You can't exactly build an MX/Extra/Sukhoi wing yourself. Except for a few carbon components for the cowl and tail surfaces, this WP-360 is constructed essentially the same as the classic Pitts S-1, which can be homebuilt with basic tools. There is a WP-360 kit under development. There are currently no kits for carbon monoplanes. The economics don't work out. So if you want a new one, you're stuck dropping close to a half mil for a factory MX or Extra. The performance of this WP-360 is on par with a carbon Giles, but with a higher power to weight ratio, but more drag. I've flown a Giles 202 and would take this WP-360 any day. This plane would have no trouble flying Unlimited competition sequences. I could just barely (mostly) eek them out in my stock Pitts S-1S. But even the hottest 6 cylinder bipe cannot match the performance of an MX or Extra 330SC. If you hired someone to build you a plane like Sean Tucker's, you'd be spending the same as what a new Extra would cost, but at that point it's not about the money. You are correct - it IS because biplanes are cooler. ;)
 
whifferdill said:
Mostly because biplanes are easier to build and don't require the expense and development of specialized molds, tooling, and large curing ovens. You can't exactly build an MX/Extra/Sukhoi wing yourself. Except for a few carbon components for the cowl and tail surfaces, this WP-360 is constructed essentially the same as the classic Pitts S-1, which can be homebuilt with basic tools. There is a WP-360 kit under development. There are currently no kits for carbon monoplanes. The economics don't work out. So if you want a new one, you're stuck dropping close to a half mil for a factory MX or Extra. The performance of this WP-360 is on par with a carbon Giles, but with a higher power to weight ratio, but more drag. I've flown a Giles 202 and would take this WP-360 any day. This plane would have no trouble flying Unlimited competition sequences. I could just barely (mostly) eek them out in my stock Pitts S-1S. But even the hottest 6 cylinder bipe cannot match the performance of an MX or Extra 330SC. If you hired someone to build you a plane like Sean Tucker's, you'd be spending the same as what a new Extra would cost, but at that point it's not about the money. You are correct - it IS because biplanes are cooler. ;)
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I'm curious, what about the Giles makes it so much better? More vertical due to less drag, higher roll rate, or just that the mono is easier to judge?
 
Well, the Giles is a lot better than a Decathlon, but not necessarily so much better than all acro bipes. The Giles 202 is most common, and it's a 4-cylinder, 200HP, CS prop, all carbon ship that weighs a little over 1,000 lbs. It has blinding roll rate (over 400 deg/sec) - faster than any Extra, and has the low drag of a monoplane, but suffers a bit when it comes to power to weight ratio. When flying competition sequences, roll rate compensates in some ways, but not others. Overall I'd rather be in this WP-360 if I had to push through a tough Unlimited sequence. It rolls about 300 deg/sec., but only weighs 830 lbs. The Giles can run low on grunt in some areas. Cubic inches + the high roll rate of the 6-cylinder carbon ships is what gets the job done best, but they have no soul. ;) Bipes are just a way cooler sight when you open the hangar door, and more fun to fly. Monoplanes are also for acro pilots who can't land a Pitts. :D
 
I've only seen the tail come off of one plane, and it's happened more than once in a Giles. I'll stay away from Carbon Fiber aerobatic planes personally. One of those lost was a local airshow pilot that we knew. What a sad loss.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
Separation of the vertical and horizontal stabilizers from the fuselage due to a fracture that initiated at the bond between the left horizontal stabilizer and the flange that attached the horizontal stabilizer to the fuselage skin. The failure was likely caused by construction techniques that produced poor bond strength in a critical area and the high loads on the horizontal stabilizer from a single or multiple aerobatic maneuver(s).
 
There was only one Giles that lost its tail inflight. Construction error and flying style contributed to that fatal accident. There is a fix for the Giles 202 tail issue, for those that have it. The other incident you may be thinking of is the MX (not Giles) failure where the wing broke and the firewall failed. MX aircraft are now back in production under new ownership in Australia, and a few design improvements have been made. Carbon planes are not unbreakable, but I wouldn't say there's a reason to fear them simply over these two incidents among a very large fleet.
 
Well they certainly put a dollar sign on the WP360. While it is a finely built airplane it is going to be a tough sell at almost 200k! That's S2C, Model 12, Extra 230, Giles 202, Yak54, money granted it's practically new where as the others are going to be used.
 
Know a guy has an S2B and a Giles. He owns both, they both sit in the same hangar, he can fly either one anytime. At the end of the year, the Pitts has 3 times the hours on it as the Giles.
 
djpacro said:
CAP 222, rebadged Giles per https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_G-202 also lost its tail.
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Dave, do you know the specifics regarding the construction mods the French did with the short lived 222? I seem to recall something about them deviating from the specified adhesive, which resulted in issues, but can't remember where I heard it, or much more than that. I got the impression that the issues they had and the reason for grounding the fleet didn't honestly reflect on the stock design of the 202.
 
Mono p[lane get the gold but Biplanes get the girls. If i ever get rid of my Smith Mini Plane it would only be to upgrade to a 250hp Skybolt. And that's a maybe, as if I do get a new ride I may just keep Miss Smith, she doesn't owe me or anyone else a dollar!
 
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