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As someone who does this kind of work, the timeline is absolutely insane. The aircraft started out as a PZL-104MA Wilga 2000 but he redid part of the wing, bui
by pdelbarba 8y ago
As someone who does this kind of work, the timeline is absolutely insane. The aircraft started out as a PZL-104MA Wilga 2000 but he redid part of the wing, built an entire carbon fiber cowling and redid the wiring, all on top of the engine install, though that and the carbon fiber he had fairly extensive previous experience with. One thing you'll notice if you watch the build videos is he makes extensive use of very complex CNC machining for the wing tip extensions and some other odds and ends. I would be very interested to know how much risk management went into the design though, as on the surface DRACO and Turbulence (his other PT-6 project) seem to have a lot eyeball engineering going on as neither airframe was ever designed to handle the flight loads that the engines put on them. There's only so much you can see in YouTube videos though so I'll give him the benefit of a doubt.
- kqr2 8y agoSpeaking of crazy timelines, Robert X. Cringely attempts to build a plane in 30 days in the documentary Plane Crazy: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164814/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164814/ https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/22/arts/television-review-the-zen-of-building-a-plane-yourself.html https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/22/arts/television-review-th...
- mnw21cam 8y agoI remember watching that on TV. IIRC, he failed totally with a fibreglass design, cut it up with a chainsaw in a rage, then went and found some people who actually know how build planes out of wood properly. And still failed the deadline.
- donquichotte 8y agoInsane timeline indeed! I wish I had a work ethic like that. It's interesting how he tells that as a child, he was encouraged by his parents to "always finish his project, no matter how much you disliked it". I wonder what the reliability of this beast is like, but I guess only time will tell. If anyone is interested in this kind of stuff (fiberglassing fuselages, building cockpits...), Peter Sripol, a model plane enthusiast, made his own DIY plane that can carry a human with hobby grade brushless motors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNSN6qet1kE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNSN6qet1kE
- yoodenvranx 8y ago> "always finish his project, no matter how much you disliked it". Yeah, I wish my parents would have taught me this when I was young.
- ataturk 8y agoI'm not 100% positive that is great advice. Looking at a lot of projects I have begun, especially startups, I'm glad I didn't finish them--I would have lost a lot of money! There's one in particular I wished I had quit my job to finish, however. But 1 in say 25 it's hard to tell which one the winner would have been.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y agoYou're never too old to learn.
- TaylorAlexander 8y agoWell I never learned it until the pain and waste of unfinished projects pushed me. This talk by John Carmack was encouraging too. He talks about the importance of finishing projects: https://youtu.be/vlYL16-NaOw https://youtu.be/vlYL16-NaOw
- ryandrake 8y agoAbout 2 years into an RV kit build, so I’m pretty jealous of this guy right now. Fantastic airplane he made! It would have taken me 5 months just to tear the old one apart.
- TomK32 8y agoHe has/had a prototyping company. The plane didn't take him 5 months, it took him his whole life thinking and only 5 months execution.
- hfdgiutdryg 8y agoHe still executed a tremendous amount in five months.