There was a wrecked Helio that could be bought for cheap. Rather than rebuild it as a normal plane, they decided to make a funny experimental plane out of it. They had to take it almost completely apart to meet the FAAs 51% Rule. Before they put the wings and tail back on, they drag raced it. Then on the Really Experimental plane they put train air horns on the front landing gear in case there are trains on the runway or on the remote river gravel bars. The entire airplane is wacky like that. For off road use, they put on 38 high off road tires. Engine is an 840 HP turbo prop with water injection. Develops about 3,000 lbs. of thrust. Take off run is less than 200 ft. With locked brakes, above about 50% power, it drags the locked wheels with much black smoke and flys anyway. So far they have had it to 20,000 ft. They have to put it back together for an AOPA photo shoot next weekend. After that, looking forward to a test flight.
i am an A&P mechanic for General Dynamics. my only question is why you would spend all the time and money to build this in accordance with current regulations to be able to legally operate it, when there is no experimental data bieng recorded or specific purpose in mind. i bet its fun though!
I hate it when I try to land on a remote river gravel bar and there is a train just sitting there in my way! Seriously, the horns scare away the moose, hippies and other wild animals.
I have no idea as of aerodynamics physics & such, wouldnt the prop air flow affect the horn from working properly?
I could not afford to do this, but I find it refreshing that someone was willing to take a chance and do this just for fun and the love of flying. Something like our cars.
