Waiex Build Status and Completion Photos

[N111YX]

Sweeet..I'm seeing some real progress from you all during the winter months. Keep it up and we'll have a YX Air Force by summer...:)

[142YX]

Any guess as to how many YX's are complete and flying these days?

[MichaelFarley56]

I thought someone had estimated around 40-50 or so total, but I'm not sure if that's still accurate or not. I would also be interested in knowing...

[N111YX]

I estimated that mine was about the 35th to fly in May, 2010. I'd say 40-50 is pretty accurate. That figure somewhat mirrors the slightly less than 1/3 "completion/sold" ratio of the Sonex. The Waiex ratio my be closer to 1/3 as no one builds from plans and thus most will finish their project quicker than the Sonex...

[MichaelFarley56]

Hello Everyone,

Today seemed like another milestone sort of day in the build of Waiex #0056, so I wanted to post a few quick pictures...

First off, I found some nice covers for the flap and brake handles:


As I'm hoping to weigh the plane this week yesterday was spent reinstalling the cowling and wheel pants, and today was spent fitting the gear leg fairings:


I couldn't think of any reason to keep the aft fuselage skin off, so it was riveted on and the mixer cover plate was installed:


By the time all was finished it was dark but I wanted at least one picture of the fully assembled plane:


So now I need to weigh the plane, make some pushrod exit fairings, install the data plate and give the FAA a call to set up my inspection. Hopefully that can happen in a few weeks. Oh yeah, I guess I should also start some tailwheel training :?

[142YX]

I estimated that mine was about the 35th to fly in May, 2010. I'd say 40-50 is pretty accurate. That figure somewhat mirrors the slightly less than 1/3 "completion/sold" ratio of the Sonex. The Waiex ratio my be closer to 1/3 as no one builds from plans and thus most will finish their project quicker than the Sonex...

these are the numbers from Wikipedia.. can't speak for their accuracy...

as of December 2011:
311 Sonex
1 Onex
33 Waiex
7 Xenos

[142YX]

Looks great Michael! Hope to be where you are sooner rather than later

[N111YX]

Looks great, Mike!

You might consider making a new flap handle to allow 3 flap positions. The "full flap" setting is difficult to set in flight becasue of the drag and that's pretty much all it is...lot's of drag with very little reduction in stall speed.

Your mileage may vary...:)

[N111YX]

I'm guessing that those figures are from the "completions" section on the Sonex site. I have learned that there are many out there who don't report their first flight... 8-)

OK, so I'm bored today and did some research...

The FAA website shows 60 registered Waiex's.
-42 have an airworthiness date
-16 are registered but have no airworthiness date
-2 are "unusable or unknown"

I estimated that mine was about the 35th to fly in May, 2010. I'd say 40-50 is pretty accurate. That figure somewhat mirrors the slightly less than 1/3 "completion/sold" ratio of the Sonex. The Waiex ratio my be closer to 1/3 as no one builds from plans and thus most will finish their project quicker than the Sonex...

these are the numbers from Wikipedia.. can't speak for their accuracy...

as of December 2011:
311 Sonex
1 Onex
33 Waiex
7 Xenos

[MichaelFarley56]

Looks great, Mike!

You might consider making a new flap handle to allow 3 flap positions. The "full flap" setting is difficult to set in flight becasue of the drag and that's pretty much all it is...lot's of drag with very little reduction in stall speed.

Your mileage may vary...:)

That's a good idea Kip...I remember you mentioning this at Crossville this year. Actually, I was thinking (give me your input here) about taking the existing handle and simply cutting out a third notch in between the other two. There's plenty of blank material there to give me another detent position. If I can take my Dremel with a cutting wheel and cut out that notch it should be a quick and easy way to add that additional flap setting.