From Sacramento, CA Consideringa Waixe

[Cocolos]

Hi!

I am considering building a Waixe, but I would first like to speak with some owners/builders. I am in Sacramento and every other weekend or so I make out to SF. I would be happy to meet anyone nearby and chat about the building processes and flying characteristics of Waixe.

Some questions I have right now are:

• What are the performance numbers for Waixe with Aerovee Turbo? (I didn't see them on the Sonex website)
• How reliable are the Aerovee Turbos? is it look a relatively new conversion, i.e., not many sonex flying with them?
• Would a Waixe serve missions for 2 adults (130-180lbs) + small bags for long cross countries? It seems with a 5.5 gal/h fuel burn you would only be able to fly for 3ish hours?
• On similar topic as above I've seen that people have added cylinder tanks to wings, how successful has that been?
• Are there any Sonex equipped for light IFR? It seems with modern systems it would be possible, but not sure if the weight would be a problem?

Thanks!

[Bryan Cotton]

Welcome to the forums! I am building an Aerovee powered Waiex but no turbo for me. Maybe someday. My opinion on the Sonex line of aircraft is that they are not the optimum choice for IFR, but there are always one or two who have done it and will disagree.

[MichaelFarley56]

Hi!

I am considering building a Waixe, but I would first like to speak with some owners/builders. I am in Sacramento and every other weekend or so I make out to SF. I would be happy to meet anyone nearby and chat about the building processes and flying characteristics of Waixe.

Some questions I have right now are:

• What are the performance numbers for Waixe with Aerovee Turbo? (I didn't see them on the Sonex website)
• How reliable are the Aerovee Turbos? is it look a relatively new conversion, i.e., not many sonex flying with them?
• Would a Waixe serve missions for 2 adults (130-180lbs) + small bags for long cross countries? It seems with a 5.5 gal/h fuel burn you would only be able to fly for 3ish hours?
• On similar topic as above I've seen that people have added cylinder tanks to wings, how successful has that been?
• Are there any Sonex equipped for light IFR? It seems with modern systems it would be possible, but not sure if the weight would be a problem?

Thanks!

Welcome to the forums! I'll offer my two cents to your questions, but please take my opinions for what they're worth. I have a Waiex with a non-turbo AeroVee, but flew the airplane for just over 100 hours with the turbo installed.
-The Waiex with the turbo AeroVee, at maximum takeoff weight of 1150 lbs, will probably have initial climb rates around 600-1000 feet per minute when taking off from sea level airports and you'll see cruise speeds ranging from 135-140 mph at low altitudes to 150-165 mph at higher altitudes. If you need to go faster you can push the engine up to 170-175 mph if you are okay burning a lot of fuel and running your engine at maximum continuous power (35" manifold pressure).
- The turbo AeroVee reliability is a matter of personal opinion; there have been some growing pains over the years but the current setup appears to be working well.
- The factory demonstrator Waiex B has an empty weight of 700 lbs, so if you build yours with similar equipment you'll have a useful load of around 450 lbs. If you top off the fuel tank with 20 gallons, that will leave you with around 330 lbs for people and bags. When I ran my turbo AeroVee I was averaging around 6.5 gallons per hour fuel burn so you would have a little over 3 hours endurance, although some turbo owners have reported lower fuel burns than what I saw.
- Installing aux fuel of any type would be up to the builder. Personally I was fine only having 2 hour flight times; I was ready to get out and stretch by then anyway!
- Do yourself a favor and don't even think about IFR in a Sonex. That subject gets brought up and people get frustrated with the discussion, but I think you'll find most people agree the handling and stability qualities make the Sonex a very poor platform for any IFR operations. You can search these forums for more information on the subject if you'd like.

Welcome! Best of luck!

[Cocolos]

Thanks for the info! It seems like a really fun VFR, but I think for my mission it does not fit.