First Flight

[Waiex 49]

Well, not actually my first flight as my Waiex has over 200 hours on it, but today I made my first flight in my Viking powered Waiex.

My plane was originally built with an AeroVee engine. After way too many problems with the bug engine I decided to go with the Viking 110 engine.

My flight today consisted of some extended taxi tests and a trip around the oattern. I had pattern altitude by the time I made my crosswind turn. Was accelerating through 140 mph on downwind when I had to slow for traffic. Made a nice landing and taxied back to the hangar. Had a cold beer with a good friend and called it a day.

The Viking engine runs very nice. No issues with the engine. The plane flew nicely. No issues with it being nose or tail heavy. It flew nicely on neutral trim and I only used a slight bit of nose up trim on final approach.

All temps and pressures were within the green during taxi and flight. I pulled the cowling after shutdown. No oil or coolant leaks, everything was clean.

My Waiex has a lot more power and performance than it ever did with the VW.

I'm not advocating "unapproved" mods, but I am very happy with my Viking Waiex.

I'll be at the Rio Linda Sonex fly in and the big show at Oshkosh.

Hope to see you there,

Fly safe,

Don Bowen
Viking Waiex N49YX
KLHM

[Bryan Cotton]

Congrats Don! Very cool.

[jjbardell]

No oil leaks. Good performance. What fun is that, I assume Sonex is always trying to be a super hornet; 2 hours of maintenance for every 1 hour of flight. Lol. Seriously, congrats on your conversion and I look forward to hearing more about your reliability and performance numbers as you get airborne.

[DCASonex]

Congratulations,

Good to know that there is another viable engine option out there with more power than a VW. Hope it holds up and that the Viking operation stays in business. (The later a particular concern of CAMit and Jabiru drivers.)

David A. Sonex TD with CAMit 3300.

[WaiexN143NM]

Hi don,
Congrats! Sure must feel good to get it flying again! Cant wait to see your plane at rio linda may 20. Your cowling and 3 bladed prop looks cool.

WaiexN143NM
Michael

[fastj22]

Congratulations,

Good to know that there is another viable engine option out there with more power than a VW. Hope it holds up and that the Viking operation stays in business. (The later a particular concern of CAMit and Jabiru drivers.)

David A. Sonex TD with CAMit 3300.

Unfortunately, Don's Viking 110 is no longer offered being replaced with the 130 which is a different motor and mounted diagonally and not horizontally. Not sure if any Sonex has grafted one of them on.
Don, any issues with trim?

[Waiex 49]

Hi Guys,

I appreciate your interest in my project. Again, I don't advocate folks making such significant mods but I spent a great deal of my career working as an A&P in aircraft modification centers so I feel comfortable going this route.

No issues with the trim. The Viking is heavier than the AeroVee so I compensated by moving the batteries aft. It was a short initial test flight (more to follow) but it seems to fly nicely on neutral trim settings. It did want a little nose up trim (about half a turn on the Waiex dial-a-trim) when I was on approach to landing.

It is true that the Viking 110 is no longer being offered. Honda stopped making this engine with the introduction of the 2015 Honda Fit and the dual overhead cam "130" engine. Viking recently announced they are offering engine mount adapters to mount the 130 to a Sonex AeroVee mount. No word on other firewall forward items such as cowling, prop, spinner, etc. or if this would be designed for the "A" or "B" model Sonex. To the best of my knowledge no 130 engine has yet been mounted on a Sonex. Viking still has their Waiex (hanging from the rafters of their facility, without an engine) so it may be possible they could do a 130 installation.

My plane went from 700 pounds with the AeroVee to 750 pounds with the Viking. About half of that is from the engine change. The other half is from everything else I did to the aircraft (such as a new, larger instrument panel, Dynon D-180, dual coms, dual GPS, all the new wiring for the avionics, complying with Waiex SB 1, installing a fire extinguisher, larger tailwheel, and other misc. items I added such as interior lighting. The airplane doesn't seem to know it is heavier than before. It is a tiger on takeoff and really climbs well. With the increased weight, my decision was that aerobatic flight is no longer included in my new operating limitations document. There has been no engineering study I am aware of as to the stresses involved with a heavier Sonex doing aerobatics. I don't do any aerobatics, I use my Waiex for "straight and level" local and cross country flights.

One nice thing is my new three blade Warp Drive prop. The 110 has a good amount of torque and can turn this 62" prop to good effect. Added benefit is that I think it looks really cool.

Of course, the coolest thing on my Waiex is the pair of toe brake pedals I got from Mr. Gillis. I really, really like having toe brakes and differential disc brakes. Go with toe brakes and forget about that silly brake lever and those wimpy ass drum brakes!

Northern California is forecast for another rainy week, but next weekend should be clear and I will continue flying off the 5 hour Phase 1 program. I will report back to this forum (and my web page http://www.mykitlog.com/donbowen) all of the good, bad and ugly of this mod. I like the Sonex and I like the Viking, but I don't drink anyone's "cool aid". If anything doesn't work out with either the airframe or engine I'll be honest about reporting it

Fly safe (no matter which engine you fly behind),

Don Bowen
Viking Waiex N49YX
KLHM

[fastj22]

Good to hear on the trim. I know Jan had fits with the Viking Waiex to the point of him modifying the wing incidence to try to trim out the plane. I was concerned it might be a Waiex/Viking issue, but maybe it was just his plane.
The new 130 is pretty intriguing, but with it re-oriented more vertically, not sure how it will look on the nose of a sonex.


BTW, I just bought a new Honda Civic with the Turbo that Jan is going to start selling as the Viking 170. Its got a lot of pep but probably a bit too heavy for the Sonex.

[Waiex 49]

Hi John,

I don't really know what the issue was with Jan's Waiex. The exact details were never disclosed. The market response to the "Viking Sport" doesn't appear to have been overwhelming and I guess he moved on. My guess is the aircraft was out of CG. He had the batteries in the engine compartment, while my calculations showed the need to put them in the tail cone.

The 130 might work on a Sonex, but with the more vertical orientation of the engine I expect the cowling to be kind of "Fugly".

I'm glad I flew yesterday as the rain storms have already moved in. Forecast is for sunny weather next weekend so I hope to fly again.

Have fun with the turbo Civic! I bet that is a sporty ride!

I hope to meet you at Oshkosh!

Don

[ihab]

Hi Don,

I could not find a video of the Viking 110 running but I did find this of the 130:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv2gnDfCZ4w

Is the engine really as quiet as the video suggests, or is it trick photography? :)

Ihab