Xenos Turbo & flap mods?

[Flyxenos]

Hi all,

Has anyone attempted to add flight flaps to the xenos coupled to the ailerons for +/- cruise
settings.

I have a Xenos with Aerovee and plan on a turbo kit for high altitude testing. Looking for a
turbo kit if anyone is selling or knows where one is?

Did some basic calculations and think the potential of Xenos to go high, fast and long
distance is a real winner combination.

Adding the safety of soaring to an airport from high altitude cruising in the event of
problems makes a very practical cross country machine.

It should also be very fast at 12k' to 17k' and able to go over most weather with ease.

Has anyone played around with this flight regime in a xenos?

Watching the Turbo webinar confirmed my interest in this. At the 7min remaining
mark the webinar speaker seemed very excited about getting a turbo xenos up
in the thin air for the very same reasons...

I can't stop thinking about how perfect this plane is with the potential for turbo
normalizing and a negative -2 wing flap position.

Dare I say that true airspeeds of 200mph and 5 gal/hr seem attainable...

[racaldwell]

The other Xenos being built here at the Melbourne airport has counterbalanced controls. The builder believes he will be going xc fast and high and plans faster speeds than published Vne. He has an Aeromomentum engine and Woodcomp adjustable prop for it. As I have said before, this will be an interesting experiment to follow once it gets airborne.

Rick Caldwell
Xenos 0057 CAMit 3300 127 hp with no turbo!

[Brett]

with the cruise prop I seem to run out of air to push at about 8000-9000 ft

[Flyxenos]

I am also looking at a Woodcomp prop.

Do you know which model he is using?

Electric or manual variable pitch?

Feathering option?

I am leaning towards manual pitch with the hand crank.

Not familiar with this engine package you list.
What HP and is it turbo normalized?

Searching the web for Xenos high altitude flight info resulted in
links to UAV, NASA and Sonex Aerospace projects.
This is a good confirmation that I am on to more than a rabbit chase.

Of course any motor glider has the potential to get high and fast so
nothing special there. What makes the xenos special is the simple
construction and low cost compared to other motor gliders.
Also the genesis of the Sonex line started from a motor glider concept.

Expanding the flight realm of a good basic design is fun and rewarding
as a builder/owner. Oxygen and sailplanes go together, so getting
high and going fast as an option is a reasonable goal with many benefits.

If it's worth starting a company like Sonex Aerospace and NASA research
projects using this basic design then there is obviously great potential
in what I am flirting with here. UAV's need long range, large payloads,
and high altitude operations to be out of the way and effective platforms.

The Sonex people know this and are looking at ways to make their
concepts pay off bigger than ever. High fast and efficient is where it's
at and waiting!

I predict there are many others out there doing what I am with
the Xenos platform. High, fast and long ranges on a small budget
opens allot of doors in allot of areas.

Step 1
My immediate goals are to stay within Sonex approved engine and turbo
package with a variable pitch feathering prop for optimized performance.

Step 2
Using Aerovee and Turbo package modified for Turbo normalizing at high
altitudes below 18k' with options for higher altitudes.

Step 3
Building a new wing or modifying one with full span flaperons for +/- flap settings
for reduced time to climb and high speed high altitude cruising.

The total package should result in a very capable and special airplane.
Fun for soaring and an effective traveling machine on a budget.

Anyone got a set of Xenos wings they are not going to use?

[racaldwell]

The Woodcomp Prop is manual adjustable and he is making his own mechanism to control it. It is a feathering prop. I am envious. My CAMit can't take those rotational forces so I have a FP Sensenich made for the Jab/Xenos combo. The Aeromomentum engine is not boosted. It is about 100 hp. I personally like the idea of more hp without the added complexity of a turbo which is why I have the CAMit. Your mission with your Xenos is different than mine. I have an RV-6 and I get 155 kts TAS at 7.5 gal/hr. I've flown many XC's but the past four years not so much. I want to stay home so I can work on my Xenos on the weekends. If the Xenos proves to be relatively decent for XC, then I may sell the RV-6. But I am not believing the Xenos will come close to matching the 2 person payload (baggage space) and speed for XC. I plan on playing in the seabreeze front and the thousands of thermals here in FL with my Xenos. Yes, I'll take it up to the mountains occasionally for some ridge soaring. But as a traveling machine, the long wings would be a headache when ground maneuvering at the airports from here to there.

I plan on adding a cowl flap so I can stop air from passing through the engine compartment with the engine off. I bought the Antisplat servo for the cowl flap for the RV but never installed it so I'll try it when I get to making the cowling. I am trying to save weight wherever I can. I've been putting holes in nonstructural brackets, aluminum rivets where I can, made lightweight wingtips, going with Earthx batteries, etc. Light weight and lots of hp.

I like your idea of flaps on the Xenos. But just building those wings to plan (except flush riveting) took forever. Hate to even think about modifying them in addition. My wingtip project was six months! No, my wings are not available.

Rick Caldwell
Xenos 0057

[bvolcko38]

I too have given much thought to reflexing the trailing edge of the Xenos wings in conjunction with reflexing the ailerons as well. I have already made and installed a cowl flap using a linear actuator. FAA is inspecting my Xenos 068 Friday...can't wait to fly it.
The high performance sailplanes have flaps that reflex for flying fast between thermals... why not on a Xenos?

[racaldwell]

Bill,

Go for it! It's just a wing kit and a bucket load of hours. I sure would like to see what gains you achieve. You need something to do now that your xenos is finished; you can't fly it 24/7. Maybe the guy in MD has the bonded skin method down now so that could be the next gen xenos wing: bonded technology with reflexable TE.

Rick C.
Xenos 0057