Sonex flight in New Zealand

[Bill Sargent]

I have posted a flight I made in Sonex #160 here in New Zealand.
If you dont know where New Zealand is " Australia is the large island 3.5 hrs by Airbus A320 off our west coast"
Sorry Peter I couldnt resist that.
ZK-WBS is based at a private strip just outside of Nelson at the top of the South Island.
She is scratch built and first flew May 2003. It is powered by the last built Camit 2200.
She is stock standard centre stick, the only mods are a vertical panel and Peters flap stop and tail wheel rod.
Sorry about the editing, it is my first attempt and the video was 1.5 hours long.
My little cheap camera has no external mike so I tried a small speaker beside it connected to the passenger intercom.
No good.
It picks up the engine sound which is more important.
The airspeed is in Knots. I have finished it off with a view of my canopy locking latch.
The flight starts at near enough to sea level and peaks at 6500ft.
As you can see there are not too many plan B options around this area.
find it at
youtube.com/watch?v=ELwkFhtsI8o
Hope it is of interest.
Bill Sargent

[GraemeSmith]

Very nice! Just like Scotland.... :-)

Thanks for the canopy lock idea.

The mini-Sonex at the start - build hours? Engine? Has it had a first flight yet? ;-)

[peter anson]

Hi Bill, nice video. What's it like flying in that area when the wind is up? Those mountains look high enough to create a lot of turbulence. Just looking at Google Earth it appears that to head anywhere south you need to cross a lot of very big hills. Do you ever fly across to the North Island? I know the distance is not great but as well as the water the land either side of Cook Straight is not hospitable.

Peter
(from the West Island)

[Bill Sargent]

Hi Graeme,
Yes Sonex #160a is a pedal powered version for my Granddaughter . Unfortunately When we shifted they were not able to store it inside and it has now fallen into disrepair. It was fun and I may rebuild it when my daughter has children.
Peter.
Yes those hills do cause a few problems. The 600 meter strip where WBS lives is crosswind to the prevailing winds. It is on a long thin lifestyle block and cant be altered. I pick my days. To go anywhere you have to be able to climb pretty well. I can do this at 1000 to 1200ft/min one up. Most of the hills peak out at 5 to 6000ft but do seem to go on forever. You can get some good lift off them on one side BUT you know what happens on the other side.
I havent been above 9500 ft but she was still climbing nicely at this height ( all be it bloody cold ). The Camit 2200 is equipped with the Bing carb, works like a charm, no fiddling around with mixture control, just push in the noisey knob and go. Carb heat of course. I have flown across Cook Straight in the Sonex once . Took the longest route at 1500ft to stay out of Wellingtons CTR , about 35 minutes over water. Went to a fly in at Tauranga and met the owner of Jabiru. I had the old Jabiru 2200 #152 engine in it at the time. He asked me if I had flown 2 up across the straight with that engine. When I said yes he said " you are a braver man than me"!!! The trip back seemed a lot longer for some reason. Love the Camit Sonex combination.
Bill S

[peter anson]

You're just being a wimp. I read a few years back about a New Zealander who bought a new Jabiru 230. He picked it up at Bundaberg and flew it home to NZ via Norfolk Island. I'm guessing he carried a ferry tank although the 230s have a pretty big fuel capacity, but the crossing to Norfolk is about 800 nautical miles plus another 400+ to NZ. Definitely a braver man than me. Quite a few people do the flight across Bass Straight to Tasmania and Eugene Reid, former president of RAA did it twice weekly for a while. With an RAA permit, you are limited to flying within gliding distance of land and in theory Bass Straight is OK because there are many small islands, but most of them are nothing more than rocks sticking out of the water. The true longest leg is about 45 NM. According to Reid it's often best to fly straight across because the weather is better clear of the islands, but then the crossing is about 120 NM. I guess that makes him a braver man than me too.

Peter

[WesRagle]

I have posted a flight I made in Sonex #160 here in New Zealand.
If you dont know where New Zealand is " Australia is the large island 3.5 hrs by Airbus A320 off our west coast"
Sorry Peter I couldnt resist that.
ZK-WBS is based at a private strip just outside of Nelson at the top of the South Island.
She is scratch built and first flew May 2003. It is powered by the last built Camit 2200.
She is stock standard centre stick, the only mods are a vertical panel and Peters flap stop and tail wheel rod.

Bill Sargent

Hi Bill,

Great video!

I seem to remember from the "Old Days" that you originally built #160 with a flat wrap canopy. If I am remembering right, that would put you in the unique position to know if the purported lifting effect of the bubble canopy is in fact real. So, if I'm remembering correctly, did the switch to a bubble canopy have a noticeable effect on climb and/or other handling characteristics of the airplane?

Thanks,

Wes

[Bill Sargent]

Hi Wes.
Yes I did have a flat wrap canopy in the early days. The only noticeable difference with the bubble is that it cuts down the wind noise. Performance didnt change in any way at all.
Bill S

[WesRagle]

Hi BIll,

That's interesting.

Thanks,

Wes