Sonex vs Rans s7 for abinitio fixed wing addon

[DCASonex]

I do not know about the Rans S7, but learned to fly in a Luscomb 8A way back in the dark ages, and the Sonex is much easier to take off, fly, and land.

If using a grass strip for a significant portion of your landings, do go with the larger tire size.

David A.

[builderflyer]

One factor not yet addressed which makes the Sonex less suitable for use as a primary trainer is the substantial number of pilots who have bent their titanium landing gear. A hard landing, something student pilots may do too frequently, and the titanium rods will bend. I believe even one of the commentors on this topic may have bent his landing gear, and he wasn't a student at the time if I recall correctly. Just my opinion.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

[Bryan Cotton]

One factor not yet addressed which makes the Sonex less suitable for use as a primary trainer is the substantial number of pilots who have bent their titanium landing gear. A hard landing, something student pilots may do too frequently, and the titanium rods will bend. I believe even one of the commentors on this topic may have bent his landing gear, and he wasn't a student at the time if I recall correctly. Just my opinion.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

Excellent point Art. One of the things I was worried about. We have had some pretty ugly landings, so I would say it is not as fragile as I thought but I don't think it can match a C152. Or a PA12 which I really tested hard as a new student.

[Kai]

After all, the rods are not that difficuilt to replace should old Murphy be hitching a ride. So IMHO better that the Rods bend than that the engine mounts starts deforming or cracking. I would speculate that the tri-gear are somewhat more resilient here.

But then again, anything will bend if dropped in hard enough. As an aside I´ve seen several of the excellent Vans designs with their steel rod mains looking like they were halfway up in some retraction mode.

Back in the days when I was still young and beautiful, I got my taidragger endorsement in an L4 (rather similar to the S7), after which I never had the slightest problem putting the Sonex down, be it on (rough) grass or a hard runway.