GT400 Checkout and Evaluation

[laminar]

Hey Guys,

We have been oh so fortunate recently to be asked to help out on a freaking awesome one off homebuilt, the GT-400 "Snort" designed built tested and operated by the legend Ralph Wise.

This is the first time the airplane has flown with anyone other than Ralph in the cockpit. For Jenn and I and our little one-off "the Siren" I have been disoriented by how hard it is to technically evaluate the airplane without bias or at the very least context. For instance even in the most casual conversation I find it hard to say "our airplane has (in race configuration) at best level B static longitudinal stability", without spending ten minutes explaining why the compromise was made. The process of designing and building the airplane just creates too much emotional baggage around the machine to make cold evaluation easy, especially in public. This experience has provided great context for studying Ralph's airplane, and given me yet another great example of how all airplanes are compromises and therefore are not all things to al people, and that itself is what makes the airplane awesome.

There are 5 flight reports currently posted on the Wasabi website. The focus for the first 4 flights was getting me checked out and comfortable in the airplane. We have just started getting to the performance testing of the vehicle. Last weekend we measured the flat plate drag area of the airplane using a process that we have used on Wasabi going back to 2012, but is one of the "proprietary" parts of our program. It has been fun to share the method and get feedback on it's strengths and weaknesses.

Note: The drag estimation work that was done on the GT was very conservative. The airplane was dusty the cowl flaps and oil cooling door were both open. This data was intended to provide a baseline for comparison to other stock airframes, Legacy, Glassair, and the like, not to compare to the legends running in the top of the gold heat. Please provide feedback, we are in this game to learn.

Airplanes are cool,
Elliot and Jenn

Sundays with Ralph

[Desertdawg]

Re: GT400 Checkout and Evaluation

Elliot,

Nice looking plane. I bet there's never a day thats boring in your world.

Thanks for posting.

[FlyKidChris]

Re: GT400 Checkout and Evaluation

Really interesting info - thank you Elliott. And a big thanks to Ralph for sharing his baby.

[laminar]

Re: GT400 Checkout and Evaluation

Thanks guys. Send me an SASE and I will send you a mission patch from one of our 2014 programs.

Elliot

PO Box 131
Mojave CA
93502

[Nemesis]

Re: GT400 Checkout and Evaluation

Hello All,
Stopped by “the hanger” here to see what was happening in the off season. I was excited to see something written about Ralph Wise. In addition to his plane “SNORT” featured here, most of you know, he did a lot of racing in F1 with, most notably, “Wise Owl”. Ralph is one of those guys that day in and day out demonstrates his craftsmanship and creativeness, on whatever project he is working on. It was a real pleasure to watch the day to day progress on “SNORT” as it was being created! “SNORT” is a marvel of engineering, and truly shows Ralph’s skills and engineering prowess, utilizing both composite , and top drawer metal work on “SNORT”. Of significance, Ralph designs and builds everything himself, with his brain, and his own 2 hands. There is no “Mr Potato Head” in anything Ralph does, it’s all him. The results of his efforts speak for themselves. A little bit of info on the plane. As one can see in the pictures, it is tricycle geared with retracts all around, very fast airplane with a very tightly packed Continental engine. The systems on the plane are really well thought out and well executed. Seeing it up close and personal is a MUST! Ralph is a survivor of one of those dreaded F1 metal prop failures of the 70’s and early 80’s. In his Owl, he was racing in the “Oshkosh 500” I think, when the prop broke, tossing about 40% of the metal racing prop. He made it down and eventually rebuilt the engine and repaired the plane to race again. It was this failure, and others that led to the Twisted Composites carbon fiber racing props created to this day by Steve Hill in N.M. The entire class of F1 relies on the “Twisted” props for safety and performance. Ralph’s blade toss was a pivotal point leading to the development of safe props.

When Patricia and I were transferred from Texas to Ca, our airplane home was immediately at Mojave. Ralph was the first person we contacted, having raced with him in Mojave and Reno. Ralph opened everything to us as we tried to get settled. Even sharing his hanger with us while building the F1 “Nemesis”. Ralph is always there to help and provide his wisdom. From his military flying to his racing, and building stuff for all sorts of projects in the area, he is a craftsman extraordinaire! If any of you every get the chance to go to Mojave, be sure to wear your windbreaker.... LOL, but make a special effort to seek out Ralph. He, his wife Kathi, along with SCALED's Cory and Patti Bird, speaking aircraft craftsman extraordinaire, are the people we miss most not being in Mojave. Ralph continues his trait of helping, by providing his airplane to a budding fight test pilot to add experience.

Jon
Nemenoid.....
B.O.D. “SPAR”

[Desertdawg]

Re: GT400 Checkout and Evaluation

Thanks guys. Send me an SASE and I will send you a mission patch from one of our 2014 programs.

Elliot

PO Box 131
Mojave CA
93502

[ATTACH=CONFIG]21340[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]21341[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]21342[/ATTACH]

Elliot,

SASE on the way. I included couple special "Section 3" stickers for you. :-)

[Desertdawg]

Re: GT400 Checkout and Evaluation

Thanks guys. Send me an SASE and I will send you a mission patch from one of our 2014 programs.

Elliot

PO Box 131
Mojave CA
93502

[ATTACH=CONFIG]21340[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]21341[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]21342[/ATTACH]

Elliot,

SASE on the way. I included couple special "Section 3" stickers for you. :-)

[FlyKidChris]

Re: GT400 Checkout and Evaluation

Hello All,
Stopped by “the hanger” ...

Jon
Nemenoid.....
B.O.D. “SPAR”

Jon,

Thanks for that bit of history and it sure is nice to see you post here.

Blue skies,
Chris