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Flying the Sonex Sport Acro August 25, 2008:
Tested and Written by Roger Tanner
During a recent visit to Wisconsin for a family wedding
near Oshkosh I made a point to stop by Sonex Aircraft to see John, Betty and
Jeremy Monnett and the rest of the Sonex Team. It had been four years since my
last visit to Sonex so I was anxious to get caught up with them and see the
progress they’ve been making on the electric aircraft motor, the e-flight
initiative as well as the new modified Sonex they call the Sport Acro.
During
my last visit to Sonex in 2004, I had been so impressed with the AeroVee powered
Sonex, Waiex and Xenos that my father and I decided to build an AeroVee powered
Sonex of our own. As of this writing it is approximately 60% complete.
I was given the opportunity to fly the Sport Acro if I
would give them honest feedback on it’s handling qualities and my impressions on
the modification to the ailerons to improve the roll rate for sport aerobatics.
I gave them an immediate “YES.” This article is that feedback.
See the Sport Acro in Action!
Watch the video below to see Roger
Tanner's initial flight evaluation of the Sonex Sport Acro, along with footage
of Sonex Founder and President John Monnett flying the Sport Acro with air show
smoke. More videos showing more Sport Acro manuevers will be coming soon!
To get re-acquainted with the flying qualities of these
aircraft and Oshkosh’s Wittman Field, Jeremy and I first took the Waiex out for
a short flight. I had not flown the Waiex since I did the basic spin testing on
it in 2004, so it was fun to get back into this little gem as it is a blast to
fly. By the way, the Y-tail of the Waiex seems to have very normal spin and
recovery characteristics. One and two turn spins to the left and right
recovered in less than a turn.
The main objective of the flight with Jeremy in the Waiex
(other than just getting current) was to evaluate the roll rate. Doing
bank-to-bank rolls 60° to 60° takes about 2 seconds at 120MPH, so I estimate the
roll rate at 55-60° degrees per second at this speed. Due to the differential
aileron it takes only small amounts of rudder to coordinate the roll.
We went back to Wittman field where Jeremy coached me
through a standard Sonex / Waiex pattern and landing: below 100MPH (max flap
speed) on down wind lower the first notch of flaps and fly 90MPH, on base fly
80MPH, turning final lower full flaps and fly 70MPH until letting the speed slow
to 65MPH approaching ground effect and then throttle to Idle and it just about
lands itself. How simple is that?
Sport Acro center seating single-place cockpit.
John Monnett familiarizes test pilot Roger Tanner with
the Sport Acro's cockpit.
I dropped off Jeremy and went back out west of the field
for a little Waiex fun on my own, again to look at the roll rates and light acro
such as lazy-8’s and wing-overs with one person on board as that would be more
comparable to the Sport Acro, which is set up to fly solo. The roll rate was
slightly faster so I estimate it at 65-70° per second at 120MPH. Back to
Wittman field for a few patterns and landings using the same procedures as
stated above and I was ready to fly the Sport Acro.
The Sport Acro, set up to fly solo from the center, makes
for a very roomy cockpit with great visibility left, right and over the nose.
The stick, in the center is approximately 3 inches longer in anticipation of the
added hinge moment forces for the longer ailerons, which are approximately 16
inches longer inboard making the flaps about 16 inches shorter. For reference
(from my set of plans) the standard ailerons on the Sonex / Waiex are
approximately 39 inches long and the flaps are approximately 72 inches long. I
was curious how this would affect roll rate and stall speed, which was the
reason for the evaluation.
I spent a few minutes getting used to the cockpit controls
for the wheel brakes, flaps, trim, radio, engine and flight instruments as well
as a very nice-to-have video recording system set up by Mark Schaible so we
could provide those interested in the Sport Acro some video. I taxied out
thinking about the takeoff and reminding myself that the ailerons are much
longer and they may be “over sensitive” on takeoff so do not “over control.”
This concern proved not to be an issue. Yes they are more responsive, but I had
no tendency to over control on takeoff.
I went out west of the field and checked the roll rate of
the Sport Acro, again at 120MPH in bank-to-bank rolls 60° to 60°. This time it
was close to 1 second so I estimate the roll rate at this speed at 110 – 120°
per second. So that means we have an increase in roll rate of approximately 60%
(approximately 40° per second faster divided by 65° per second). I also ran
though what I would consider a common set of proficiency acro maneuvers (loop,
cloverleaf, Cuban-8, split-s, Immelmann, aileron roll and barrel roll, etc.)
The mission of the “Sport Acro” is to be an entry-level acro aircraft for the
Sportsman category and just a fun acro machine that is also an all around Light
Sport Aircraft that can be flown as a two place with some re-arranging of the
interior.
The Sport Acro has hit the mark! Workload for the pilot
during acro is very low. The aircraft is very easy to fly during acro with good
control harmony, which means that the forces and deflections in pitch and roll
are favorable to the pilot and properly proportioned. The differential ailerons
assist the pilot, as only small amounts of rudder are needed to coordinate
rolls. A loop is accomplished by starting a slight dive for 140MPH then
smoothly pulling it up into a 2.5 – 3g loop using approximately 300 ft. Other
acro maneuvers such as an aileron roll, barrel roll, and Cuban-8 are a piece of
cake and will be available to view thanks to the three camera video system.
Please remember these are my first attempts at these maneuvers in this
aircraft.
Stalls were also accomplished in the Sport Acro. There is
no difference in stall characteristics with noticeable buffet before the stall
and the speed is within a few knots of the standard model at approximately
40MPH. Returning back to the pattern at Wittman field I used the same
techniques described above in the Waiex and the pattern and landing were very
easy using those procedures.
Thanks to Jeremy, John and Mark for the opportunity to fly
the Sport Acro. Once again you have found a good balance of performance, flying
qualities and cost to meet the desired task and mission. The Sport Acro is a
sweet little acro machine!
