The place to raise issues, ask questions, swap ideas and discuss anything related to aircraft engineering, maintenance and building.
NB Any opinions expressed in this forum are not necessarily those of LAA Engineering
Hi
I have always dreamt of owning a Druine Turbulent, but after reading some blogs from the USA I am not so sure.
Does anyone have any views on this aircraft?
Sub question, I have never built an aircraft before - would the complexities of a Turbulent be beyond someone with 'average' skills.
The turb is a delightful aircraft but from a homrbuilding point it is relatively a light structure and thus prone to damage if you are hamfisted.
The plans are available from LAA but if you are over 14 stone there may some difficulties in getting a reasonable performance.
There are similar aircraft available to build such as the Jodel D.92, the Brugger Colibri, Taylor Monoplane and Corby Starlet but it might be better to look for an existing aircraft or project that needs completion.
Before you make a desision to go and look at existing flying examples e.g the Tiger Club at Headcorn and speak with their owners. I am sure that others with closer connections to the Turb will answer this thread.
How about a FRED instead? I'm in Llantwit Major. Want to come and see one here? Nobody has ever had a noteworthy injury in a FRED other than underwear damage and splinters. The designer crashed his enough times to prove a decent safety record.
Dave,
Try a PM to Jonathan Wilkins. He's got a Turb at Headcorn and would no doubt be happy to tell you more. A Jodel D9 is a more gentlemanly a/c than a Turb and it can manage a few more kts than a FRED
Thanks Nigel. Dave if you are serious about the Turb, dont take any notice of our american friends, pop down to Headcorn where we have 6 Turbs including mine and i would be very happy to show you round them and have a chat.
Unfortunately i couldnt tell you too much about the build as i have not built one although i am aware that they arent the easiest homebuild, mine took 6 years to build by an ex RAF engineer. However it may give you a more detailed idea of what you are looking for! PM me if you are interested.
Just finished on WII fit, I'm over 90kgs so that's the end of that!
macconnacher wrote:The turb is a delightful aircraft but from a homrbuilding point it is relatively a light structure and thus prone to damage if you are hamfisted.
The plans are available from LAA but if you are over 14 stone there may some difficulties in getting a reasonable performance.
There are similar aircraft available to build such as the Jodel D.92, the Brugger Colibri, Taylor Monoplane and Corby Starlet but it might be better to look for an existing aircraft or project that needs completion.
Before you make a desision to go and look at existing flying examples e.g the Tiger Club at Headcorn and speak with their owners. I am sure that others with closer connections to the Turb will answer this thread.
I have it in mind that the Jodel D9 has the best lifting capacity! If thinking of building then the space to build the one-piece wing becomes significant.
I have heard that the chances of rescue after crashing a VP are slim, because people spotting the wreckage assume it's just an old wardrobe someone has dumped.
oh dear now i going to say sorry to as i jumping on the wagon with nigel ramsay here !
the veep ! eh but in defence to nigels's coment about walking away from a firm incident in a veep i know some one who managed to run lol when he got to the tower no one belived him thou until they went to look at the mfi flat pack wardrob that sat on the airfiled perimeter road. the od thing is the engine failed above a two and a half mile millitry runway but he opted to try and glide home ok i admit the words glide and vp should not really go together but strange things happen on the plus side at least it made the airfiled (just) and rather than going to b&q and have it flying in a jiffy maybe putting the bits in a jiffy bag and calling it a day could be a move foward lol joking aside we all need to get in the air i looked at a veep once its a means to getting up there just a shame the cab is well the skoda of the skys
To be fair, I wasn't really having a go, it was just a humerous crack someone else made which I found very funny! I currently read the VP Group site on Yahoo because of my interest in VW engines and there are some interesting renderings of the once slab-sided 'entry level' machines. They do indeed get you flying, which after all is what that matters! They are also very much in the spirit ofthe PFA self-build ...er sorry LAA self-build aircraft.
Now then; where's that instruction sheet... fit tab1 into slot2...... er.....
