Props to our pilots on board - uncle was a bush pilot in the '60s, and I've had a love-hate (non-flying) relationship with a variety of jets in my Air Force career. But this is by God flying; VFR only need apply...

Awesome! Looks like a great community of folks to hang with.

I've been watching some ytube videos of Patey building that thing, and it's rated to 28,000 feet and has O2 onboard.

He did some amazing work on it.

I follow Trent Palmer, Corey, Mike Patey and the KitFox guys on YouTube and instagram - only folks I do that with.

Very very cool flying. The Draco is a Wilga 2000 that had an IO540 that blew up (over the great salt lake) and he undertook the rebuild to make a dream STOL machine. Awesome engineering, fabrication and lots of work.

The videos they put out of flying VFR in the midwest make me jealous and want to buy a hilltop dirt strip and cabin myself. I think I'm coming to an age where low and slow fun / travel would suit me. Getting serious about a Carbon Cub or Kitfox (leaning Kitfox Series 7 STI) build in the next few years.

Thanks for the post - that thing is awesome (737 lights in the wing-tip cufs, backup cameras, O2, 4 place, wing chord widened, wing changed from slotted to slats (with adjustable incidence).

Also check out Mike Patey's Turblence Lancair conversion to turboprop - that thing is Crazy!

They must have made some real breakthroughs with the engines in those Kitfox and similar.

~30 years ago, there was an air show in San Diego. One fellow flew down in his Kitfox, and ended up in the median of the freeway, made the news. I remember talking to him at the shows, that he was averaging one engine failure per 1.5 flight hours, something like that.

I think they were using snowmobile engines, Rotax or something like that.

A friend of mine ended up with one. I went to his airport to fly it, but we never could get it started. After several hours of trying this and that, testing, hand propping, we gave up.

I remember him being real proud of having discovered what the problem was, wrong spark plugs heat range. He ended up losing the engine out in the boonies somewhere and being lucky to get away with only broken ribs and a bump on the head.

Rotax engines are considered reliable now. They certainly had a lot of problems early on, like the subaru engines. Most mechanics did not understand the tech and wouldn't touch them. Those installing them were among the "cheapskate" crowd in experimental aviation, and a lot of failures weren't actually the engine's fault but rather the installer's cheaping out on other parts.

Rotax made a good move by starting mechanic training and certifying mechanics to work on and maintain their engines. I have not heard stories of rotax reliability issues recently.

Sounds like your buddy was definitely lucky, but perhaps a good testament to the kitfox airframe also. I sure wouldn't shy away from owning one...but the Rotax has always been a turn off for me. I should get on board with the new tech... I know lycoming and continental engines inside and out though.

If I ever win the Alaskan lottery, getting a wilga setup like that would probably be my #2 item.

Absolutely amazing. I've seen few planes as perfectly setup for Alaskan flying as that. I saw the plane on AOPA live, but this youtube clip is a much better showcase.

quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually:


Sounds like your buddy was definitely lucky, but perhaps a good testament to the kitfox airframe also. I sure wouldn't shy away from owning one...but the Rotax has always been a turn off for me. I should get on board with the new tech... I know lycoming and continental engines inside and out though.

There were a group of owners of Kitfox and its cousin, I forget what those were called. Both were kits, the promoters split up or something. Some used Rotax, and others used a very similar snow mobile engine. These owners liked to camp out in the mountains or high desert. They would pick a spot, all fly out and camp for a week or long weekend, go flying every morning. I remember they were arguing over how to select who got the honor of the first flight each day. Great fun if you can keep the fan turning.

Pretty cool.

I can only hope that I have that level of disposable income one day though!

I've seen a little bush flying in AK, it's very cool. My favorite technique is when they skip the tundra tires off the water to bleed off speed and lessen the ground roll on the sandbar.