GP-5 First Flight

                                                          Last week, George Pereira's latest design, the GP-5 took to the
                                                           sky with Dave at the controls. After a 15 year gestation and  
                                                           three owners, the first flight went well. Look for the plane around
                                                           the pylons at Reno soon!This marks Dave's 34th prototype flight.
                                                           The same week as the first flight, the Unlimited Air Racing rules
                                                           were changed to require the minimum weight of the aircraft to
                                                           be 4500 pounds. The GP weighs about 1,000 pounds. Since
                                                           this is not a kit airplane, it can not currently fly in Sport Class.

                                                           George Pereira, designer, congratulations George Backovich,
                                                           the proud owner of the GP-5 after a successful first flight.  
             
              Meteor RT-14 Logs First Flight at Chino

    With Dave Morss at the controls, the Wathen Foundation’s replica
    of the Turner RT-14 Meteor made its first flight at Chino,
    California, on Thursday, December 12, 2002. Tom Wathen said
    the airplane flew for 15 minutes, and that Golden-Era racer
    indicated 170 mph with its Pratt & Whitney R-1830, producing just
    17 inches of manifold pressure at about 30 percent power. Morss
    attempted the Meteor’s first flight about a month ago, Wathen
    said, but the “engine sneezed just after the wheels left the runway,
    so Dave put it right back on Chino’s Runway 26 Left, which is nice
    and long and wide.” Morss used the same runway for the first
    flight, and while the engine ran smoothly, it ran hot. “We have to
    let more air out of the cowling,” Wathen said.

    Bill Turner built the replica in his Repeat Aircraft shop on the Flabob
    Airport, which the Wathen Foundation saved from developers a little
    more than two years ago, but work to address the cooling needs and
    other bugs, such as the inability to get more than 10 degrees of flaps,
    will take place at Chino’s Planes of Fame. With a 25-foot wing and an
    empty weight better than 3,000 pounds, then engineers said with full
    flaps the 1000-hp racer should land at 115 mph, Wathen said, which
    makes the airplane “too hot for Flabob” and its short runway.

    Morss called the RT-14 a “real rocket ship,” Wathen said. He added that
    the replica marked Morss’s 325th first flight, and his 30th first flight of a
    prototype aircraft. Owned and flown by legendary race pilot Roscoe
    Turner, the original RT-14 is in the collection of the Smithsonian National
    Air & Space Museum and competed in the National Air Races from 1937
    to 1939, placing first in 1938 and ’39.
             
    Lancair flies new Turbine IV

    LANCAIR FLIES NEW TURBINE IV!

    September 13, 2001 (Redmond, OR) – In January of this year,
    Lancair International announced they would fly a turbine engine
    powered Lancair IV. This dream is now a reality. On July 9, 2001,
    test pilot Dave Morss flew the first factory Lancair IV powered by a
    750-hp Walter 601E turboprop engine. The Lancair IV/IV-P is a
    four-place, retractable, all composite aircraft that has been in
    service since 1993.
     
    The Thunder Mustang

    There is no feeling like raw power. When I worked for Air
    Ambulance, I loved doing new pilot training in the Lear 20 series.
    There’s no other civilian plane that will give you that push back in
    the seat, 6,000 fpm, nose-to-the-sky feeling of a light Lear.
    Well, now there is... and it’s called the Thunder Mustang. Mere
    numbers don’t describe the feeling you get when you push the
    power up on this plane. Truthfully, it kind of snuck up on me, too.
    During the first taxi tests and several early flights, the power was
    brought in slowly. On each subsequent flight, I brought it in a little
    faster until, finally, I was just letting off the brakes and firewalling it.
    But it wasn’t until I saw a video of the first public flight that I
    realized my take-off rolls were about seven seconds and initial
    climbs at about 40 degree angles.

    Experimentals have come a long way

    In 1984, I started a company to test prototype
    aircraft and do first flights on kit built aircraft.
    Over the last six years there has been a real
    change in the methods and technology in the
    experimental movement. In years past, it was
    not unusual to argue with a KR2 builder to
    replace the wing bolts with AN hardware and
    have him complain about the extra cost
    involved with AN versus hardware bolts.
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    TF-51 First Flight Salinas, CA 2/20/08

    Dave flew the beautiful 2-place Mustang offered for sale by
    Provenance Fighters. For more information about this airplane
    please contact Simon Brown at Provenance Fighter Sales.
    Simon Brown email
Test Pilot
Prototype #44   Stratos Jet
Very Light Personal Jet

http://www.stratosaircraft.com/