Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/149316
to a 1,500-pound gross weight, and useful load rises to 780 pounds. The owner-built E-AB example flown at Sun 'n Fun for this article tipped the scales at 790 pounds empty and was certificated to the 1,320-pound limit. Topped to its 30-gallon fuel limit, the Sun 'n Fun airplane still could carry 355 pounds in the cabin, but make that 635 pounds for the plane with a 1,500 gross-weight number on its paperwork. Just Aircraft offers quick-build options for the wings and fuselage; those options are in addition to the $36,500 complete airframe kit for the SuperSTOL with 21-inch tires. Highlander owners or builders can rework their aircraft to fit the SuperSTOL's wing onto their airframes, but the fuselage would require more rework to fit the landing gear, which would round out the previous design to the SuperSTOL's standout runway numbers. This option may appeal to Highlander builders or owners interested in flying an airplane with arguably the shortest runwayperformance flying. Just Aircraf's SuperSTOL pairs a huge Fowler fap on each wing with an equally large slotted aileron to assure positive control at below-belief angles of attack and below-scale airspeeds. And it flies great between visits to the runway. The Flight—Super Short at Each End, Super Fun in Between The SuperSTOL departs Earth after a breathtakingly short takeoff roll, transitioning to an impossible-looking climb angle at an even more acute deck angle than the heavier, more powerful Helio, better than the Pilatus Porter and nearly even with the champ of all STOL machines—the Fieseler Storch. Just Aircraf's SuperSTOL ofers builders plenty of panel with which to work. Launching from Paradise City's Runway 9 against a blustery crosswind, Woodland showed how to do it: full power, aft stick, and wait—briefly. In something around 75, maybe 85 feet, the SuperSTOL was quickly approaching the 400-foot AGL pattern ceiling, ending in about a 20-second, steep, sky-view-only climb. Approaches require minimal work on final; to make the runway, resist starting final until you can make the runway deadstick…yes, deadstick. You see, if you pull power prematurely, significant drag forces go to work while gravity drags you down. At idle power it's possible to see 700 to 800 feet per minute in a descent at 40 knots, the stick full aft. The flip side is if you're flying into any kind of wind the SuperSTOL almost feels as if forward progress just Photography by Dave Higdon Just Aircraf's SuperSTOL employs a pair of automatic slats on each wing, hinged to retract and extend as airspeed warrants, with slower-than-usual speeds the result. EAA Experimenter 17