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/323139
16 Vol.3 No.6 / June 2014 A STAR WAS BORN 20 YEARS AGO and many others ended up on conventional gear with big tires bouncing of rocks in sandbars and rough strips in the back- country of Africa, Australia, Canada, and Alaska. The GlaStar also attracted a surprising number of European builders. If the GlaStar was the best utility airplane available in kit form in the late 1990s, it was soon surpassed by its big brother after the company emerged from bankruptcy. The Sportsman 2+2 was everything the GlaStar was and more. It truly realized and exceeded the dreams of the original designers. The cabin was larger with more headroom, and rear seats were added. The backseat was only suitable for children or small adults, but a large person could use it in a pinch. With a larger cabin came a longer fuselage, which helped to improve elevator ef ective- ness as a bonus. The fl aps were redesigned to be larger, easier to deploy, and more ef ective. No more muscling up fl aps with the Sportsman. With an increase in size, the Sportsman also brought with it a much higher gross weight and the potential to use the more powerful Lycoming IO-390 engine. Sadly for the GlaStar, the Sportsman pretty much rang the death knell for the trusty 'Star. It was hard to sell a kit for the smaller and less capable plane for almost the same price as the new Sportsman 2+2. Some foreign buyers still wanted a two-place GlaStar, but the Sportsman could just as easily be built without a backseat; so only a few such kits were ever sold. Glasair Aviation still has the capability to supply new, complete GlaStar kits, but there are simply no takers to be found. Parts support is still good and should remain so for some time, but Kit Number 948 may be the last one ever sold. There are still a number of GlaStars under construction since build times seem to run from 15 months to 15 years. First- time builders typically complete their GlaStars in somewhere around 2,500 hours, but many spread out those hours over more years than they had ever imagined. Fortunately, when completed they will still provide their owners with years of enjoyable fl ying. Not to be satisfi ed with simply of ering a better airplane, Glasair Aviation, as it is now called, also wanted to fi nd a better way to build an airplane. From this was born the Two Weeks to Taxi program. This concept was not universally applauded when it was introduced, but there is no denying that it has had a profound infl uence on the amateur-built airplane market. This program inserts the builder into what can only be called a manufacturing process with the end result being a fully as- sembled and ready-to-taxi airplane, only needing the proper inspections and paperwork to get in the air. This introduced a whole new type of builder to the experimental market, and there is no denying that these builders do and learn a great deal in this accelerated building process. No longer are years of time and ef ort required to build an airplane. The FAA has looked at the Two Weeks to Taxi program, and while not of cially blessing it since it really has no way of doing so, the FAA accepts the resultant planes as complying with both the spirit and the letter of the law. Since Glasair's pioneer- ing ef ort, other companies have put together similar but less am- bitious programs, but the Sportsman remains the only airplane that can be built by an amateur builder in two weeks. The Glasair folks are never content to rest on their laurels, so they have been developing a host of options and improve- ments to increase the gross weight and decrease the empty weight of the Sportsman with such innovations as a carbon- fi ber fuselage and Super Cub–style bush landing gear. There is even a Continental diesel-powered Sportsman under develop- ment and set to debut at AirVenture 2014. What began as a simple concept 20 years ago has grown into a truly outstanding utility airplane that almost anyone can build. To be sure, it is not inexpensive, but with the price of a Cessna 172 climbing toward $400,000 and beyond, a new, well- equipped Sportsman for less than half of that looks like a pretty good deal. More than 400 builders have built or are working on a Sportsman 2+2. If you still don't believe in what the boys from Arlington have created, go fl y one. You'll never look at a Cessna the same way again. Dave Prizio is a member of the EAA Homebuilt Aircraft Council and a regular contributor to Kitplanes magazine. He fi nished a GlaStar in 2002 and a Sportsman in 2006, which he still fl ies. Vortex generators at the root of each wing and in line with the inside edge of each aileron really help the GlaStar and the Sportsman fl y well slowly. Strakes at the horizontal stabilizer help maintain elevator effectiveness at low speeds. Photography courtesy of Dave Prizio E A A E X P _ J u n e 1 4 . i n d d 1 6 EAAEXP_June14.indd 16 6 / 3 / 1 4 8 : 3 8 A M 6/3/14 8:38 AM