Rutan off the Coromandel

[Charl]

ALPHA have made a new Long-EZ



Took it down the east coast to Tauranga


RW weather is always interesting, found a thunderstorm I had to fly around


...and just made it into NZTG before the heavens opened

[victor_alpha_charlie]

Is that a Vari-eze? My cousin has one

Nice shots btw!

[Charl]

Thanks!
Younger, Bigger Brother: Long EZ
Truly basic air transport, no frills (you start the engine by swinging the prop), but brilliant design by Burt Rutan.

[Naki]

Opinions on the model? Any good? Surely that flight wasnt today? - it was fine & hot here.

[Ian Warren]

With the canard design , known for its safe/low-no-stall character and with the Rutan name a 'Brilliant little plane' , 25 year on plus , it never caught my imagination , lucky my brother Rick did'nt see this post - he'd want me to buy it ! , Damm Hang Glider Pilots
Charl , Ya look very busy in the 1st pic ..... sweech /sweel /pssssss , adjusting radio's .... its not the FOG is it ..............................

[Alfashark]

Sweet machine! Good place to have some pics with it too since theres a couple based in NZTG...
A normal Long-Ezi and then theres the insane one that may or may not have finished certification...
I'm pretty sure the engine started out as somethings APU, so as such it doesn't have a throttle and all thrust commands are dealt with by altering the prop pitch

[Charl]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Mar 16 2008, 11:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Charl , Ya look very busy in the 1st pic ..... sweech /sweel /pssssss , adjusting radio's .... its not the FOG is it ..............................

Nah...thunderstorm coming, got to get down at Tauranga...where's the friggin Front Wheel Gone?

QUOTE (Naki @ Mar 16 2008, 09:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Opinions on the model? Any good? Surely that flight wasnt today? - it was fine & hot here.

No the flight was the other day, when you had a thunderstorm, remember?

QUOTE (Alfashark @ Mar 17 2008, 09:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sweet machine! Good place to have some pics with it too since theres a couple based in NZTG...

OK well that is a co-incidence, let's continue this thought over here

[Alfashark]

Mint! I'd love to catch up with Dan sometime and get some real insight into what makes Alphasim tick... They've really lifted their game in the last year or two!
Gonna have to dig thru all my old undeveloped films now, somewhere I've got some snaps of Chris Hoskins (the Long-Ezi owner/builder) and Adrian Cable (Ex-RAF instructor) in an all out mock dogfight over the central harbour.
White Long-Ezi and a Desert Pink (think RAF Tornado/Jaguar) RV-4 damn near tearing their wings off for about 20min

[Charl]

QUOTE (Alfashark @ Mar 17 2008, 01:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gonna have to dig thru all my old undeveloped films now...

Be keen to see some of that, might be tempted to paint up a Kiwi bird too!

[Alfashark]

QUOTE (Charl @ Mar 17 2008, 06:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Be keen to see some of that, might be tempted to paint up a Kiwi bird too!

Piece of #### mate, white all over with brown resin lower cowlings and rudders... I'll probably dig up the rego before I find the pics

[Naki]

Hmm I think I have a pic of the of the Long zes from the TGA Airshow - if I find it I will post it on one of these threads.

I have seen on the odd occasion one of the Long Ezes flying around Tauranga - its certainly very loud - not sure what is powering it. I have heard that one of the Longezes here in TGA was going to be converted into a jet! - there was also a plan to convert Longezes into rocket planes and race them in the US - not sure what happened to that plan.

[creator2003]

I dont think i could warrent buying this model at all ,not for alphasim prices ,i think id much rather save up for the IRIS F111 in production yes a new f111 heheheh fuel dumps hhhmmm

[Charl]

Well of course you're entitled to your own preferences - but that was the wrong reason.
This one is US$25 which is about a pack of fags these days, man.

[ardypilot]

Haha, what an odd looking aircraft! (and you called the b1900d ugly!)

Seriously though, epic screenshots there- you really know how to capture the atmosphere there.

Don't think I will be splashing out for this one, but that F-111 sounds tempting... got a link Mike?

[ardypilot]

QUOTE

got a link Mike?[/quote]
http://vistaoz.org/smf/index.php?topic=10251.0
or IRIS website http://irissimulations.com/about_iris.php

Last edited by creator2003 on Tue Mar 18, 2008 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[ardypilot]

Saw a Long EZ for the first time in the flesh on Friday at the Ardmore Pilot Exbo:





Very weird aircraft- couldn't figure out how it taxied around and took off whilst observing parked up at that crazy angle.

Then, a while later, we watched a similar VariEze join the circuit and whizz past on a low speed flyby over the runway. That was impressive stuff- hitting the 150 knots mark apparently, according to the American owner from Tauranga who I was talking too afterwards. I didn't see it land, so I asked him what sort of angle he had to come in at to lay the nose down, and he picked up the front of the aircraft (It's obviously surprisingly light) and a long landing gear leg dropped out, keeping it level like an ordinary tricycle geared craft- must have been really weird to see it taxing around!

He also said, despite the EZ's appearance- they are very easy to transition to from the likes of the C152 he had trained in previously. I thought all the systems work work in a backwards fashion, having the elevators at the front and engine at the back- but apparently not. Are they are decent freeware models of this for FS9 that people know of?

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (Charl @ Mar 17 2008, 01:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...where's the friggin Front Wheel Gone?

...............................

[Alfashark]

Yes Trolly, there is, or was an FS9 model - quite a nice little package as well. Had long range tanks for one model as it was based on a real Long-Ezi that made a round the world trip.
Have a nosey around all the usual sites

[beaufighterguy]

QUOTE (Trolly @ Mar 18 2008, 05:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Haha, what an odd looking aircraft! (and you called the b1900d ugly!)

I'd say looks a little bit like a wheelbarrow on the ground parked up.

Cool shots Charl!!

[jastheace]

we had one at archerfield, very funky looking thing while sitting on the ground, even then when it was taxing it still lloked weird with that little nose wheel, you would not want to put it down to hard on that wheel. we always hated refueling it, one slip and you could fill the cockpit quite easily!!!