This is my latest project. It is now complete. I planned this to be a great small field flier. I call it the EXTRA EASY. It is based on the lines of an extra 300. It is powered by a OS .15, mounted on it's side. The muffler exits in front of the landing gear mount. The wing is a semi semetrical airfoil with a span of 39 1/4" and a chord of 7 1/2". The fuselage is made of balsa an light ply. The canopy is part of sig tear drop canopy. The landing gear is Goldberg Klett 20 size. 8 1/2" X 11" fanfold sheets available for $8.00 Plus $2.00 Shipping and Handling.

It is a success !!! The Extra Easy Flies.

Click Here to See Extra Easy Ready to Cover

Summer of 99 flight tests. I can't believe it has been this long since I updated this page. Well anyway, The Extra Easy powered with an OS 15 made several flights 10 total for the summer. During these flights I changed the prop several times and moved the center of gravity. The best performance was obtained with a 7X3 prop. With this power plant it flies well and needs a large amount of runway to get airborne. 60 feet approximately. I have since removed the beautiful cowling and replaced the 15 with an OS 25 LA. This past weekend 1-2-00, I made the maiden voyage with the 25 and a 9x7 prop. This is the motor to use if you like a little speed. The Extra Easy gets off the ground in about 10 feet. It climbs well and has ample speed. When I originally designed it this was the speed I had in mind. Today I put six flights on this motor and was very happy with the new performance.

08-01-98 More Test Flights

Another beautiful day.

Initial Flight Purpose Establish Safe Flight Length. At 12 min, which seemed like forever when actually timing it, I decided to bring it down and drain the fuel tank. Landing First approach Tooooo Fast

Second approach still hot but manageble.

While defueling I got two turns of the pump crank then a bunch of girgles. When I did the static test with the 8 x 6 prop I got twenty minutes. I don't plan to fly more than 12 min before landing. 07-26-98 Continued Flight Testing

A beautiful day to fly. I installed an 8 x 4 prop first thing. I fueled it up and spun the motor to life. Ah that sweet smell of burnt nitro. The motor was now sending out a much nicer exhaust note. (more RPM) I adjusted the needle and out of the pits I went. No need to carry it this time grass was no problem.

Taxi Test

Nearly same results. Apply up elevator to stick the tailwheel.

Takeoff

Power up, up elevator and about 20 feet of runway and it was off.

Oh No! Hard bank left, Right aileron QUICK. OK Level out quit shaking.

Apply some right aileron trim. (I should also check the radio next time before I fly, The trim tab was way left and I just brought it back to center) I climbed to a safe altitude, Around the field and up into its first loop. Not bad. It is still gentle and easy to fly but can climb adequately. I put it into a steep climb to see how it would stall. It climbed for about 100 feet, give or take, before it stalled. The wing dropped and I let it gain some airspeed and easily pulled it into level flight.

The rest of the flight was a combination of loops and figure eights. I didn't try any aileron rolls. (not enough throw)

Toward the end of the flight Another pilot was taking off. So I went out over the corn. Wouldn't you know as soon as I got away from the runway I would need one. Is my plane still running? All I can hear is the other plane. I apply up elevator to pull another loop. It stalls. Guess it's not running. DEAD STICK I Shouted. I brought it in over the west end of the runway and was able to land rather hard in the grass. It bounced once and caught a wheel on the edge of the paved runway, shearing one of the plastic landing gear (LG) mounting screws. The LG rotated about 90 degrees and set the plane into a wingtip roll. OUCH That did not look good. After inspection I found no other problems. Tough little bird

First Flight Tests Last week I found myself at the flying field ready for the moment of truth. The air was hot, heavy and humid. I was armed with all the necessary equipment. Radios refreshments and two planes, The Extra Easy and my favorite GP Super Sportster. Boy was it hot. I jawed with the troops and looked at the other planes for a while then It was time for taxi tests.

First the grass. The grass was a little high so I can't really say if it can fly from a grass field. If the grass is about one inch it probably will fly, the test grass was about 3" deep. It did taxi on its own in the tall grass.

Then the pavement. After a few passes I was sure there was a problem. I was all over the place. Then I had to refuel. I let it cool while I flew the Sportster WHAT A BLAST. Back to taxi tests. After a few more passes I determined that the pilot must apply elevator to stick the tailwheel to the pavement. I made a few high speed passes with up elevator and I was ready for the air.

It ate up a good bit of runway, but climbed out nicely. I made 2 laps around the field and then the engine quit. I made an emergency landing in the corn.

Damage assessment was good no broken parts obvious to the eye. I have since inspected it thoroughly and there are no signs of problems. Overall the Extra Easy did perform well in initial tests. Flight tests have been halted while fuel delivery problems are addressed and props are evaluated. With the current combination OS 15 FP and an 8 x 6 prop it seems to be under powered. I plan to evaluate several prop combo's in the next few weeks. I might even change motors. As you can see It is a nice plane.

---

Click Here to Download DXF file

Please Email your comments here

Return to Home Page