REFLECTOR: V-Twin in Airventure news

[Alex Balic]

800 hours? Must be a super fast build.

 

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Reiff Lorenz
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2012 5:33 PM
To: reflector at tvbf.org
Subject: REFLECTOR: V-Twin in Airventure news

 

 

This was posted to the Airventure news feed:

 

http://www.airventure.org/news/2012/120724_velocity-v-twin-cant-spin.html

 

Full article below

 

 

Reiff Lorenz, Dayton, OH

Velocity XL-RG, 34% complete

Currently working on: Setting up a new computer in the workshop.

 

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<https://liveconferencepro.com/guest/loginguest.php?id=d3a73e710c719626dd353
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Velocity V-Twin Can't Spin




Description: V-Twin


Velocity's V-Twin (photo by Mariano Rosales)

By James Wynbrandt

No, the small twin-engine pusher with canards and delta wings is not a baby
Avanti Piaggio. It's the prototype of the V-Twin, a new offering from kit
company Velocity Aircraft of Sebastian, Florida. 

"I've been wanting to build a twin-engine version of our airplane for many,
many years," said Duane Swing, chairman and owner of Velocity Aircraft. But
with their propensity to enter a stall spin in the event of an engine loss
in high-power, low-airspeed operations, such as during takeoff, "Twin
engines have lost favor because of the high rate of death with engine
failure," Swing noted. "The idea was to build a Velocity twin with no VMC
(minimum controllable airspeed), where you couldn't slow to the point where
you could stall, and therefore there's no way to spin." 

In theory, a canard aircraft such as the Velocity can't spin because the
canard stalls before the wing, lowering the nose, and keeping sufficient
airflow over the wing to keep it flying. Engineers Swing consulted agreed
the same principal would apply to a twin-engine canard aircraft, convincing
him to pursue his longstanding goal. 

"Last year at Oshkosh I said, 'I'm going to do this,'" Swing said. "In
October I told our guys the company can't afford to fund this, so the whole
cost is coming out of my pocket, and you guys know what you're doing, so
let's build a twin. Six months later we had it flying." 

The completed aircraft was intended to be proof-of-concept aircraft, to be
followed by a prototype from which parts for the kit version would be made.
But the airplane flew so well that "right after the first flight it became
apparent this was not just a concept airplanes, it was going to be the
prototype." 

After its debut at Sun 'n Fun, Swing and company pilot John Abraham
subjected the aircraft to more rigorous flight tests, "doing things most
twins would not, like full stalls with one engine shut down, to prove we
can't get it to stall, eliminating the major problem of other twins," Swing
said. 

The prototype at the Velocity display (exhibit No. 11) is powered by two
160-hp Lycoming IO 320 engines. Fuel burn of about 6 gph per engine in
economy cruise yields 170-plus knots and about 1,400 nm range. Single-engine
climb is about 400 fpm up to 8,000 feet, and from 8,000 to 12,000 feet the
V-Twin will hold altitude on one engine. 

The company expects the airframe to support engines up to 250 hp. Velocity
is also designing a six-place version with a 2-foot cabin extension and is
talking to Delta Hawk about offering a diesel engine option. 

"We're now just waiting to build one more in our shop so we can complete the
construction phase" to document the building instructions for kit buyers,
Swing said. V-Twin kits start at $110,000, and Velocity estimates cost of
the completed aircraft with engines and glass panel will be about $250,000.
Estimated construction time is about 800 hours.

 

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