2 Seat Tandem Homebuilt Aircraft Suggestions

Hello All:

I am considering building a homebuilt aircraft but I am having difficulty finding the right design. Ideally, I would like the aircraft to have the following:

• Low wing (folding if possible)
• Tandem seating (must have)
• All metal or composite construction
• Retractable landing gear (conventional or tricycle)
• Aerobatic
• Kit available (quick build or non-quick build)

From an visual perspective the MJ-5 Sirocco has a good look but the wood construction is not something that I am prepared to try. A design with similar looks and performance but built using metal or composites would be much better.

I have been looking through all available resources but I just can't seem to find what I am looking for. With the vast pool of EAA member knowledge I am hoping that someone can offer suggestions as to where I can find such an aircraft.

Thank you for your help!

Chris

Hi, Chris, and welcome. You're right that that's a pretty tough list of criteria to meet. Very few kits or even designs built from plans are available today with retractable gear, and not many are available with tandem seating. Conventional wisdom is that retractable gear is not really worth the effort in most casecs below about 200 mph. If you knock that one criterion out then there are several current kits that would work for you--Van's RV-4 or RV-8/8A, Harmon Rocket II (a modified Van's RV-4) come time mind and there are probably more. Likewise, if you go to side-by-side seating, there are Lancair and Glasair options with retractable gear and probably others I'm not thinking of since it's not really my kind of plane. There are some older plansbuilt designs that come close, but something like a Brokaw Bullet is a big, long project and Brokaw has long since gone West. All of this begs the question...what's your budget (all of these are going to be pushing 100k fully equipped) and how do you want to use the plane? Cheers, Matthew

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Originally Posted by cjmartinflyers

Hello All:

I am considering building a homebuilt aircraft but I am having difficulty finding the right design. Ideally, I would like the aircraft to have the following:

• Low wing (folding if possible)
• Tandem seating (must have)
• All metal or composite construction
• Retractable landing gear (conventional or tricycle)
• Aerobatic
• Kit available (quick build or non-quick build)

From an visual perspective the MJ-5 Sirocco has a good look but the wood construction is not something that I am prepared to try. A design with similar looks and performance but built using metal or composites would be much better.

I have been looking through all available resources but I just can't seem to find what I am looking for. With the vast pool of EAA member knowledge I am hoping that someone can offer suggestions as to where I can find such an aircraft.

Thank you for your help!

Chris

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Stewart 51
Turbine Legend
Radial Rocket

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Originally Posted by cluttonfred

Hi, Chris, and welcome. You're right that that's a pretty tough list of criteria to meet. Very few kits or even designs built from plans are available today with retractable gear, and not many are available with tandem seating. Conventional wisdom is that retractable gear is not really worth the effort in most casecs below about 200 mph. If you knock that one criterion out then there are several current kits that would work for you--Van's RV-4 or RV-8/8A, Harmon Rocket II (a modified Van's RV-4) come time mind and there are probably more. Likewise, if you go to side-by-side seating, there are Lancair and Glasair options with retractable gear and probably others I'm not thinking of since it's not really my kind of plane. There are some older plansbuilt designs that come close, but something like a Brokaw Bullet is a big, long project and Brokaw has long since gone West. All of this begs the question...what's your budget (all of these are going to be pushing 100k fully equipped) and how do you want to use the plane? Cheers, Matthew

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Hi Matthew:

Thank you for your response. I'm looking for something that is a bit different, something that you don't usually see on the ramp. Now a scaled down Brokaw Bullet would be interesting but that would be way out of my league (from a designing skills standpoint). As far as budget, I would like to stay under 100K and because I really don't need an IFR ship I could save some money there. Besides, I actually like steam gauges! The two seat Mustang 2 with the folding wings option could be a contender but it doesn't have the tandem seating that I want. Overall, I want a fun, sporty, VFR aerobatic aircraft for two. The search continues......


Chris

Hello:

All great airplanes and the Stewart 51 is one that I may look at more seriously.

Thank you for your feedback.

Chris

Here's an idea.... A Sonerai II would meet many of your criteria for about half the price of the other options. Solo it's a good basic aerobatic mount for the Sportsman class (+/- 6 G), and it's a capable cross country machine, especially the stretch models with higher gross weight and useful load. There is also enough weight to spare that a minimalist aero engine like a hand-prop C-85 or O-200 could be substituted if you wanted to go that route. No, it's not a kit, but it's a straighforward welded 4130 fuselage and tail with all-aluminum wings, there is active builders' community and parts like landing gear bows are readily available. You could tack weld the fuselage and have a pro do the final welding, Steve Bennett at Great Plains might be able to put you in touch with someone who alreadys has the jogs and could supply the fuselage, or you could find a local shop able to do the fuselage and welding and maybe powder coating for you. Even farming out the fuselage, you could still likely drop your budget down to around $50,000 with room to spare, and Sonerais are no longer very common, so it would stand out among all the RVs. ;-)

http://nexusmustang.net/specs.html is plans-built, inspired by the Mustang II, for which a folding wing option is available. No kit. Might be worth investigating to determine if that wingfold option is adaptable to this very similar design.

http://www.titanaircraft.com/t-51d.php doesn't appear to have a folding option available, but you didn't say lack of fold disqualifies.

Here are 2 lists that would be highly useful for your quest. I don't know if they're exhaustive but they sure are comprehensive and at a quick glance you can see if the brief descriptions meets your requirements


I suspect if you don't find what you want here, then it probably doesn't exist:

http://www.homebuilt.org/kits/kits-venddesc.html

http://www.homebuilt.org/kits/kits-acftdesc.html

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Originally Posted by cdrmuetzel@juno.com

http://nexusmustang.net/specs.html is plans-built, inspired by the Mustang II, for which a folding wing option is available. No kit. Might be worth investigating to determine if that wingfold option is adaptable to this very similar design.

http://www.titanaircraft.com/t-51d.php doesn't appear to have a folding option available, but you didn't say lack of fold disqualifies.

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Wow, the Nexus Mustang looks like a great aircraft. I will do some additional research into its construction.


Thank you for your response!

I saw Wittman's
Tailwind on the list... But not his "Buttercup"

My plane is a hybrid of BOTH.... It's a Buttwind
.
Gotta Fly...
.

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Originally Posted by Floatsflyer

Here are 2 lists that would be highly useful for your quest. I don't know if they're exhaustive but they sure are comprehensive and at a quick glance you can see if the brief descriptions meets your requirements


I suspect if you don't find what you want here, then it probably doesn't exist:

http://www.homebuilt.org/kits/kits-venddesc.html

http://www.homebuilt.org/kits/kits-acftdesc.html

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