The FICON Project

[wuzak]

 

[SaparotRob]

Pretty cool video. What airplane is that with the C-47 at about the 1 minute mark?

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Looks like a Culver Cadet. Originally intended IIRC as a radio controlled target drone, it was occasionally used in manned form for projects like this where a very small single seat plane was needed. Lockheed had a similar small design intended as a "flying cavalry" mount. And then there's the legendary Mooney Mite, the ultralight prototype that eventually evolved into the series of Mooney four seat speedsters. Had a share in an M20 for awhile. Sweet machine.

 

[SaparotRob]

Looks like a Culver Cadet. Originally intended IIRC as a radio controlled target drone, it was occasionally used in manned form for projects like this where a very small single seat plane was needed. Lockheed had a similar small design intended as a "flying cavalry" mount. And then there's the legendary Mooney Mite, the ultralight prototype that eventually evolved into the series of Mooney four seat speedsters. Had a share in an M20 for awhile. Sweet machine.

Looks like you're right. Thanks.

 

[Gnomey]

Cool!

 

[SaparotRob]

Looks like a Culver Cadet. Originally intended IIRC as a radio controlled target drone, it was occasionally used in manned form for projects like this where a very small single seat plane was needed. Lockheed had a similar small design intended as a "flying cavalry" mount. And then there's the legendary Mooney Mite, the ultralight prototype that eventually evolved into the series of Mooney four seat speedsters. Had a share in an M20 for awhile. Sweet machine.

I looked up the Mooney M20. Quite a nice airplane and story. Did your M20 have the "single power gizmo"? Why wasn't that feature popular?

 

[XBe02Drvr]

I looked up the Mooney M20. Quite a nice airplane and story. Did your M20 have the "single power gizmo"? Why wasn't that feature popular?

IIRC, the "single power gizmo" started with the Mooney M231, an "update" of the M20 with a slew of Roy Lopresti speed mods incorporated in a new version of the venerable M20 design. The 231 had a six cylinder turbocharged Continental (TSIO-360) engine in place of the old Lycoming IO-360 four banger that Mooney had always used. This engine had a fixed aperture waste gate turbo which made engine management much more fussy and critical if the pilot wanted to extract the advertised performance without incurring engine damage. "The gizmo" was an attempt to simplify engine management and reduce the potential for expensive Pilot Error, and was also offered as an option or a retrofit on more conventional Mooneys. Not popular, as it reduced flexibility in engine MAP/RPM settings, which limitations were not needed on the less critical and more robust Lycomings.
The 231 achieved its 231 MPH top speed by flying at higher altitudes, where (I can attest) the Lycoming powered Mooneys are breathing hard and staggering about. It's the classic tradeoff, as in so many arenas, cutting edge performance comes at a cost, often fussiness and fragility, as in this case.
"Our" Mooney had an interesting history. I had flown it in 1976 when it belonged to Embry Riddle down in Daytona and I was finishing up my Instrument Instructor training there. Twelve years later it showed up in the hands of a high school classmate of mine, who, with the ink still wet on his Private Pilot license, had run out and bought more airplane than he could handle. No insurance company was going to let him near a Mooney with 80 hours in his logbook. They tend to view a Mooney as something of a hot rod. So my lady friend and I became partners with him in the airplane, as we both had the requisite flying time and ratings.
What a cluster! Over the years since our high school days he had turned into a plodding, methodical, analytical professor of engineering. Really smart, but not a quick thinker. No wonder it took him 80 hours to get his Private! So we had to shepherd him around wherever he wanted to fly and keep him out of trouble without bruising his ego too badly. But we got to fly his hot shit airplane.
Three things about the Mooney.
1) She's a go-fast mutha! Doesn't like to slow down. Will float the length of 31L at JFK if you're 5 knots fast over the numbers.
2) She's slippery as a mink. You let the nose down a couple degrees at cruise, and she's nudging her redline.
3) Her nose gear is taller than her mains, so you have to milk the flare for landing to a seriously nose high attitude or you'll wheelbarrow her. "Ride 'em, cowboy!"
Oh, and one more. Mr Mooney was "a compact fellow". His airplanes are not friendly to us stringbean types.
Sweet bird, but takes some getting used to.

 

[SaparotRob]

IIRC, the "single power gizmo" started with the Mooney M231, an "update" of the M20 with a slew of Roy Lopresti speed mods incorporated in a new version of the venerable M20 design. The 231 had a six cylinder turbocharged Continental (TSIO-360) engine in place of the old Lycoming IO-360 four banger that Mooney had always used. This engine had a fixed aperture waste gate turbo which made engine management much more fussy and critical if the pilot wanted to extract the advertised performance without incurring engine damage. "The gizmo" was an attempt to simplify engine management and reduce the potential for expensive Pilot Error, and was also offered as an option or a retrofit on more conventional Mooneys. Not popular, as it reduced flexibility in engine MAP/RPM settings, which limitations were not needed on the less critical and more robust Lycomings.
The 231 achieved its 231 MPH top speed by flying at higher altitudes, where (I can attest) the Lycoming powered Mooneys are breathing hard and staggering about. It's the classic tradeoff, as in so many arenas, cutting edge performance comes at a cost, often fussiness and fragility, as in this case.
"Our" Mooney had an interesting history. I had flown it in 1976 when it belonged to Embry Riddle down in Daytona and I was finishing up my Instrument Instructor training there. Twelve years later it showed up in the hands of a high school classmate of mine, who, with the ink still wet on his Private Pilot license, had run out and bought more airplane than he could handle. No insurance company was going to let him near a Mooney with 80 hours in his logbook. They tend to view a Mooney as something of a hot rod. So my lady friend and I became partners with him in the airplane, as we both had the requisite flying time and ratings.
What a cluster! Over the years since our high school days he had turned into a plodding, methodical, analytical professor of engineering. Really smart, but not a quick thinker. No wonder it took him 80 hours to get his Private! So we had to shepherd him around wherever he wanted to fly and keep him out of trouble without bruising his ego too badly. But we got to fly his hot shit airplane.
Three things about the Mooney.
1) She's a go-fast mutha! Doesn't like to slow down. Will float the length of 31L at JFK if you're 5 knots fast over the numbers.
2) She's slippery as a mink. You let the nose down a couple degrees at cruise, and she's nudging her redline.
3) Her nose gear is taller than her mains, so you have to milk the flare for landing to a seriously nose high attitude or you'll wheelbarrow her. "Ride 'em, cowboy!"
Oh, and one more. Mr Mooney was "a compact fellow". His airplanes are not friendly to us stringbean types.
Sweet bird, but takes some getting used to.

I LOVE that kind of talk!