660
FLIGHT International, 23 April 1970
Private l|fll§
Above, the Lakester sits on a beaching trolley in its builder's back
garden. The engine has yet to be fitted. Below, the Reppert T-Aero.
It remains to be seen whether drag from the apparent lack of gear
doors will nullify the effect of making the gear retractable. See accompanying stories
Preoccupied pilot
Reporting on the accident to a Twin
Comanche at Gatwick during the night of November 3, 1968.
the Inspector of Accident states* that the accident was the
result of the aircraft being landed when the undercarriage was
not locked down. The Inspector considers that the pilot's
pre-occupation with an apparent fuel shortage was a
contributory factor.
The aircraft had left Toussous-le-Noble with sufficient fuel
for an endurance of three hours but inaccurate gauge
indications led the pilot to believe, while still over the Channel,
that his fuel state had become critical. He was cleared by
London Airways direct to Gatwick and at approximately
three miles from touchdown attempted to lower the undercarriage; after a momentary green light indication, the light
Went out and a safe indication could not be obtained by
recycling the undercarriage. Conscious of his fuel shortage, the
pilot opted to fly past the control tower for an inspection but
this was inconclusive and he decided to land. The undercarriage was partly down, the circuit breaker having tripped.
The Inspector comments that the starboard fuel selector
lever was displaced some 25° to 30° from the placarded
positions and states: "It is understood that this defect can
occur in normal operation." Both fuel cocks were corroded
as a result of the presence of water over a long period.
The report states that (he pilot had 40hr experience on the
Twin Comanche and had taken his initial Instrument Rating
on the type. N o comment is made about the use of a checklist, but it is appropriate to note that among the internal
checks on one widely used list approved for the aircraft is a
•CAP 334, HMSO, 3s 6d.
specific check of undercarriage emergency operation. If this
check is performed thoroughly, and the function of the motor
release handle is understood, an emergency lowering can be
performed very rapidly should the situation arise.
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Floatplane from a Float
An 18-year-old American student.
Tom Trefetihen, has designed and is building a very interesting
seaplane, known as the Lakester. He has mated the modified
wings, horizontal tail and part of the fuselage of a target
drone with a "Glasslipper" glass-fibre float, the latter serving
as a combination fuselage and hull. The concept behind the
Lakester is to construct a minimum-weight and -drag seaplane
while obtaining maximum performance out of ai given horsepower. Initially the Lakester will be powered by a 2,000 c.c.
VW-based engine which will be partially buried in the fuselage
just aft of the pilot at the e.g. Then, via a number of belts, a
pusher propeller will be driven at a low r.p.m. (engine 4,000
r.p.m., propeller 2,000 r.p.m.). The Mk 2 Lakester will be
powered by a 4501b, 2kN-thrust Williams target-drone jet
engine. This relatively small engine is to be pod-mounted about
6ft, 1.8m aft of the pilot. The wings and tail are all-metal.
The wings are of cantilever monospar construction with fullspan narrow-chord ailerons, and the fuselage is a combination
of glass-fibre and metal. Wingspan is 24ft, 7.3m; chord 3ft.
0.9m at root. 18in, 46cm at tip; length 18ft, 5.5m; height
6ft, 1.8m. Estimated speeds: Mk 1—maximum speed 150 m.p.h..
241 Ic.p.h.; cruise 135 m.p.h., 217 k.p.h.; Mk 2—maximum
speed 200 m.p.h., 322 k.p.n.; cruise 170 m.p.h., 273 k.p.h. Tom
is not new to aircraft homebuilding, having helped his father
to build three other aeroplanes.
Reppert T-Aero
Merle Reppert of Torrance, Calif, has spent
the past five years developing his single-seater T-Aero. The
aircraft features a T-tail and shoulder wing with an enginedriven hydraulic retractable landing gear. The 68 sq ft, 6.3m3,
wing has a spruce monospar with plywood skins. Fuselage
construction is standard tubular steel with a moulded glassfibre shell (in two pieces). The cowling is also a two-piece
laminated glass-fibre structure and the 125 h.p. Lycoming O-290 •
engine is fitted with an augmented exhaust. Wing and tailplane
tips are glass-fibre; the tail is basically tubular steel and
plywood. The landing gear retracts upwards into the wing.
Wing span is 16fft, 5m; length 17ft, 5.2m; height 4ft 9in,
1.4m; empty weight 7501b, 340kg; gross weight 1,0001b, 453kg;
estimated top speed 200 m.p.h., 322 k.p.h.; landing speed
78 m.p.h., 125 k.pjh.; range 500 miles, 805km. First flight is
expected later this year.
Long-distance Fly-in
Jim Bede, founder of Bede Aircraft,
is proposing to fly non-stop from Milwaukee to Angelholm,
Sweden, for the European Convention of the Experimental
Aircraft Association. Bede will fly LOVE 1, the powered
glider originally designed with a non-stop round-the-world
flight in mind. The LOVE stands for "Low Orbit Very
Efficiently," and the basic airframe of the aircraft is that
of a Schweizer 2-32 two-seat glider. It was built by lavelin
Aircraft of Wichita, Kansas, and fitted with a Continental
IO-360-C modified to give 225 h.p. for take-off and as little as
30 h.p. at 20,000ft for cruising.
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