As we mentioned the other day, we are now just starting to play with profiles for our “official” FAI sanctioned time to climb attempt for both 0-3000m & 0-6000m. Butch Pfeifer and friend Debbie (serving with the Army as a flight engineer on the Chinook and heading back to Afghanistan next month) accompanied the Toucan down to King City to visit friends at Tutima Academy (formally Sean Tucker’s school of Aerobatics) on Saturday the 17th. King City is a perfect venue to climb straight out to 10,000ft without airspace/traffic issues.

Our first and only attempt was really just a practice and was done on our departure back to San Carlos. The Toucan was loaded with nearly 80 gallons of fuel, in a record attempt we might only have 30 gallons on board. Right off we were carrying 335 extra pounds, which makes a huge difference.

First time out of the gate we broke the C-1C class world record by more then a minute and a half! This was a best angle of climb attempt more then a time attempt for team Turbine Toucan. From take off to 10,000ft. we maintained a 75º deck angle, which doesn’t get us there nearly as fast but provides a lot of fantastic data in the process.

Airspeed was in the 80-90kt range all the way up. What was really fascinating after leveling off at 10,000ft in almost 2 minutes flat was that we never really left the airport. The toucan was just at the end of King City’s 4400ft runway when we arrived at our first destination in route to San Carlos.

The next attempt we’ll be keeping the airspeed up at about 120kts all the way up to 10,000ft and with only 30 gallons onboard. This should make a HUGE difference as we continue to get the time down. Still, today’s record broke the 35 year standing record of 3 minutes and 30 seconds by nearly 40% (at 2 minutes) not to bad for never leaving the airport! Team Turbine Toucan is VERY excited about the potential of this aircraft and today's practice reinforces our enthusiasm.

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That sounds like way to much fun. Good luck with the attempts. Would love to see a picture from inside looking out to get a idea of a 70 deg angle of climb. How much power was in to get that climb rate?
If you ever need a hanger while in the Pacific Northwest give me a email.

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Greetings Alan,
Thanks for all the good wishes. We sure have had a fun weekend. In fact, Ken and were speaking this evening thinking this was the first real weekend we just had fun with the plane instead of working through all the testing.

We have a friend who has an ultra small HD video camera we're thinking of mounting on the belly looking at the tail. Watching the runway fall away could be a great deal of fun!

As for power, at 75º deck angle at 90kts it took a lot but not everything we had. We should get the numbers down when we reduce deck angle and increase airspeed to 120kt. We'll keep you posted on all that. Have a fantastic Thanksgiving Holiday Alan and family!

Team Turbine Toucan

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Congratulations guys! We're looking forward to hearing more great news from you. I can't wait to see you guys perform on the airshow circuit when you're finished re-writing the record books.

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