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Yesterday we did some more tests on equipment that was swapped out as well as fine tuning ground-idle pitch stops so we do not develop to much thrust at ground idle, which was a bit of a problem. It also creates problems when landing, to much thrust at ground idle will carry you WAY down the runway and make landing a nightmare.
To better illustrate the issue, at ground idle the Turbine is developing over 100hp. That is like strapping on a 0200 out of a Cessna 150 at full power and taxiing around. Obviously this kind of power at ground idle is a lot for a little aircraft weighing in at only 1650lbs. So we just need to reduce the thrust it was creating on the ground to make it manageable.
We had some brake issues come up (unrelated to the above mentioned issues) that are now resolved and we are just waiting for parts. So, the flying part is coming fairly soon and we have been learning a great deal. There is a great deal to learn setting it up after it has been built.
More details to follow
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The entire team at Infinity Entertainment sends their condolences to Kevin J. Davis’s family. It is a profound loss. Our heart and prayers go out to the entire Blue Angles family.
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Greetings All,
We had our last successful taxi tests the other day and are on stand-by for better weather, then we are ready to go. Fred was kind enough to send us some photos of the Turbine Toucan while he was at the Hollister airport. We thought we'd post it for him! Thanks Fred!
-David
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Today Dave Morss performed a series of tests in preparation for first flight. Dave took the Turbine Toucan on the active runway at Hollister for hi speed tests with great results. It seemed to handle very well and Dave was very optimistic about its performance. We uncovered a few minor issues that will be resolved as Dave heads out to Sun-N-Fun.
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Greetings everyone,
We had a very successful (and fun I might add) day Taxiing the Toucan today. While I was taxiing the plane, Butch said every head came sticking out of the hangars to see. Both Butch and I taxied the plane for a total of 20 minutes with no issues. The plane will be topped off and ready for Mr. David Morss.
We continue to get wonderful support from Jerry Gabe. He has been extremely supportive with not only the use of his hangar, but tools and ideas to boot. He is a true gentleman. Can’t wait to see him get Polar Bear back in the air soon!
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We have just completed the aircraft reassembly after relocation to Hollister. The aircraft is completely ready for first flight. After 400 straight days of work, Team Toucan is taking a vacation! First flight is scheduled for April 30th if the weather gods are kind. We’ll keep everyone posted.
We also want to thank everyone for the fabulous e-mails we’ve been receiving from all over the world. The encouragement has been incredible! We’ll catch up in two weeks.
Warm Regards,
Team Toucan
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Our first day reassembling the Toucan was very good. All that is left to do is fuselage side panels, Wheel pants, wing root fairings and cowling and we are ready to fly. As of end of day Tuesday, April 10th the plane will be ready to fly.
We might have to wait until Dave Morss returns from Sun-N-Fun if we don’t go flying this week. Really pleased with the pace of the progress. We now have a professional HD Video Camera so we will post first flight on the site soon after first flight. Stay tuned for more updates.
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Our service provider revised our figures last night and we got a new report for the 6th of April regarding overall traffic. New number is 318,000+ hits for the 6th of April. This is traffic from all over the world. Finland provided the largest amount of traffic outside the USA yesterday and today at about 3%.
My dad was happy to see those figures, being born in Helsinki. Our family always roots for Finns, like Mika Hakkinen, Matti Nykanen and a famous motocross rider, which doesn’t ring bells at the moment; perhaps someone can share his name with us. We’d make sure we’d watch ABC’s wide world of sports and see him ride way back when I was growing up and riding. He was huge to me.
Always great to see Hakkinen do as well he has for his sport and country. Talk about a name with international recognition. People seem to have no problem in the US pronouncing Mika’s sir name, so why is Kervinen so hard? Oh well.
Only been to Finland a few times, once in June and once in January, so I have seen some very contrasting weather conditions. LOVE it there.
Well, just thought I would add some Finnish twist to the posting today, since they seem to be supporting us so much.
My wife is mostly Norwegian, so she’d like to see more traffic from you guy!!!
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I would love to leave you all alone on an Easter weekend but I just have to share the level of success we are seeing with the Turbine Toucan. As of midnight, we have seen over 275,000 hits for April 6th, 2007. This is unbelievable. We are being asked by aviation publications all over the world to do stories. We are also seeing a great deal of traffic from the R/C community. We saw 50,000 hits on our first day. On our second day, we received 100,000 hits and today, 275,000 hits. Just wait until our first flight and some video to boot! This is one hell of a ride! For any that do not know what this is all about, just check out www.turbinetoucan.com.
Thank you again for all the loving support we have received from all of you, without it the Turbine Toucan would not be possible.
Have a great Easter weekend!
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The most dangerous and unnerving part of the whole process was the move to our new bird cage, glad that is behind us! We safely delivered the Turbine Toucan to the Hollister Airport. We are very fortunate to have a hangar provided to us while we are there. Jerry Gabe, the owner of Polar Bear (a very rare P-51 A model) has been exceptionally generous by allowing us to use Polar Bear’s hangar while we are down at Hollister.
When you go to an airport like Hollister, you go walking around with your jaw on the ground. It is an amazing place, but what makes it amazing is the number of P-51s at the airport, incredible site. It is a lust fest for any war bird junky.
Now add a very strange twist to this picture. We are unloading the Toucan and a few owners of the P-51’s come by, introduce themselves and are blown away at the Turbine Toucan. Talk about counter intuitive experience, wow.
We really have to thank many people for making yesterday’s delivery possible. Dave Ammenti, his brother in-law Bill, Butch Pfeifer, Bob Hassing and Ron Chapple. All were very kind to donate their time and energy, and for that we are extremely grateful.
This is what makes aviation so rewarding, it is all about camaraderie. I have really been touched by all that have gone out of their way to help us make this dream a reality.
Now were on to re-rigging and first flight! Stay tuned for that.
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Everyone at Infinity Entertainment is overwhelmed by the reception of our introductory press release today. We received a very favorable story with Aero News Network, and we are very grateful for the shared enthusiasm. If you get the chance, check out the story! http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?Cont ... fb42c&
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The Turbine Toucan website has been up only one week and yet we are seeing some very encouraging numbers. Prior to our first press release (today), we have had only word of mouth regarding the website and yet, in our second day up, we had 4211 hits alone.
Other then people close to the project, there has been no formal introduction to the site and yet we are seeing an average of almost 3000 hits a day. For a small little site that is not really selling anything (yet) and has only been up a week, I'd say this is fascinating.
All I can say is thank you for the continued support. We are very encouraged!
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Another milestone for us today. After almost two years of keeping this project under wraps, it's a great feeling to finally make it public. We continue to make fantastic progress with first flight schedule. The plane is now ready for trucking down to Hollister, CA which is about 60 miles south of San Carlos. The truck will deliver the plane as planed, April 5th. We'll spend a week re-rigging as well as final safety inspections before we take to the skies. There are no barriers left; we are very ready and well prepared for this day.
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This is the pinnacle step before we begin first flight in just a few weeks time. All paperwork, weight and balance figures, registration docs and inspection and maintenance manuals are complete and ready for review. After a physical inspection of the aircraft and all required paperwork is in order, we should see our airworthiness certificate at end of day. Stay tuned; we'll post something in the news/events shortly.
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