Continuing with our homebuilt aircraft types, the next type of homebuilt aircraft to appear on the New Zealand Civil Register was the Viking Dragonfly, of which our only example was first registered in July 1992.
The composite construction Viking Dragonfly was another development of the original Rutan Quickie and it originally appeared with the main undercarriage wheels at the end of the canard wing, making it look very similar to the Q2. It was designed by Bob Walters in the late 1970s and kits were sold by Viking Aircraft of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. It won the Outstanding New Design award at the EAA Flyin at Oshkosh in 1980. Three models were developed, being the Mk 1 with the main wheels at the end of the canard, the Mk 2 with a conventional tailwheel undercarriage and the Mk 3 which had a tri-gear undercarriage.
The aircraft has a fuselage length of 19 feet (5.79 metres), the main wingspan is 22 feet (6.71 metres) and the span of the canard is 20 feet (6.10 metres). These are longer wingspans than the Q2. It is also a bit heavier than the Q2 with an empty weight of 600 pound (272 Kg) and a MAUW of 1,250 pounds (567 Kg). With a 65 HP engine criuse is around 165 mph and stall is around 50 mph.
Our only Viking Dragonfly (but not our only Dragonfly) was ZK-PJM (c/n 1025) which was purchased as a kit by Pierre deBruin and Phil Mattar of Christchurch, and was first registred to them on 28/7/92. However it languished for a long time and was not completed until 14 years later. On 13/4/05 it was purchased by the Dragonfly Syndicate of Christchurch (Phil Mattar and Tim Hughes), and it was test flown at Christchurch by Murray Vincent on 22/4/06. It was powered by a Subaru EA 81 conversion with a Warp Drive 3 bladed propellor. As can be seen from the photo (taken at the 2009 SAANZ flyin at Ashburton), it was a Mk 2 version withe the conventional tailgear undercarriage.
It was withdrawn from use and cancelled on 27/3/14. Can anyone advise why it was cancelled?
The composite construction Viking Dragonfly was another development of the original Rutan Quickie and it originally appeared with the main undercarriage wheels at the end of the canard wing, making it look very similar to the Q2. It was designed by Bob Walters in the late 1970s and kits were sold by Viking Aircraft of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. It won the Outstanding New Design award at the EAA Flyin at Oshkosh in 1980. Three models were developed, being the Mk 1 with the main wheels at the end of the canard, the Mk 2 with a conventional tailwheel undercarriage and the Mk 3 which had a tri-gear undercarriage.
The aircraft has a fuselage length of 19 feet (5.79 metres), the main wingspan is 22 feet (6.71 metres) and the span of the canard is 20 feet (6.10 metres). These are longer wingspans than the Q2. It is also a bit heavier than the Q2 with an empty weight of 600 pound (272 Kg) and a MAUW of 1,250 pounds (567 Kg). With a 65 HP engine criuse is around 165 mph and stall is around 50 mph.
It was withdrawn from use and cancelled on 27/3/14. Can anyone advise why it was cancelled?
Currently for Sale on Trademe $13,500 dollars engine out and disassembled.
ReplyDeleteThis plane being worked on or flown again yet?
DeleteAnyone know where this Aircraft is now and whether its being returned to flying condition??
ReplyDeleteCurrently for Sale on facebook market.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know the whereabouts of PJM now?
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