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The Seeker was developed in the late 80’s as a light Observation aircraft, its built in Australia and powered by an O-360 engine.
The Main US domestic commercial use is for the New Mexico State Police, however the Seeker has a far reaching international market share including middle east and African countries. The Helicopter like forward fuselage offers excellent viability at a much lower operating cost compared to a comparable helicopter.
Its part 23 certified for the US and can be equipped with cameras and sensors for law enforcement, power line inspection, search and rescue.
Features and usage is similar to the EA-7 Edgley Optica (previous aircraft of the month)
This aircraft of the month is the EM-11 Orka from Margański & Mysłowski Aviation Works located in Poland.
The prototype first flew in the early 2000’s and has flown with both Rotax 912′s & Lycoming IO-320 engines in a Pusher configuration along with Fixed and retractable landing gear. The front has almost a helicopter like viability. Speed and range #’s are also impressive.
Similar to another Aircraft on the site the J-1B Don Quixote, Polish Aeronautical Engineers know how to make very elegant designs.
I have not seen one that I recall at Airventure or Sun-N-Fun but it would be quite interesting to check out. I remember doodling aircraft with very similar lines in college.
The EM-11 has quite a few videos on YouTube, here are a few:
With being a rather rare European aircraft there does not appear to be any RC models of it but I did find a 3 view from Blueprints.com that could the the basis for a 3D model in a Cad system like Rhino 3D and would be a good candidate for 3D printing due to all the thin sections and compound curves
This Aircraft of the month is the Volmer Sportsman, This is a design I just recently learned about from long time friend and fellow EAA member William Wynne from www.flycorvair.com Reading the spec’s a Corvair power-plant would actually work on this bird. It can be setup as a Pusher or Tractor configuration, while the pusher configuration gets the prop further away from the cockpit and water spray.
The Meyers 200 was introduced in the mid 50’s with clean lines and good performance. this 4 seat-er is powered by a Continental IO-470 to 520 engine(s) and cruse at 180 knots. The aircraft where hand built with minimal use of tooling resulting in lower production numbers.
Outerzone currently does not have any plans for a RC version of the Meyers 200 and any RC models I could find would be one-off’s. Of course with modern smart phones having 3D scanning capability and if someone wanted to get a good 3D cad model going of the aircraft it would be a prime candidate for a 3D printed electric version.
The Avid Magnum was one of the main E-AB aircraft I was interested in as a teenager, in the 1990’s. I started going to Airventure in Oshkosh in 1992 and have attended quite a few times since then. I got to go for quite a few demo flights in the prototype (in the picture above) at Airventure, with floats at the sea plane base, in Denver CO and at there factory in Idaho.
The Experimental – Armature built option is really what caught my attention due to the access ability and not dealing with the extremely expensive upkeep on a certified aircraft that is decades old with who knows what real history behind it. The one problem with the E-AB category is the bulk of the options are setup for people 5’6″, 120 Lbs operating at sea level, good for them, not for me. The Magnum was sized for people bigger than me, only 2 seats and a lycoming O-360 engine designed and operated in the northern rocky mountain state of Idaho (high density altitude). A common feature of all Avid designs is wings that could fold back so the aircraft could be put on a trailer or kept in less space at an airport.
Dean Wilson was the designer and was influential on many of the construction methods and features that are also common on the Kitfox and Just Aircraft series. However unlike these 2 companies the Avid company was sold moving the factory to a highly unpopulated area of Montana, this closed for good in 2003. Its really a shame because Avid had such good aircraft. There is some info about company restarts but being a regular attender of airshows this looks to be parts support and not full new kits.
I’m un-able to find any RC options of this aircraft, the closest thing would be the freedom fox collaboration between flite test and Trent Palmer (ref previous post)
The Bede BD-4 was designed by Jim Bede in the late 60’s with a first flight in 1968.
I actually got to attend a few of his aircraft design workshops at Oshkosh in the early 2000’s
The design features all metal construction with some innovative construction methods such as a un-braced tubular spar and a truss fuselage sheet-ed in aluminum.
The main Engine choice is a O-360, despite it’s humble looks the cruse speed is in the 170 knot range that is 50 – 60 knots faster than a PA-28 or C-172 that use the same base engine.
The RFB Fantrainer was Developed and manufactured by German aircraft company Rhein-Flugzeugbau GmbH (RFB) in the late 70’s early 80’s. 50 of them where built and used by Luftwaffe and the Thai Airforce.
The aircraft is actually turbine powered with a Allison 250 C30turboshaft, 480 kW (650 shp) motor driving a ducted fan.
The aircraft’s purpose was to give the much needed training to new military pilots so they could transition into high performance aircraft like the F4 Phantom and F-104 Star fighter.
I first learned about the aircraft buying a RC model of one from a hobby shop in the mid 90’s made by hobby dynamics.
The Fan Trainer is a popular RC model as well.
Outerzone has 2 plans for the Fan trainer including the one from Hobby Dynamics that I had.
Both would be well suited to modern electric power.
The Symmetry is a one off Aircraft designed by Cory Bird who works for Scaled Composites. I got to see it in person at Airventure 06′. It’s very impressive to see the fit and finish of the aircraft. Reading up on the aircraft history Cory built the aircraft for personal use and not turn it into a kit or plans. Kind of like movies that are a one off with out sequels / prequels / remakes makes for a unique in memorable experience. Pictures above and below are ones I took at the show.
Airshow ID card with some of the details
It’s actually a 2 seat aircraft, his wife has gone on many flights with him.
A very Clean T tail with counter balances reminiscent of a P-51 mustang.
The Tail wheel is retractable to but the main gear is fixed.
Inlet and exhaust details
Considering its debut from the Early 2000’s I was not able to find any flight videos of it on YouTube.
There are quite a few article’s about the aircraft however:
Gould Aero 