There are only two or three dozen Eagle 150Bs flying in the world, and less than a dozen of those are in the United States. Chances are that you haven't seen one unless you live near the U.S. distributor in Augusta, Kansas, or the U.S. office of Eagle Aircraft in Orlando, Florida. But when you do see one, you'll want to stop whatever you're doing and watch.
Just by its appearance, the Eagle 150B provides motivation to learn to fly, says flight instructor Jaden Stapleton. Stapleton works at Sabris Corp., an FBO at Jabara Airport near Wichita, Kansas, that has Eagles for rent.
As an instructor, Stapleton is excited about more than the Eagle's ability to attract students. He also appreciates the visibility from the aircraft. Since the top half of the cockpit is basically all window, he doesn't spend as much time trying to look around door posts or peer from under wing leading edges. In addition, the Eagle has good performance, wringing more speed from only 125 hp than most aircraft its size. And, in Stapleton's words, it "doesn't do anything spooky," even when forced into a cross-controlled stall. Normally, a cross-controlled stall, which has the rudder aiming the airplane one way and the ailerons trying to force it in the opposite direction, is an invitation to a spin.
That's not to say everything about the Eagle is perfect. The test aircraft flown by AOPA Flight Training had no lights, but approval for night VFR flight has just been granted by Australia and the United States. Now it is just a matter of making the light kits and fitting them to the older aircraft while adding lights to aircraft still on the production line. At the moment, the production line is still in Australia near Perth, but Malaysia has bought the Eagle and will move the factory to its country in the future.
Weight and balance is another issue for the Eagle, but like lighting, it is an issue that already has a solution. At the moment, two normal-size men could not jump in the aircraft and take off with the fuel tank full. (The fuel tank is located behind the occupants and carries 26 gallons of usable fuel.) However, an increase in allowable gross weight is in the planning stage and should be approved by year's end.
In addition, the weight-and-balance charts in the pilot's operating handbook make student pilots work a little harder than most charts. You must calculate an empty-fuel center of gravity (CG) and another for the intended takeoff weight.
Finally, the aircraft is light. That means it tends to skip sideways slightly in tough crosswinds. So far, there are no reports of that tendency bothering student pilots. Using only 10 degrees of flaps, or no flaps at all, helps the aircraft to keep its footing, just as in any other trainer.
The controls are extremely smooth, a key feature that received the best efforts of Roncz and Swannell. Roncz, who operates his Gemini Technologies company out of Elkhart, Indiana, felt that handling could be an important sales point for the new trainer, so he went beyond excellent and way beyond good enough. "We were fanatical about handling," he recalls. It shows.
As the comedians used to say on Saturday Night Live, the controls feel "like buttah." If you need a second opinion, Roncz and Swannell won a medal from Prince Philip of England for the design of the Eagle.
The controls are highly responsive, very exact. That means that they can be considered a little touchy, so students learn from the outset to be very precise in their training maneuvers. Nothing wrong with that. Students who learn in the Eagle fly precisely from the start because they think it is normal.
Roncz put a number of innovative design tricks into the aircraft to improve safety and performance. While a Cessna 152 will do 105 kt on a good day, the Eagle did 120 kt during the Flight Training test flight.
The aircraft has a forward wing, although the pilot's operating handbook sometimes refers to it by the less precise name of canard. Actually, there are three wings-the forward wing, main wing, and horizontal stabilizer. Unlike conventional airplanes, all provide lift, although the horizontal stabilizer on the tail provides only 10 percent of the lift.
"You always increase the angle of attack [during landing], and can do so until you are pointing it at the sky," Roncz said. "You won't believe it-it is just like a parachute. Pull the nose up, and you'll be surprised how much extra lift you have from a three-surface airplane," he said.
The military has a phrase that goes, "Don't do nuthin' stupid." To sum up the Eagle test flight, it didn't do nuthin' stupid. Stalls were docile because the airplane was designed to recover all by itself in many situations and to be simple to recover in others.
Especially dramatic was its slow-flight performance. In most trainers, the instructor will warn you to be careful and make only 10-degree-bank turns. If you exceed that limit, you'll probably notice the instructor's hand edging toward the controls. But in the Eagle you can bank rapidly and steeply, even in slow flight. Just remember, don't try this in your conventional-design trainer at home. The control stick is like that of a jet fighter, and the throttle is similar, so let's call it your personal fighter plane. But enough gushing praise. It's time to lodge a small complaint.
After engine startup, it was necessary to make a 180-degree turn to avoid a Mooney parked close by. The Eagle has no nosewheel steering, using differential braking to steer on the ground. That in itself is not a problem-lots of good airplanes use differential braking. However, the Eagle brakes work a little differently. The design saves weight, which is important, as we shall see. Rather than tilting the foot forward to brake as with traditional toe brakes, the pilot must first depress the rudder pedal a few inches for braking to become active. At first, taxiing was awkward, especially considering that the first turn was a 180-degree maneuver. But as predicted by checkout pilot Mike Hahn, one of the investors in HGL Aero at Augusta that sells the Eagle, I was soon taxiing like a pro. By the time I reached the taxiway I seemed to have it figured out, and there was not a hint of a pilot-induced ground-steering problem on the runway during takeoff.
Entry into the roomy, 46-inch-wide cockpit posed no problems. I took a minute to look around the modern panel. The instruments are all electric, including the gyros. The panel comes standard with a Bendix/King KX-125 nav/com with a digital VOR display and a Bendix/King KT-76A transponder. A Garmin GNS-430 GPS can be installed as an option and allows practice on GPS approaches although the aircraft is not IFR certified. The engine instruments are by Vision Microsystems.
Are you a tall pilot? A short one? It doesn't matter. The rudder pedals adjust away and toward you with an electric switch.
On the center console near the control stick "tree" (so called because it has two branches, one for the student and one for the instructor) is a spring-loaded roll trim selector to be used when, say, a light pilot is flying with a heavy passenger. Otherwise, the airplane would tend to roll toward the heavy passenger.
The ultimate test of any airplane, especially for students, is, "Can I land it?" Students should have no problem landing, once they become accustomed to the sensitivity of the controls. The Eagle has the mindset-if it had a human mind-that it will do what the pilot wants immediately, almost as soon as the pilot thinks "turn" or "descent."
I admitted to Roncz that during short-field landing practice, I had lowered the nose slightly to land shorter and had gotten a slight porpoising effect. That brought out another interesting aspect of landing the Eagle.
As noted, the braking system was designed to save weight. Weight became an issue during the design of the aircraft. You see, the Eagle originally was in-tended to be an ultralight. Yet, it is fully certified under international rules known as JAR/VLA, the VLA standing for very light aircraft. Such aircraft must stall at no more than 45 kt.
The airplane's weight grew during development. The early grand plan by a private Australian company called for an inexpensive airplane powered by an efficient British-built Norton rotary motorcycle engine. The engine just didn't work in an airplane, despite an outstanding history that included a land speed record of nearly 200 mph on a motorcycle. The next try was a Volks-wagen engine that failed on the first flight and kept on failing. Desperate to get the Eagle in the air, designers went to a Continental O-200 engine. The engine worked perfectly, although now the aircraft used a heavier engine than originally planned.
When Continental was asked to provide O-200s for the new airplane, there was more bad news; Continental wasn't going to build the O-200 anymore but could provide an O-240, which was heavier still.
Slowly, approval for higher gross weight is coming. Some of the Eagles currently flying are approved for less gross weight than those now on the production line. Eventually a weight of 1,500 pounds will likely be approved.
Other changes lie in the Eagle's future. There are plans for limited IFR certification so that the aircraft can be used as an instrument trainer in actual weather. Even then, the Eagle's composite skin lacks lightning protection.
Interestingly, the dynamic duo of Roncz and Swannell also designed another airplane just appearing on the market: the Australian-built Explorer. Based on their award from Prince Philip, their work is fit for a prince, if not a king.
SIDEBAR
Eagle 150B
Base price: $121,000
Price as tested: $121,000
(A recent sale with GPS and leather seat options cost $135,000)
Specifications
Powerplant Continental IO-240-B7B, 125 hp
Recommended TBO 2,000 hr
Propeller McCauley fixed pitch, 70 in dia
Length 21 ft 2 in
Height 7 ft 7 in
Wingspan (max) 23 ft 6 in
Main wing area 56 sq ft
Forward wing area 39 sq ft
Wing loading 14.74 lb/sq ft
Power loading 11.20 lb/hp
Seats 2
Empty weight 946 lb
Empty weight, as tested 965.6 lb
Maximum gross weight 1,430 lb
Useful load 484 lb
Useful load, as tested 464.4 lb
Payload w/full fuel 331 lb
Payload w/full fuel, as tested 310.8 lb
Fuel capacity, std 26.9 gal (25.6 gal usable)
161 lb (153.6 lb usable)
Baggage capacity 100 lb
Performance
Takeoff distance over 50-ft obstacle 1,143 ft
Landing distance over 50-ft obstacle 1,198 ft
Maximum demonstrated crosswind component 15 kt
Rate of climb, sea level 1,055 fpm
Cruise speed/endurance w/45-min rsv, std fuel
(fuel consumption)
@ 75% power, best economy 120 kt/ 4.2 hr
2,000 ft (36 pph/6 gph)
@ 65% power, best economy 125 kt/ 4.6 hr
6,000 ft (33 pph/5.5 gph)
Service ceiling 15,000 ft
Limiting and Recommended Airspeeds
VX (best angle of climb) 74 KIAS
VY (best rate of climb) 77 KIAS
VA (design maneuvering) 106 KIAS
VFE (max flap extended) 89 KIAS
VNO (max structural cruising) 129 KIAS
VNE (never exceed) 167 KIAS
VS1 (stall, clean) 52 KIAS
VSO (stall, in landing configuration) 43 KIAS
For more information, contact HGL Aero, 10504 Southwest Indianola Road, Augusta Airport, Augusta, Kansas 67010; telephone 316/733-6015; fax 316/733-6250; or visit the Web ( www.hglaero.com ).
All specifications are based on manufacturer's calculations. All performance figures are based on standard day, standard atmosphere, sea level, gross weight conditions unless otherwise noted.
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