Photos of Smith Turbine Cub at Oshkosh

Thanx to Cubus Maximus, we have some photos of the new Smith Tubine Cub:



Here are high resolution views:

Exterior

Panel

What do people think?

Maybe people could post links to other photos from Oshkosh?

Stephen

I want one ! Where do you sign up to fly one and try it out. Only problem I see is I cant hand prop it, Id just have to get us to keeping up my battery. How much do the batterys cost? Im sure we will have these answers soon.

I wonder how she flys? I also wonder what the spool up time is,that would be important on long narrow lakes when on floats.I guess though if you lost some distance creeping forward on floats,she might be able to make up for it in the climb over the tops of the trees.All the details should be interesting,like hp,size of prop and so forth as well as weight and fuel capacity and burn.

pzinck said:

I wonder how she flys? I also wonder what the spool up time is,that would be important on long narrow lakes when on floats.I guess though if you lost some distance creeping forward on floats,she might be able to make up for it in the climb over the tops of the trees.All the details should be interesting,like hp,size of prop and so forth as well as weight and fuel capacity and burn.

Click to expand...

There was a lot of discussion here a while ago as to the technique in flying one of these. As was pointed out earlier, it is all in the prop. If the prop can be kept in Beta until then engine is spooled up and then slammed forward then it could be like hitting the afterburner on a fighter. Obviously this would be perfect for "no brakes" flying like floats and skis. Someone else pointed out that it might even be possible, if not recommended, to use beta on the approach over the trees for an almost vertical decent followed by a quick flick forward of the prop to flair.

So what I'm most interested in hearing about it is the prop.

I'm waiting before I make any decisions to hear about how it actually flies.

Beautiful photos though (thank you Cubus Maximus). I want to see more!

Stephen

PA-18 said:

I want one ! Where do you sign up to fly one and try it out. Only problem I see is I cant hand prop it, Id just have to get us to keeping up my battery. How much do the batterys cost? Im sure we will have these answers soon.

Click to expand...

I want one too!

The battery in the photo is a light weight dry cell battery used in auto racing. It isn't very expensive at all and probably has longer longevity than most wet cell batteries. Being able to use batteries like this is one of the advantages of a experimental catagory aircraft.

Stephen

Great photos and some comments from an old turbine guy.
1. Nice clean looking installation, both cosmetically and for maintainability
2. Be concerned about exhaust back pressure/performance loss from the bifurcated exhaust.
3. Would be concerned about inlet FOD from what appears lack of inlet particle separation are at least a debris shield.
4. Would also be concerned about ingress and egress from the cabin without cooking oneself from the exhaust with the engine running. Would suggest the exhaust be directed under the fuselage as opposed to along the sides

Nice Pics Brad. Whats the story on the Goodyear tires? - They look to be 29x13x6. Tube or tubeless? Is goodyear looking to compete with Bushwheels? Hmmm.

Aerial shot courtesy www.innodyn.com:

Hey Ursa,

I really didn't notice the Goodyears till yesterday. I just assumed he painted a set of standard blimp tires till looking closer when I got home. Send me a PM and I'll send the highest resolution 2.0 mg shots. I think a pal of mine got some more pictures with his camera but I was running by as fast as I could and only had 1 memory stick to catch the whole show (of course). I'll check with Craig to see if he has more pictures. I assume he does.

One thing I noticed while drooling nearby is that this was a VERY clean install. I liked the engineering of it. He has only been flying it 2 weeks so is still new to what's happening - but initial impressions are that it's drinking around 10 gph in cruise (I don't know what percent power). Prop control is working great. Prop itself is carbon fiber so that it won't bust up the engine with a prop strike. Yes they've done prop strike tests.

Metal skin goes to the aft door post. He has some protection on the lift struts but is planning a better diffuser so temps will be in the 120 deg range back that far.

Run out of fuel and the engine will start again the moment you reintroduce fuel (hopefully you have some in the other tank)

Has 3 electrical systems I believe (I may have misheard but I know it's redundant) If you lose all electrical power the engine will slowly wind down and you are going to land somewhere.

I'm not sure about the OD color but it was very well put together and again, the engineering looked first rate. The guy was swamped with people clamoring to know more about it and slobber ran off the fabric.

Brad

The 10 gal per hour fuel burn sounds great if it is the big one. Which hp was it? Anyone see takeoff performance or cruise speed info? It looks like a very attractive install.

Another view thanx to MMR:



High resolution view:

High resolution

Stephen