GeorgeMandes
Registered User
Homer, Alaska
We are working with Aviat on a lightweight 200 horse Husky, with appropriate bush mods. The challenge is that our 200 horse Husky popped out of the factory at 1,345 pounds on 8:50's, even with dope fabric treatment and an MT prop, but we are hoping for 1,300 pounds, +/-, on 31 inch Bushwheels. (By comparison, our "light" 180 horse Husky on Burl gear with 31s is between 1,300 and 1,310 pounds.) Barring some catastrophe, this plane will be inside at the AK trade show in May. A Husky is the raffle plane at the show this year and the tentative plan is for my wife and I to fly the two Huskies to Alaska in the second half of April.
Here is what we have been doing so far. The aircraft is an A1B, so we can use an MT at 2,700 rpm, instead of 2,600 as approved on the A1C (for noise), and Alpha Omega gear (which presently is only approved to 2,000 pounds on wheels). Burl's AO gear has been installed by the factory, so we have a great installation, plus weight savings over an after market installation. The 200 horse Lycoming went to Lycon for their magic, and we are hoping we are getting more than 200 horsepower. We worked with MT to get a 210 cm prop for potentially better thrust.
Our friend, Bill Baechler, is at the factory working on a bunch of post certification mods. We relocated the battery to the firewall for a savings of about 18.5 pounds (lighter battery, the cable, and hardware from the stock battery box). This should provide better cranking as well. Aviat has made carbon panels for the interior. We planned to remove exterior metal panels, and go to fabric, but ultimately weren't going to get a material weight savings because of structure required to support the fabric. Instead, the factory has made carbon panels for many of the outside panels. We have painted them for UV durability, but left the interior panels raw. We also have carbon wing tips, and for the nose bowl. The 70 amp alternator will get replaced at a B&C for almost 10 pounds of weight savings. The 200 was certified with two oil coolers, which will not be necessary in Alaska, where our problem is getting the oil temp high enough.
We relocated the single rear external baggage door to the right side of the plane, where it is adjacent to the the regular right side baggage door. Small point, but the left side door made packing involve needless trips around the plane. We eliminated the second baggage door and the second set of landing lights for weight savings. We will be using HID lights in the two existing lights.
Aviat has a pod in development, and it is nip and tuck whether it will be approved for the show. It is a big pod, with side and rear doors, and capable of 350 pounds. Here is a picture of Stu Horn, President of Aviat, and Bill Baechler lying next to it for scale.
Another objective was to have lightweight VFR instruments, but a Mid-Continent electric attitude indicator to extract ourselves from an inadvertent cloud penetration. That said, we wanted to get the Garmin 696 into the panel, because it has such a useful display for a bush plane, but there was no good way to mount it. We also elected to use a Garmin SL 40 radio for the ability to monitor a second frequency. Here is the latest panel drawing, minus the skid ball located above the 696. We are also tentatively using a JPI 930 all in one engine gauge for more weight savings.
There is loads of work still to be done, but this is the general idea of what we are doing. We are pretty confident that this will be a terrific float and ski plane, the lack of carb ice will be great on floats, and the high output heater (not a strength of the 180 Husky) will be welcome on skis. The real question is how will it fly on wheels and we are probably several weeks away from getting an idea of its performance compared to the 180 Husky we are familiar with.
Here is what we have been doing so far. The aircraft is an A1B, so we can use an MT at 2,700 rpm, instead of 2,600 as approved on the A1C (for noise), and Alpha Omega gear (which presently is only approved to 2,000 pounds on wheels). Burl's AO gear has been installed by the factory, so we have a great installation, plus weight savings over an after market installation. The 200 horse Lycoming went to Lycon for their magic, and we are hoping we are getting more than 200 horsepower. We worked with MT to get a 210 cm prop for potentially better thrust.
Our friend, Bill Baechler, is at the factory working on a bunch of post certification mods. We relocated the battery to the firewall for a savings of about 18.5 pounds (lighter battery, the cable, and hardware from the stock battery box). This should provide better cranking as well. Aviat has made carbon panels for the interior. We planned to remove exterior metal panels, and go to fabric, but ultimately weren't going to get a material weight savings because of structure required to support the fabric. Instead, the factory has made carbon panels for many of the outside panels. We have painted them for UV durability, but left the interior panels raw. We also have carbon wing tips, and for the nose bowl. The 70 amp alternator will get replaced at a B&C for almost 10 pounds of weight savings. The 200 was certified with two oil coolers, which will not be necessary in Alaska, where our problem is getting the oil temp high enough.
We relocated the single rear external baggage door to the right side of the plane, where it is adjacent to the the regular right side baggage door. Small point, but the left side door made packing involve needless trips around the plane. We eliminated the second baggage door and the second set of landing lights for weight savings. We will be using HID lights in the two existing lights.
Aviat has a pod in development, and it is nip and tuck whether it will be approved for the show. It is a big pod, with side and rear doors, and capable of 350 pounds. Here is a picture of Stu Horn, President of Aviat, and Bill Baechler lying next to it for scale.
Another objective was to have lightweight VFR instruments, but a Mid-Continent electric attitude indicator to extract ourselves from an inadvertent cloud penetration. That said, we wanted to get the Garmin 696 into the panel, because it has such a useful display for a bush plane, but there was no good way to mount it. We also elected to use a Garmin SL 40 radio for the ability to monitor a second frequency. Here is the latest panel drawing, minus the skid ball located above the 696. We are also tentatively using a JPI 930 all in one engine gauge for more weight savings.
There is loads of work still to be done, but this is the general idea of what we are doing. We are pretty confident that this will be a terrific float and ski plane, the lack of carb ice will be great on floats, and the high output heater (not a strength of the 180 Husky) will be welcome on skis. The real question is how will it fly on wheels and we are probably several weeks away from getting an idea of its performance compared to the 180 Husky we are familiar with.
, it's a great tool to have in your kit.
