One week wonder update?
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 5:57 pm
by Murray Parr
Has anyone heard how the one-week wonder’s flight testing is going? it would be good to get an update on how they are progressing with the earlier cooling issues they were experiencing. I am also interested in any flight/engine data they have, especially engine speeds with the 60" prop they are using.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2023 7:59 am
by Zack
Hey Murray, I was wondering the same thing. They also mentioned single / dual throttle quadrants from Aeroconversions for the Rotax that I’m interested in.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2023 2:40 pm
by 13brv3
I’ve asked about updates on the forum, but never got a reply. I’m not sure what to make of that.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2023 3:00 pm
by XenosN42
I was curious about the One Week Wonder myself. I was one of the many, many volunteers that worked on it. I had a blast.
I emailed the factory about five weeks ago and they gave me a complete update on the status. However, it is their plane and their project and therefore their story to tell. If you ask them I’m sure they will share some information. I suggested that they issue a public update, but that hasn’t happened yet.
I’m just not comfortable passing along any information given directly to me. As the author of the Flight Data Viewer I’m aware of many interesting projects (all around the world) in the pipeline.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2023 5:30 pm
by Murray Parr
Zack wrote:Hey Murray, I was wondering the same thing. They also mentioned single / dual throttle quadrants from Aeroconversions for the Rotax that I’m interested in.
I would be interested in those as well. Hopefully they will get a few improvements to market once they get it sorted. It was a real pain to make the dual throttles work with the dual carbs. I wasn’t happy with the bell crank arrangement I had to make to get enough throttle throw to both carbs so I will most likely build something better later on but if Aeroconversions come up with something better I would prefer to go down that path instead.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 2:23 pm
by DCASonex
Just saw something on line the other day about Sonex showing off the one-week-wonder with its new paint job at this year’s Oshkosh AirVenture.
David A.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2023 9:00 pm
by 13brv3
Not the one week wonder, but here’s a nice video showing Casey’s installation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klqX9qzDPgg
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2023 11:22 pm
by Skippydiesel
13brv3 wrote:Not the one week wonder, but here’s a nice video showing Casey’s installation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klqX9qzDPgg
Pity! - doesn’t really show his cooling installation - just talks about it - some good thoughts though.
It would be interesting to see how he has engineered his lower cowl to facilitate removal & air flow.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2023 12:30 pm
by 13brv3
What ever happened to the factory Rotax experiment? Has anyone seen an update, maybe a podcast I wouldn’t have noticed? I’m really interested in how that prop is working, but for all I know they scrapped the plane. Hope not though.
Rusty
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2023 1:44 pm
by XenosN42
13brv3 wrote:What ever happened to the factory Rotax experiment? Has anyone seen an update, maybe a podcast I wouldn’t have noticed? I’m really interested in how that prop is working, but for all I know they scrapped the plane. Hope not though.
Rusty
Send them an email and ask them?
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2023 3:07 pm
by Sonerai13
13brv3 wrote:What ever happened to the factory Rotax experiment? Has anyone seen an update, maybe a podcast I wouldn’t have noticed? I’m really interested in how that prop is working, but for all I know they scrapped the plane. Hope not though.
The One Week Wonder Waiex is at EAA’s Kermit Weeks hangar, having just undergone an extensive condition inspection. Several issues were addressed, including cooling improvements and the replacement of the main engine control unit “brainbox”. The original unit was sending false lane faults and other erroneous information to the instrument panel.
After the condition inspection and associated work was concluded, I flew the airplane to verify that the new ECU was performing properly, and to check the cooling issues. There is still some tweaking that needs to be done, but progress was made on the cooling.
The airplane belongs to EAA, and they will be deciding how to proceed with the testing. My guess is, the airplane will wait till spring before flying again.
The prop works great! The plane climbs like crazy (at least with me in it solo). haven’t had a chance to really start putting cruise numbers together yet. Hopefully will be able to put that info together as the flying progresses.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2023 4:28 pm
by 13brv3
XenosN42 wrote:Send them an email and ask them?
That’s the plan, but I figured I’d see if there was some update I had missed first.
I’m really interested in that Sensenich prop performance, but I’m not sure why because it’s over $2000 now. I’d never be able to justify that for the little performance I might gain over the Warp Drive.
Rusty
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 2:43 am
by Skippydiesel
The silence on this project is both deafening & disappointing.
I can only assume the Sonex /912 project has been shelved - too hard basket.
Disappointing as I have met with cooling issues in my Sonex/912 ULS and had hoped that Sonex may provide some/all of the solutions.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 10:06 am
by 13brv3
It appears Joe sneaked an edit into his earlier post with some good info. Thanks for that! I already sent an email to Sonex, so maybe they approved the release of info? Anyway, I didn’t really realize the EAA owned the plane, and was in control of it’s testing. Hopefully they’ll take more of an interest next spring.
As for the prop, I’d love to have numbers. RPM in climb, FPM climb rate, cruise. I might ask Sensenich, since maybe they’ve received some feedback.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 3:32 pm
by Murray Parr
13brv3 wrote:It appears Joe sneaked an edit into his earlier post with some good info. Thanks for that! I already sent an email to Sonex, so maybe they approved the release of info? Anyway, I didn’t really realize the EAA owned the plane, and was in control of it’s testing. Hopefully they’ll take more of an interest next spring.
As for the prop, I’d love to have numbers. RPM in climb, FPM climb rate, cruise. I might ask Sensenich, since maybe they’ve received some feedback.
I have the original Sensenich with the 64" x 81" it was very much over pitched (4700 in climb and 5000 FTLF) so I trimmed it to 60" which should have made it close to the newer 60" x 82"
This helped the overload problem somewhat but still only got 4900 rpm in climb and 5200 FTLF but it seems to have lost a bit of thrust too upon take off.
I purchased a 3 blade E-Prop which arrived a couple of days ago so I will install it and go test and see if it is much better than the 2 blade Sensenich.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 7:24 pm
by Sonerai13
Skippydiesel wrote:The silence on this project is both deafening & disappointing.
I can only assume the Sonex /912 project has been shelved - too hard basket.
Disappointing as I have met with cooling issues in my Sonex/912 ULS and had hoped that Sonex may provide some/all of the solutions.
The project has certainly not been shelved. There are a lot of things going on, both at Sonex and at EAA. Everything takes time, and there are only so many hours in a day and so many people to take on the tasks, and time (and modifications) cost money. So don’t “assume” anything. (You know what they say about “assume”…)
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 7:26 pm
by Sonerai13
13brv3 wrote:As for the prop, I’d love to have numbers. RPM in climb, FPM climb rate, cruise. I might ask Sensenich, since maybe they’ve received some feedback.
All things in their time, weedhopper. All things in their time. (Hint: Don’t bother asking Sensenich.)
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 8:55 pm
by 13brv3
I got a really nice reply from Mark at Sonex, which he invited me to share.
Rusty
(Update from Mark Schaible)
One Week Wonder has a defective ECU, and EAA is waiting for a replacement from Rotax, so it hasn’t done a lot of flying this year. We are also still unhappy with the cooling, even after installing front-facing NACA inlets in the cowling. We want to try a different plumbing arrangement, but the bottom line is that dual radiators are not working out well. Our recommendation to everyone at this point is to replicate Casey Cooper’s installation, which he has proven incredibly successful in very challenging cooling environments. Now someone just has to come-up with a version of his set-up that would be compatible with tricycle gear aircraft.
Regarding the Sensenich prop, it’s been great. Here’s sample flight data from a prop-focused test flight we did last year:
- Climb: Approx. 1500 fpm @ 80 mph IAS
- Peak RPM during climb: Approx. 5300 RPM
- Cruise RPM: Approx. 5000 RPM
- WOT Cruise RPM: Approx. 5750 RPM.
- Speeds (average) @ 5750 RPM and 2700’ MSL:
o IAS: 150-160 mph
o TAS: 157-168 mph - Speeds (average) @ 5000 RPM and 2500’ MSL:
o IAS: 120-122 mph
o TAS: 123-126 mph
We continue to be very happy with the Toucan exhaust system with the Sonex-specific tube bends they provided ( http://www.toucanexhaust.com/ ), and our prototype AeroConversions/Rotax prop hub extension is working out great – we haven’t rubbed any holes in the cowling with the prop hub. We’re also very happy with our inline-ducted conical air filter can. The prop extension and air filter can will be brought to market when we get some time to catch our breath. The Throttle Quadrant XL is working well too, but we want to refine it a little.
Honestly, the Rotax install has been very low priority over the past year as we were working through the lane light issue with Rotax (defective ECU) all while still being very frustrated by cooling and seeing that Casey has it knocked with an attractive, streamlined and low-drag cooling installation that customers can replicate (our Production Manager, Cris Nash, will be installing the Casey Cooper system in his Sonex-B, which he hasn’t had time to finish and fly yet). Other, more urgent priorities have been demanding our time.
Feel free to share any/all of the above with other builders and the SonexBuilders.net community and thanks again for reaching-out.
Regards,
-Mark
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 10:11 pm
by Skippydiesel
Casey Coopers explanation of his cooling system is good BUT it would have been nice to see how he had done it .
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2023 1:56 pm
by Sonerai13
For those who haven’t seen the airplane since it was painted, here she is sitting in the EAA Kermit Weeks hangar.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2023 10:51 am
by gcm52
I am perplexed hearing about these cooling issues. I installed a Rotax 912UL in a Zenith 701 using the factory FWF kit and flew that airplane for three years with perfect temperatures all year round. The engine ran perfectly from the first start up, never an issue. Based on that happy experience with the Rotax I installed a 912 ULS in my Onex. This time the FWF was a custom job done by me, although the cowling was closer to the Zenith design rather than the Sonex design. That is I didn’t try to replicate the Sonex look to the cowling. Once again I had perfect temperatures from the first start up. Never a cooling issue of any kind. The airplane had tremendous climb performance, was fast and was a delight to fly. I think that the Rotax 100hp on a Sonex airframe is a fantastic combination.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2023 2:27 pm
by 13brv3
I’ve never had any cooling issues in my 912 Onex either. I used a chin scoop for the radiator, with oil cooler sealed to the back of the radiator. Zero cooling problems. I think the main issue is the fact that everyone wants to come up with some sort of “pretty” NACA duct, low drag solution which often ends up being more of a problem than a solution.
I’m sure I have some excess cooling drag, but it’s not a racing plane. Heck, I even left the wheel pants off because they just don’t make much difference. I had to widen the stock pants to fit my 500x5 tires, and they were never very effective. Some day I might add some of Van’s pressure recovery pants, but probably not. I see 140 mph cruise at 5300 RPM, and almost 1200 fpm climb to 4000 ft. I can’t really wish for more.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2023 2:39 pm
by gcm52
Hang the proper radiator out in the wind, I do believe that is the secret.
Re: One week wonder update?
Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2023 5:49 pm
by Kai
Agreed- I can´t understand their cooling issues either. I went with a split radiator setup controlled by two 80C full flow thermostats. Cooling air inlets per standard Sonex dimensions- outlets by chutes in the bottom of the cowling and gills in the sides. No issues whatso ever, and temperatures stay pegged at set values. The cowling might be looking a little squarish, not at all so elegant as Casy´s, but it gets the job done.