[quote=SleepyC;273128]
MUCHO PROPS!
quote]



And turbo props at that...

Very cool to have the Man himself here to tell us the facts! Welcome to FG great to see you here.

That's too cool..

Videos are here - http://www.turbinetoucan.com/mmedia/video.php

I just cannot wait until we see the video of the plane hovering.... oooooh the joy

I look forward to seeing this plane in person. I am more than willing to go to an airshow and buy a ticket to see and hear this plane fly. It sounds like it is based on the west coast. I will keep my eyes open if you ever travel to the east. I hope there will be a show schedule on the web in the future.

Greetings,
Thanks for the kind welcome! We just got back from Oshkosh (without the plane), kind of an interesting show this season. Nothing new in the aerobatic world but avionics and very light jets seem to be making a splash.

We'll most likely go dark for a while with regard to any video. Our intention is to do something really nice, not cheesy stuff that we've posted in the past. So, that will happen after we finish up our last 10 hours of test flights, which is rapidly happening.

We continue to work out logistics for next year. Though the company is located in California, it might make logistical sense to be base the plane in the midwest during airshow season, so we are no more then 1500 miles to a show, but we'll see.

Thanks for all the great support and keep the questions coming! David

Ohio sounds good...

Toucan, you could always get the Fg staff to make the promo vid.. they will do it justice!
mike

That looks like a Raven only in Bipeplane form. Which is probably what it is so don't kick me.

I won't kick you too hard. VERY different planes really. But we'll take it as a compliment. Wayne Handley is a good friend and the Turbo Raven was an incredible program. Helps to have Oracle behind you! -Cheers.

Exciting news from the Toucan Team; we have slowly started introducing aerobatics/unusual attitudes into our test regime. The airplane saw extreme angle of attack attitudes (75%+ deck angle) at very slow speeds. We then brought in the power and was able to accelerate out of high alpha to between 3500-4000fpm maintaining the same deck angle. This is all in an effort to work into hovering and accelerating out of the vertical, so we are on track.

Lots of traditional maneuvers have been explored, and the control harmony of the plane is better than we have expected. We’ve been as fast as 200kts straight and level cruise so we are creeping up on the speed.

We have had 12 squawk free flights and have now introduced the entire fuel system. The duration of flights is now well over an hour. Our next venture is to go up high and establish all the at altitude profiles for the plane before we close out the phase one test flights. We are quickly rounding up on 40 hours, so we’ll be able to return to SQL in about another week. Then it is off to exploring the potential of the aircraft.

Hey Dave,

I was in Hollister a couple of days ago talking with a bunch of guys about the flight test. They say that the brakes got a little HOTT! I don't know if you might remember, I delivered Wayne's Extra to San Carlos a few years back where you did the acceptance flight at Mr. Ellison's Hangar. Nice to see all of the hard work coming together. I have followed your flying since the Lancair Sport Class testing. Hope all is well. and good luck with the project. Fly Safe!

Mark Leseberg Jr.

Heya Beavis! Good to see ya keyboard bangin' bro!!

Dave, this is totally fascinating hearing about the progress of the first flights on the Toucan- this project is incredibly innovative, and we're honored to have you here sharing this with our community! Thanks again bro!

Awesome!

I don't remember Wayne’s Extra being delivered, just know it made a HELL of an impact. Yah, breaks got a little hot about 5 months ago now. Funny how stories grow as time goes by. We did have some brake issues a while back, but that is like ancient history now.

Everything is doing as it should.