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Predecessor of World’s Most Popular DIY Airplane Flies Again

Photo: Friends of the RV-1

It’s been 40 years since pilot and engineer Dick VanGrunsven started selling plans for his first homebuilt airplane design, the Van’s RV-3. In the decades since more than 7,630 of his designs have been built and flown, making the RV series of airplanes the most popular homebuilt aircraft in the world. Now after a chance encounter at a Texas airport led to the discovery of the long lost  developmental prototype, a small group of RV builders are proudly showing off the restoration of the airplane that started it all, the RV-1.

In the aviation world, do-it-yourself homebuilt aircraft have been around essentially since the beginning. And while the Wright Brothers may have been the first homebuilders to successfully fly their own design, the RV-1 is arguably one of the most historic experimental airplanes in the last 50 years.

The RV-1 is actually a hybrid design. In 1962 VanGrunsven bought a Stitts Playboy, a popular single-seat homebuilt aircraft that offered decent performance and was fun to fly. But like many DIY types, VanGrunsven thought he could make it better.

He designed his own wings, attached a more powerful engine and installed a bubble canopy reminiscent of World War II fighter airplanes. He called the modified design the RV-1. After flying it for a few years, VanGrunsven sold the airplane in 1968.

“I knew I could do better” VanGrunsven says, “because the RV-1 was just a modified airplane and I figured starting over with the same basic planform I could improve upon it, so that’s what I did.”

Eventually that new airplane, the RV-3, would gain popularity amongst homebuilders as would the two seat RV-4, RV-6, RV-7, RV-8 (pictured above with the yellow RV-1), RV-9, RV-12 and the four seat RV-10.

But VanGrunsven had lost track of his original airplane in the years following the sale.

Dick VanGrunsven flying his original RV-1 in the 1960s. Photo: Dick VanGrunsven/Friends of the RV-1

That all changed when an RV-8 pilot named Paul Dye was visiting a small airport near his home in Houston. Before checking on the progress of another RV builder, Dye was shown a small yellow airplane with “RV-1″ written on the side. The long lost grandparent of the entire Van’s aircraft line had been found.

Dye and some other RV builders formed a group called “Friends of the RV-1″ and started restoration on the airplane last summer. In the months since, a dedicated group of volunteers was able to get the RV-1 back in flying condition again with the help of donated parts from companies that support RV builders around the world. The first flight took place just last month, and the airplane was recently flown to Lakeland, Florida where it is on display at the annual Sun ‘n Fun fly-in.

“It’s a great flying airplane” says Dye, “it’s very noticeable that it’s an RV.”

Paul Dye (sitting in cockpit) and volunteers at work during the restoration. Photo: Friends of the RV-1

VanGrunsven says he’s happy to see the airplane back in the air. And if all goes according to plan, he’ll be back in the cockpit this weekend, nearly 50 years since he first flew the little airplane.

Eventually the airplane will be turned over to the Experimental Aviation Association’s museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. But first another group of volunteer pilots will fly the RV-1 on a tour of the U.S. and Canada over the next 4 months before VanGrunsven is scheduled to fly it to Airventure in Oshkosh in July.

Volunteers reattach a wing on the RV-1 while an RV-8 awaits finishing in the background. Photo: Friends of the RV-1

Via Wired Autopia: http://www.wired.com/autopia/

Elon Musk Says Ticket to Mars Will Cost $500,000

Image: SpaceX

Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk says SpaceX is developing a plan for trips to Mars that will eventually cost just $500,000 per seat. Musk founded SpaceX 10 years ago and interplanetary travel has always been one of his goals for the company. Few details were provided about the Martian voyage, but Musk did say we can expect to hear more about the plan in less than a year.

The bargain basement price for a trip to Mars also highlights Musk’s main effort behind SpaceX, to bring down the cost of delivering a payload — human or cargo — into space. In an interview with the BBC, Musk acknowledged the first seats won’t be selling for $500,000. It will take a while to get down to that price. But Musk says the half-million dollar ticket could happen a decade after trips begin.

“Land on Mars, a round-trip ticket — half a million dollars. It can be done,” he told the BBC.

Musk did hint that one of the keys to low-cost trips to the red planet would be the ability to not only refuel there, but also to reuse the entire spacecraft on the return trip. In the BBC interview Musk said by reusing the spacecraft, you end up with the same sorts of costs airlines face. Musk compared it to flying today where a 747 isn’t simply thrown away after a flight to London. Like the airplane, the cost of the spacecraft could be spread out over numerous flights rather than just a single trip making fuel one of the main expenses rather than the entire ship.

The $500,000 price tag is around one percent of the cost NASA is currently paying to send a person to the space station on a Russian Soyuz rocket. Though it should be mentioned that the $50 million trip with the Russians is a known quantity at this point and so far SpaceX has only had four successful rocket launches.

The talk of Martian travel came on the heels of SpaceX’s most recent development news of its Dragon capsule. As the California company prepares to send an unmanned Dragon to the International Space Station next month, it completed the first crew trial with NASA. The event gave NASA astronauts a chance to test out the 7-seat capsule that is being developed to carry human passengers as well as cargo.

NASA astronauts and SpaceX engineers relaxing inside the Dragon spacecraft. Photo: SpaceX

The day-long test included evaluations of crew interaction with the capsule including visibility and the ability to reach key places inside the spacecraft. Unlike NASA’s original Mercury capsule which limited the height of the first astronauts to 5 feet 11 inches, the Dragon will be able to accommodate passengers all the way up to 6 feet 5 inches.

The inside of the Dragon is much larger than the capsule currently being used for trips to the ISS, a Russian Soyuz. SpaceX says the entire Soyuz reentry capsule could fit inside the 350 cubic-foot pressure vessel of the Dragon where the passengers would sit.

If next month’s scheduled docking with the ISS is successful, the Dragon could begin delivering cargo to the station later this year. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for 12 flights to the ISS.

Seats inside the Dragon will be custom molded for each passenger. Photo: SpaceX

Via Wired Autopia: http://www.wired.com/autopia/

March Madness For Airplane Geeks

Image: AOPA

It’s not too late to jump into a bracket for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s own version of March madness. The aviation group decided to set up an alternative to the NCAA tournament tradition by choosing a group of 64 different airplanes and giving aviation geeks a chance to choose their favorite from several different divisions.

The tournament started last week, so we’re already into round two, but thankfully AOPA has made it easy to jump in any time you want to vote for your favorites. The bracket includes a mix of new and old, big and small and even some helicopters thrown in for good measure.

There were some questionable pairings in the first round that made for difficult choices. Rather than place a perennial favorite like the North American P-51 against a similar vintage fighter, it was paired with a speedy homebuilt composite airplane. The definition of a traditional airplane, the Piper Cub, faced the revolutionary Rutan Long-EZ, and a twin turbine business aircraft went head-to-head with a light sport aircraft.

The voting is open this week for round two and, there is still a good mix of airplanes with enough choices to suit just about everybody’s tastes. Each day the voting is open for just four matches, so you’ll miss your chance to vote for the Piper Cub or Pitts Special (above) after today.

Sadly there is no grand prize of the airplane of your choosing. In fact it’s just competition for competition’s sake. The championship matchup is set for the beginning of April. Tough to say which airplane will take the grand prize, but we would place our money on one that drags its tail.

UPDATE: If you’re not a person who has a favorite airplane, but does fly on the airlines regularly, Gadling has its own aviation themed tournament of top airline annoyances.

Via Wired Autopia: http://www.wired.com/autopia/

SpaceX Prepares For April 30 Launch To Space Station

Photo: SpaceX

SpaceX and NASA announced a new schedule for the private company’s planned rendezvous with the International Space Station. The launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was expected to take place earlier in the year, but as is often the case with space flights, it was postponed for more testing. Now the company is aiming for an April 30 launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission will combine two tests for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract into a single flight. A few days after launching, the Dragon spacecraft will approach the space station for docking, getting very close, but not actually connecting in order to make sure everything works as planned on both the SpaceX and the station side. After retreating to some safe distance for a period of time, the Dragon will then repeat the approach. But on the second run engineers will go all the way, docking with the ISS.

The tests are to demonstrate SpaceX’s capabilities to deliver payloads to the ISS. Since the retirement of the space shuttle program last year, NASA has been relying on the Russian rockets to deliver astronauts and cargo to the station. The Dragon will only carry cargo initially, but it is being developed to carry astronauts to orbit as well. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract for 12 cargo flights to the ISS.

Earlier this month SpaceX completed a dress rehearsal complete with countdown and fueling roughly 75,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and kerosene into the Falcon 9 rocket as it sat upright on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center. The test was one of the final steps before getting the go ahead for the actual launch.

In addition to announcing a new launch date, SpaceX celebrated its 10th birthday this week. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk and was awarded the COTS contract with NASA in 2006. In 2008 SpaceX delivered its first payload to orbit, a Malaysian satellite. In 2010, the Dragon spacecraft was launched into orbit (picture above) and successfully retrieved back on earth, making SpaceX the first private company to complete such a flight.

In addition to SpaceX, Orbital Sciences Corporation is also competing for the COTS contract with its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft.

Via Wired Autopia: http://www.wired.com/autopia/