Who says a weed eater and some 2x4s can't fly?
Flight Report
By Ben Showman
The Weed Wacker was test flown off the
local grass airstrip at Homer's Happy Hog Farm. The Wacker was filled
with a 1/4 tank of gas (8 ounces) and final control checks were made. The
engine was started and throttled up. Sam offered some final words of
encouragement, "Don't crash it, if you do I'll ...," and with that in mind,
the Weed Plane was given full throttle. The large mass of 2x4's and
Econokote made its way down the runway and leaped into the air. The
take-off run took up about half of the 400' runway. Right away, two
flight characteristics were discovered, first, the Weed Wacker tracks straight
down the runway and second, rudder is required for coordinated turns.
Landing was a little shaky, the high glide ratio was unexpected and
a couple of go-arounds were necessary. The first flight lasted about
five minutes.
Since that first flight, lots of others have
been made, altogether about five and a half hours of flight time. Most
of that flight time was spent on test stuff: flutter, stalls, slow
speed, high speed, best angle of climb, improving bombing accuracy, and inverted
flat spins coupled with knife edge looping somersaults (yeh right). Weed
Wacker has had one forced landing due to bad fuel and one due to radio problems;
both times the landings were made in tall grass but little harm was done.
It's easier to fly than an Uproar but more difficult then a trainer.
Over all, the plane controls like a Cessna.
The weedplane at lift-off. A slow fly by
Flying in to the sunset
A view from above