N330CG - Panzl S-330 Serial No. 002

After a very educating experience at the US National Aerobatic Championships, I decided that as amazingly fun as the Eagle is, with the round belly of the Pitts design it just wouldn't ever be judged competitively at the National and World levels.  Even if I got new wings to increase the roll rate I'd still have a fast-rolling round bellied Pitts.  So, I've moved to the dark side and bought a monoplane.  The Panzl is built by Greg Panzl in Onsted Michigan. Loren Smith, owner of Panzl No. 001 has a great writeup on the Panzl at http://www.iac78.org/panzl/panzlinfo.html.  

Another IO-540 powered bird, the Panzl has 330hp, rolls 400 degrees per second (many, many vertical rolls), has reclined seating making 10g pulls relatively GLOC-free, has an unbreakable wing, and unbelievably great lines for competitive aerobatics.  Now I just have to learn to fly it in time for next year's WAAC in Hungary.

Just a few pics here - much more at www.330cg.com

N726SM - McIntosh Christen Eagle

My toy - a Christen Eagle with a 540.  A base Eagle is a Pitts S2-A with a much better canopy system and easier cockpit access (sans rear seat instruments) - +7/-5G. This is one of a very few 6 cylinder Eagles.  IO-540 C4B5 with high compression pistons, cold air induction and RSA-10 servo, 6:1 Sky Dynamics exhaust.  MT aerobatic MTV9/C203 prop.  Let's just say it won't sneak up on anyone in stealth mode!    Vertical until you get tired of looking at the sky.  More to come....

check out more video on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/austinaviator

N28067 - 1979 Bellanca Viking 17-30A

Sharon and I purchased N28067, a 1979 Bellanca Viking in 1997.  Since then, we have logged over 2,000 hours with trips as far as Grand Cayman, Florida, California, Alaska (wow!), Steamboat Springs, Cape Cod, Oshkosh (multiple times), Tuscon, Jackson Hole, Los Angeles, and Sunriver, OR.  We also regularly fly to Houston, Midland, Dallas, Baton Rouge and New Orleans (and of course, Plainview).

N28067 is equipped with King digital IFR avionics and CII AP coupled to King equipment and Northstar Loran.  I have added a Garmin intercom, JPI, Davtron dig clock, and AWX Nexrad capability.  The 1979 model year was the first with the redesigned engine mount allowing the nose gear to fully retract and includes nose gear doors.  

N28067 came from the factory with the TCM IO-520 and has all the antennae external, but trued at book speeds plus a couple mph.  I generally fly above 10,000 ft and saw around 185 mph.  I got 190 mph plus a little at lower altitudes.  We carry O₂ and routinely go as high as 14,000 ft to get over turbulence and still trued about 180 mph (great if there are tailwinds, lousy if headwinds).

The previous paragraph was all past tense because....in fall '04, after 2,000 hrs, we replaced the engine and interior.  Since the factory had added the IO-550 to the TC and I had the correct prop, we went with the 550.  I actually didn't expect much difference in performance - I optimistically hoped for maybe a couple mph....how wrong I was!  The 550 is on average 15 mph faster.  I also see substantial differences in takeoff roll and climb.  It definitely drinks more fuel, but even at today's prices fuel is a small part of the airplane ownership equation.  Am I happy with the 550 conversion - you betcha!

The interior redo was a combination of Norman Jones (Plainview) for side panels, carpet and headliner and a place in California for custom seats (conforfoam with lumbar contouring and slightly wider front seats.)  We used very high quality materials (leather, wool fabric and carpet, etc) and couldn't be happier with the way it came out.

See the 'new' N28067 here.

N28067 was Tom Russ' "Miss February" Viking back in 1998.

There is a pretty active Viking Owners' Group.  Some of the group pictures are here.

Viking Links and Info:  

Tom's Bellanca Super Viking site - the best Viking site around

Max Schuermann's site - Good Viking info from an A&P

Fun with maintenance - stories about maintenance on N28067

Viking performance - discussions about actual performance

What a prospective Viking driver might want to know - ramblings about the qualities of a Viking

AnywhereWX - info and screen shots about Control Vision's GPS/WX product

REA True Airspeed applet - this is cool

Some FUN runways!

Friends and Family:

 SNOWBIRDS in El Paso!

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