I was impressed with the giant brass balls of the test pilot who rode that deep stall all the way to splash down.

Can't remember Lear ever putting a chute on one of their planes. And, uh isn't that a Concorde in the photo?

You're in Ormond Beach! Jump in the plane and go a few minutes down the coast to X26. They've got a great space down there with some interesting projects in progress for various customers. They are very laid back and enjoyable to talk to.

I was down there earlier this year picking up a fuselage jig for my F1 Rocket build from their avionics guy Bryan. (Who is a master artist in avionics installations and wiring.)

Twin Turbine Velocity! Super cool, has that machine flown?

The chute was an option through at least the 35/36 series. Most I’ve seen had them. Not a practical solution for reducing normal, everyday landing distances unless you plan to repack it after every landing. On the Lear they’re just a maintenance headache. They’re in the way getting up in the hellhole and they require repack every 6 months. When pulling the wing the cable has to be pulled forward into the cabin. I hate those things.

Early Citation 500's without TR's or power brakes had a chute as well.

I didn't learn as much as I wanted, but, yes, I think it's flown. It was a few months ago and my memory is already fuzzy. I think my focus wandered to other things when he mentioned the price tag.

Not yet.

They ran the engines for the first time a couple months ago.

They had to stuff fuel tanks in every available location. That's going to knock about 400lbs off the useful load of a piston V-twin. They think 250kts at altitude with just under 5 hours endurance burning about 34GPH total. So going 1,000nm is going to burn 136 gallons in 4 hours. At $6 per gallon that's $816.

A piston V-twin burns about 15GPH making about 180kts. That 1,000nm trip is going to burn 83 gallons in 5.5 hours. At $7 per gallon that's $581.

I don't know anything about turbine aircraft so I don't know how this compares to others. But that seems like a lot of money to save 1.5 hours on a 1,000 mile trip. And that doesn't count the cost for those engines (I'm assuming they cost more than a pair of IO360's), or that you'll be wearing a mask for the majority of the trip.

Then again, if you time is valuable enough, I suppose you can make a argument for it.

Hello Mark,
I am currently exploring my “true interest” before attempting to set up an appointment to go down there. I don’t want to waste their time if I am not ready to spend the $$$. It looks like they have been bombarded by the YouTube guys … who all created similar content … and I think I was sensing in those videos that possibly their generosity was running short, which I don’t blame them. In other words, I wanted to qualify myself as more than a tire kicker before wasting their time.

With that being said, someone here on BT connected me with someone who has built two XL-RG’s and has in excess of 4,000 hours flying them and he gave me at least an hour on the telephone and answered all of the questions that I had. He is a wealth of knowledge. He also invited me to come up to KCRG and look his plane over, set in it and possibly take me for a ride in it. BUT …. I learned something from him that may be critical to my personal application and that is the loading of the plane. His plane has a whopping 3,500 max weight …. But his testing has been limited to a maximum of 450 lb in the front seat. He explained to me that the canard carries 20% of the load and the main wing carries 80% of the load. I am personally just over 6 ft … yeah at my age I will count that extra 1/4 inch in height … but I am also typically anywhere from 285 to 305 lb, which is about 100 lb heavier than I was 18 months ago. That would really limit my other front seat passengers weight because I can’t think of any of my friends that fly with me that come in at under 225 lb. That would put us well over the tested weight of 450 lb front seat capacity. My son who is 6’ 4” and weighs 340 lb can jump in the A36 with me and even with full fuel our CG is still inside the envelope. I don’t think that 640 lb is ever going to work out in the front seat of the XL-RG.

The last thing that I have discovered in my few days of research is that even though everyone speaks of the 200 plus knot cruise speeds, FlightAware must not be picking up their speed accurately. I have looked up several XL-RG N numbers and ran them on FlightAware but I am seeing about the exact same speeds on there as I am getting out of my A36 with about the same fuel burn. Maybe it’s because it’s a lighter aircraft and they are respecting the airframe like I respect my airframe. The last few flights that I have made I have had to stay down around 60% to 62% power to stay out of the yellow, which is my normal practice when there is anything more than a little light chop.

I haven’t completely written the idea off yet, and from everyone I have spoken with the XL-RG is an excellent little airplane especially based on what you can buy a low time second hand well equipped airplane for but maybe there is something else in the experimental world that will get me a little more …. or possibly a lot more speed than my A36 and better accommodate two of us “plump boys” in the front seat at the same time.

Just exploring my options and seeing what’s out there.

Thanks, Frank

Absolutely correct about front seat weight. But on my plane it was a CG issue. I'm 225 and went up a few times with a guy who was 250lb. Ballast in the baggage area was necessary but the plane flew fine. Some Velocity's are real nose heavy. Mine was around 100lbs. But I've seen some hit 150lbs and that can have an impact as well.

One thing I forgot to mention (if you're considering building) is time. Last I heard, they are running an 18 month lead time. So if you put your order in today, don't expect to take delivery of the KIT until the end of 2023. That may have changed.

Personally, I would go down to Sebastian and talk to Scott. He will you give you straight scoop. The guy is as honest as the day is long.

I recall hearing a homebuilder showing Burt Rutan how he "improved" his airplane with additional fiberglass in some areas.

Burt's response: "Congratulations. You've turned a 6G airplane into a 2G airplane".

Stiffening up areas engineered to flex concentrates the loads on other areas, potentially exceeding their design limits.

I recall hearing a homebuilder showing Burt Rutan how he "improved" his airplane with additional fiberglass in some areas.

Burt's response: "Congratulations. You've turned a 6G airplane into a 2G airplane".

Stiffening up areas engineered to flex concentrates the loads on other areas, potentially exceeding their design limits.

Hello Don,
I would only be considering the purchase of an existing aircraft. While my mechanical skills may possibly, and I did say possibly suffice, my airframe skills fall substantially short of ever even considering building an aircraft.
In my research I just found one that I really like but it suffers from that light nose syndrome. The owner says that you can effortlessly lift the nose with just one hand.
It has also had at lease two substantial issues in the past with one being a gear up landing and the other being a nose wheel shimmy that separated the nose gear from the airplane and it somehow had a prop strike from the second incidence as well as from the first incidence. The asking price is also north of $200 K so that particular aircraft won’t advance on my list of potential’s. The damage history doesn’t bother me at all, I just would have to know a lot more about the XL-RG and be absolutely certain that I wanted one before I gambled $200K that I was going to fall in love with the airplane. I haven’t seen any other XL-RG’s in that price range.

Thanks, Frank