[ShadowPhil]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

i think there is a fair bit of overlap between pilots and riders. and hey, at $52,000, the plane is not that much more expensive than a harley touring rig... i would like to learn to fly in that.

 

[The_Aerodynamic_Head]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

Well, at $52k, it's less than a lot of custom bikes. And hey, the engine is *in front* of you, so Man, can you ever hear the sweet song of those open pipes.

According to the FAA link, these planes fall under the 'sport-aircraft/sport-pilot designation' which limits the weight of the craft to 1,232 lbs. Which, again, is less than many custom bikes...

 

[jrpetruzzi]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

Stick the whole "Family" in a fleet of these reliable machines. I won't miss any of them!

 

[35377]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

This is a joke, right?

I mean, aircraft are all about power to weight. The HD V-Twin has many things going for it, but nobody has accused the Motor Company of a high specific output engine since they introduced the original Sportster!

Then again, motorcycles are all about power to weight too, and they still sell a gazillion Harleys every year. Maybe the RUBs will reflexively line up to buy this little plane once they extract the proven Rotax aviation mill and shoehorn in an all-American HD lump.

Wouldn’t surprise me.

 

[38890]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

Betcha somebody already makes drag pipes and a captain's chair smothered in leather and conchos for it...

"Tower Three this is Hog Air 883, show me your t*ts, over."

"Roger that Hog Air, love the whitewalls on your landing gear, over."

"Hog Air 883 requesting permission to make obscene gestures before heading to dealership to replenish concho supply, over."

"Permission granted Hog Air 883, don't forget to ask the dealership what oil your plane takes, looks like you're leaking out the rocker boxes..."

-=Goggles=-

 

[Neal]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

Actually this aint new......i remember reading years ago of a homemade plane in the 30's powered by a HD flathead motor

 

[seruzawa]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

I read somewhere that as part of its diversification Harley builds bomb cases for the USAF.

I can just see the Highwayman in this contraption with an HD(tm) bomb under it buzzing his way to American Honda's headquarters..........

But, myself, I wouldn't put ANY motorcycle engine in an airplane and fly in it. Not Honda, Yammerhammer, Suzuki...no one's. Period.

I'll stick with actual aircraft designed engines, if you please.

 

[Buzglyd]

Peter Egan

It is a bit of a coincidence that Peter Egan's column in the new Cycle World is about the Harley myths (unreliable, overpriced, etc).

In his column he mentions that he's owned 5 H-Ds over the past 12 years and not had a problem with any of them.

And since we're talking about aircraft, God Bless the crew of the Space Shuttle.

 

[ZipTie]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

Way back when .... didn't BMW pull an engine out of and airplane and make a motorcycle????

 

[666]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

Er.. no. BMW were prohibited from making aero engines, so they decided to make motorcycles.

Besides which, aircraft reward high torque more than high horsepower, which is why all the heavier uses of Rotax use step-down gearing. Can a Harley big twin be any less reliable than a European two-stroke?

 

[jmeyn]

Don't believe that price

1) They probably need a production of 100 aircraft/year to break even, and what you get is what you see.

2) I'll bet all you get is the airframe, engine and basic instruments. Just common redundant nav/comm gear will boost the cost by 50%.

3) I'll further bet that they could get a better low compression Rotax engine for it for less money. The HD choice is just to boost US sales.

It's cute if it works, though.

 

[39970]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

No Bubba, thems not tassels, thems static wicks.

 

[Neal]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

harley used to build inert bomb bodies for the armed forces(Navy and Air Force) but they dont anymore

 

[gooseman_1]

If Harley made an airplane.....GREAT BALLS 'O FIRE!

As a pilot it amazes me that someone would put ANY bike engine in an aircraft. I can't believe this engine could pass the required standards. It is an experimental plane (which are as safe as manufactured ones, if properly built) so liabilty isn't an issue for HD. Compared to a Lycoming, Continental, or even a Rotax engine it's a joke. I wouldn't fly it!

 

[Hipshot]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

Actually, the old hog mill is more appropriate for aircraft than motorcycles. It is aircooled, which most aircraft engines are. It only needs to turn up to about 3,600 rpm and cruise at about 2400-2700 rpm, because if you try to turn the prop much faster, it cavitates and you lose thrust. But, it has plenty of torque in those rpm ranges. For light homebuilts, 60-90 HP is more than sufficient. And, contrary to the self-stroking dogma of riders of jap-crap, the HD engine is very reliable, at those horsepowers. So, yeah, I think I would!

 

[KPaulCook]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

LOL This reminds of that old joke running around the net "if Microsoft built cars". Sometime latter another joke made the rounds "if Microsoft built airplanes". Some Mircosoft geek commeted in the Seattle times that the code in Excel was more complicated than the computer code in the Boeing 777. A Boeing Phd. put the lad in his place when he commented that there are several million lines of code contained in all of the various LRUs (sub system controllers, avionics systems ,etc) in a 777. All of these systems have to work in real-time without the luxury of the three finger salute (Cntrl Alt Delete) reboot in mid flight.

Seriously given the choice of flying in a air-cooled V-Twin experimental aircraft vs a Microsoft designed aircraft I'll take the HOG any day. But in general aircraft engines like Lycoming and Contintental would be my preference

 

[TheFox]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

If this is to qualify as a sport-pilot craft, then it probably has HP limitations, like ultralights do. So actually low power would be good, but the healthy torque output Harleys have should make up for it. So it actually might not be that bad in application.

But would I fly in it? Hell no.

--The Fox

 

[TheFox]

Want an interview?

These guys are about 20 minutes from my house...want me to interview them? E-mail me, but make it quick: I leave for the Corps in 8 days.

--The Fox

 

[35305]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

Where do you think Kawasaki got it's start?

 

[Lamar]

Re: You know the saying ''If Harley made and airplane...

Hmmmm. Don't think I'd fly in it, but didn't the original v-twin design come from basically taking two cylinders from a radial aircaft engine anyway? Is this full circle?