Not sure about a ULM but if I lived in the US I would have this little homebuilt.
Peter wrote:
Not sure about a ULM but if I lived in the US I would have this little homebuilt.
Absolutely, a very nice racer. I once had the opportunity to board the Czech one.
Does anybody know where that went? Last I heard it was sold.
If someone’s sole focus is to have a fast airplane so they can spend less time in it, then they should honestly ask themselves how much they like the fundamental act of flying itself…
Dan wrote:
If someone’s sole focus is to have a fast airplane so they can spend less time in it, then they should honestly ask themselves how much they like the fundamental act of flying itself…
Which comes down to ‘mission profile’.
I do use my aircraft frequently as a commuter and yes, for that I want it to go fast, especially in winter when daytime is limited.
If you just want to go ‘sunday coffee round the corner’, you may not be interested, but also got that with being target to FFFionista.
Dan wrote:
If someone’s sole focus is to have a fast airplane so they can spend less time in it, then they should honestly ask themselves how much they like the fundamental act of flying itself…
Not sure I agree with you, Dan! I’d guess someone that wants to drive a Ferrari is not doing so because they just want to get there fast! 
Major thread drift here, but some interesting posts and comments 
eurogaguest1980 wrote:
Not sure I agree with you, Dan!
Surprise surprise
Yes, bragging and showing off is a typical male attribute.
Guys flying fast airplanes (I don’t speak about them relatively fast RVs here) don’t usually loiter around. And MichaLSA is right, the mission can be a deciding factor. A businessman on a tight schedule, someone commuting, running ahead of sunset or bad weather, etc, are some of reasons to have the pedal to the metal.
On this respected forum we have it all, VFR vs IFR, flying for pleasure vs convenience, pros vs amateurs.
I’m in a lucky position today, as all my flying is for fun, f.u.n.
Efficiency has always been my mantra, the more so in aviation. And since I have a choice, I usually fly at Carson speed, which is pretty efficient with its given set of parameters. Plenty of articles on the subject, such as this AOPA
I once had the opportunity to board the Czech one.
Does anybody know where that went? Last I heard it was sold.
The famous N111XA? That article link went dead a number of years ago. Is it archived anywhere, I wonder? Lancair itself went bust but that article was taken offline years earlier. @Pytlak was based in the vicinity, IIRC. Nothing on FR24 in past 90 days.
Anyway, nobody can say there isn’t diversity here
Another thing is that – picking up a comment I made further back about what kind of pilot is willing to type up more than a one-liner – the one-line crowd has mostly decamped to the “instant-satisfaction one-line-tossing” social media like twitter, reddit, facebook. This has been a gradual trend for many years. Those sites have zero value for searching and learning, which is why EuroGA gets such good SEO.
Peter wrote:
People tend to stereotype into these
Yes, I also think people in general do that. The magazine was about two distinct types of pilots. Certainly in a humoristic way, but IME it’s also lots of truth in it.
A “Pilot”:
Flies correctly “by the book”, and he/she knows the book inside out
An “Aviator”:
Flies by “the seat of the pants”, he/she knows that books are made for those who can’t.
and so on. Google on the other hand… Searching for pictures of famous pilots and for famous aviators, and these are the first pictures that pop up in their respective searches:
Famous Aviator (apparently one Amelia Earhart, I have heard the name but..)
Famous Pilots (no clue who this is)
What does that tell us?
As a rule 45% power is a decent approximation to Carson speed, in theory closer to 35%, but any turbulence will tend to bump you onto the other side of the drag curve. The bottom of curve is quite flat for puddlejumpers, so tangent to origin requires a reasonable speed margin for optimum cruise.
These engines are happiest at 65% or 75% power, so not sure the fuel savings pay off in the real world. I think people use Carson speed mainly when needing to stretch endurance/range due to a diversion. Also ferry pilots on a flat ferry fee :)
