odyssey main wheelbase width

[dickoreilly]

I'll second that. As a great admirer of the Thundergull design and former Thundergull owner, I have long found Rahul's posts irritating and never intended to obtain more information about this unique airplane. I wish he would go away.
I now own and fly a 1942 Interstate Cadet tandem seat, tail wheel, steel tube and fabric trainer. I launched a Facebook page for that make and limit membership to verified owners of an Interstate Cadet. As a consequence, our posts are of interest to our members and have helped build us into a community. 
Most of the posts on the Earthstar_Aircraft group have a legitimate interest or are pilots of Thundergulls. I enjoy reading the posts, but don't post myself because I'm not current and my maintenance skills never approached those of many of you.
Rahul, I hope you will answer Kess' questions. If you are not an aircraft builder and are not a pilot, please sign off with an apology to the rest of the group.
Dick O'Reilly

[blaswichk]

I just got current in Cessna's again, and bought into one of my buddies plane. It needs some love and I can take people on trips with it or 172, 182, 182RG that I have time in. Still love my little streak.

[dickoreilly]

Yeah, Cessna's are great. I fly under the light sport pilot restrictions these days, so they are too heavy to qualify. But I recently took a 172 up with an instructor after several years absence and it was just like old times again. It was in Puerto Rico after the hurricanes. I posted a video on YouTube. Search for Dick O'Reilly to find my site if you are interested.
Dick

[rahulchoudhary73]

Dear Kess,

am 44yo now, in India currently. At 37 (~2010), searched for a few months and settled on the odyssey. Had taken paragliding lessons in '08, but found it less safe comparatively for high mountains. Had a plan then to migrate to Canada, business study and fly as a hobby until retirement. "And then think of building planes in India". California is still a possibility as of now.

Agewise, i think it's still early for me to buy an plane, especially since the last few years i've been living on my own funds, already drained well over an odyssey's worth of savings. put in a fair amount of reading up on flying and such, over the years. let me know, if you'd like to know of my professional background too.

Last couple of years, the group tends to be quiet in general, so i send in a few more mails to keep my interest alive. With the experimental spirit, it's always fun to work on thinking how to improve on the gull, which is quite fine as it already is.

Mid 2000s, i guess, Mark worked on an opportunity to build Earthstar Aircraft out of Israel for a global market. it dint pan out for some reasons, unknown to me. I hope that is the idea eventually.

I get it a few of the older pilots, at least, dislike it nowadays. So well, this missive has been longer than i've liked to share as it is. no hard feelings.

best regards,
Rahul

[blaswichk]

Thanks Rahul, No condemnation intended. If you admire our planes and want to stay involved, that’s good enough for me. I never soloed until the age of 50, that is in true airplanes, a Cessna 150G. Prior to that I flew one of the converted kite/ultralights. No at true kite, but a 3 axis ultralight appearing to look like an airplane. After 2 years of that and 150 hrs I wanted a real airplane, so me and a buddy bought a 65 Cessna and hired an instructor to teach us how to fly it. That was ok for the 1st year, then I wanted my own. I found an old high time aerobatic Cessna, A150L, in Phoenix and flew it back. So my instructor asked what we were going to learn first, and I said loops? No he said we will do spins to the right and left and when I call a heading , you will stop the the spin at that heading. Major hard work, but in the end I knew 150’s quite well. I can climb up to target altitude and jumble and scramble the controls , and poof, flat and level. I traced Mark’s leading edge airfoil to an RV3. Only about 3/4” taller. I’d say we have baby RV wings, and why these things are so fast and efficient. With a tiny engine, you can cruise at ultralight speeds, (63mph max), but put the 52hp 503 on it and it just runs right up past 80 and beyond. With my slick-ups I can keep up with 120mph Cessna’s. Mark builds a true light airplane, an ultralight looking plane.. Keep blogging if you want to join us.

[rahulchoudhary73]

God Bless America, Kess and the Gulls
R




(steamed an 8'x4' steel sheet for a trunk yesterday, it twangs too, cute low bass jazzy sound. will be busy doing a gull friendly basement, so will be generally "quiet". north american plumbing, electrical, health and safety code regulations is one big mountain chain.)

[rahulchoudhary73]

see even 50+ is buy early for a gull ;)

similar to RV3 airfoil? the gull's airfoil data seems off the web now. sure i saw it in a database of Eppler airfoils with laminar flow, few years back, as "MBE12345 Mark Beierle Earthstar some number". think it's an original high lift airfoil Mark designed from his experience in a facility with a wind tunnel. an L/D of 2.3 or something. always wondered if it would have been better protected with a patent.

public db's now show ~1600 foil data, an eppler airfoil application mentions ~2300 foils. dunno how many are there actually. this is how it looks like, i think.
R

[rahulchoudhary73]

see even 50+ is buy early for a gull ;)

similar to RV3 airfoil? the gull's airfoil data seems off the web now. sure i saw it in a database of Eppler airfoils with laminar flow, few years back, as "MBE12345 Mark Beierle Earthstar some number". think it's an original high lift airfoil Mark designed from his experience in a facility with a wind tunnel. an L/D of 2.3 or something. always wondered if it would have been better protected with a patent.

public db's now show ~1600 foil data, an eppler airfoil application mentions ~2300 foils. dunno how many are there actually. this is how it looks like, i think.
R

[blaswichk]

Your airfoil sketch does indeed look like Mark’s

[blaswichk]

Let’s thank God for the gift of flight. Not all car drivers are safe to fly airplanes, even they can under Basic Med.