| Is the Chinook + 2 the best Ultralight LSA design? * |
As you can see by the smile on my face, I am very pleased with the Chinook + 2.
The craft does everything I dreamed it would do and more. I hope this site gives others ideas about the type of modifications that can be made, to make
your craft suit you. Almost every Ultralight I have seen has had modification made to suit the pilot. I have indeed made many changes, and I am fortunate that they
have all worked very nicely in the end.
I really love this plane, and can't wait to load it up with a duffel bag in the rear seat like above, and go for another trip.
The kit was very easy to build. ASAP was very honest. Instructions were excellent, and I believe anyone with only a small amount of mechanical ability could
build one of these kits.
#2 Slug those control sticks.
#3 Rear seat rudder pedals need improvement.
I hope to see you in the air: Don James, Kent, OHIO, USA
The craft does everything I dreamed it would do and more. I hope this site gives others ideas about the type of modifications that can be made, to make
your craft suit you. Almost every Ultralight I have seen has had modification made to suit the pilot. I have indeed made many changes, and I am fortunate that they
have all worked very nicely in the end.
I really love this plane, and can't wait to load it up with a duffel bag in the rear seat like above, and go for another trip.
The kit was very easy to build. ASAP was very honest. Instructions were excellent, and I believe anyone with only a small amount of mechanical ability could
build one of these kits.
- Only changes that I hope will get made to the kits are as follows:
#2 Slug those control sticks.
#3 Rear seat rudder pedals need improvement.
I hope to see you in the air: Don James, Kent, OHIO, USA
Photo taken at Orange County Airport, VA
Photo taken early morning Grant County Airport, WV
| The Chinook is really a tough little airplane. I suppose you are wondering how I got myself into the situation shown here? I was supposed to meet a friend at a location on a farm that was known to both of us. My friend was supposed to go the day before and mow the hayfield, but for some reason did not get this done. This field was a "one way" strip due to very large hillsides on three sides. A bit of a canyon really, and from high in the air I couldn't tell if it was mowed or not. Once set up to land, I was committed. I stopped very quickly, and could not find anyone around the farm to mow it for me. I turned the Chinook around and took off. Lots of power in that 582 and I am real happy I have a Warp Drive prop. I was able to fly it out! Many folks at my home field wondered about all the "growth" on my gear, but I left it on for a few days, as I was proud of it. |
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| Q: I have looked at your website several times absorbing everything about your Chinook +2. On the conclusions page you list three improvements your recommend. I'm good with #1 & #3, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "slug the control sticks". Could you expand on that comment? A: If you look at my page named "control" you will see how I fixed the problem of worn holes in the control sticks. This effort would not be needed if ASAP would insert a "slug" of aluminum in the control stick with Loc-Tite. This slug would need to be inserted before they pressed the end of the tube closed and before they drilled the cross hole. Slugging would take them only a minute to do, and would improve the control sticks. The way the kit is sold, there is nothing the buyer can do, short of what I did to fix the problem. |