leadsledfan
New member
Another neat tidbit from the Factory:
I was talking to Randy at Alexandria, and I mentioned the idea of Alexandra holding Workshops, focusing on either Wood Construction and Repair, or Bellanca Repair in General. Randy then mentioned that the factory has been kicking around the idea of a Bellanca Cruisair Homebuilt! The idea would be to offer a factory supported Cruisair Homebuilt, with a modern powerplant, panel, and gear.
Disclaimer: the Factory has been kicking around this idea for years, and likely it will never come to fruition, but I thought it was interesting. Their largest obstacle is the factory building themselves, which the city owns, and desperately need updating. At the time of our call, a storm had just knocked out a wall on the wood shop. Apparently gives them a nice view and breeze!
Anyways, the idea is to take the original Cruisair design, and then install an updated hydraulic gear system, a Modern Panel, and a Lycoming 4-Cylinder Powerplant. Essentially, all of the gripes and wants of the current Cruisair owners.
4-place homebuilts are few and far between, especially ones that can carry a decent load.
I think that a modern Cruisair with a 180-200HP Lycoming and C/S prop would easily carry 900-1000 pounds, and likely Cruise at 135-140 knots at a reasonable fuel burn.
There are some advantages to the construction of the Cruisair. The design is really quite simple, and with the factory offering support for the construction of the wood wings, seems like an awesome homebuilt!
I think that a 4 place tailwheel with a decent load, Bellanca Flying Qualities, and Nostalgia of the triple tail would be awesome as a homebuilt.
Probably just a dream at this point, but a cool dream none the less.
-Adam
I was talking to Randy at Alexandria, and I mentioned the idea of Alexandra holding Workshops, focusing on either Wood Construction and Repair, or Bellanca Repair in General. Randy then mentioned that the factory has been kicking around the idea of a Bellanca Cruisair Homebuilt! The idea would be to offer a factory supported Cruisair Homebuilt, with a modern powerplant, panel, and gear.
Disclaimer: the Factory has been kicking around this idea for years, and likely it will never come to fruition, but I thought it was interesting. Their largest obstacle is the factory building themselves, which the city owns, and desperately need updating. At the time of our call, a storm had just knocked out a wall on the wood shop. Apparently gives them a nice view and breeze!
Anyways, the idea is to take the original Cruisair design, and then install an updated hydraulic gear system, a Modern Panel, and a Lycoming 4-Cylinder Powerplant. Essentially, all of the gripes and wants of the current Cruisair owners.
4-place homebuilts are few and far between, especially ones that can carry a decent load.
I think that a modern Cruisair with a 180-200HP Lycoming and C/S prop would easily carry 900-1000 pounds, and likely Cruise at 135-140 knots at a reasonable fuel burn.
There are some advantages to the construction of the Cruisair. The design is really quite simple, and with the factory offering support for the construction of the wood wings, seems like an awesome homebuilt!
I think that a 4 place tailwheel with a decent load, Bellanca Flying Qualities, and Nostalgia of the triple tail would be awesome as a homebuilt.
Probably just a dream at this point, but a cool dream none the less.
-Adam
