The Falcon XP Project
2003 - 2004

2008

Tuesday Flies!!! The Falcon XP is real!!
After a year and a half with me and another three years with Kenneth, the Falcon XP Project finally takes flight!  Kenneth Winters and company have put long hours and a lot of tedious work into making the Falcon a real, flying, airworthy aircraft.  Congratulations to Kenneth for following through with what turned out to be a absolutely beautiful aircraft!  Click on the link below to watch the flight of the Falcon!

The Flight of the Falcon

The Falcon is gone! (see December 18 link below)
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Want to fly an XP sim? Check here for updates on Zane Gard's program!  More!

Kenneth Winters, the present owner of the Falcon XP, is continuing to complete the XP Project.  He has graciously consented to let me post accounts and pictures of his work on this site.  I wish him the best of luck and I am sure the bird will fly soon.  If you would like to see the story from the beginning, just skip down to the beginning table (February 27, 2003) and enjoy!

The XP Project will be published here (for better or for worse) with commentary and pictures.  If you have any comments or questions, go back to my home page (see link above) and send email.  The links below will take you to pictures/text on those dates. 

With a lot of advice from John Joye, Tim Goddard and Jim Amodeo, I've decided to completely rebuild the Falcon.  Which means I'll probably not be flying the bird this summer, but on the upside, I'll have a brand-new Falcon when (and if) I get finished.  I plan on complete recovering, painting, new wiring, cables and hardware. The links below will be more for me than for anybody reading this page, unless you're interested in a blow-by-blow rebuilding process of a Falcon XP.  I'm going to keep my rebuilding log on the website, just to keep my motivation up.  If a week goes by without an update, drop me a line and tell me to get busy!

Refinishing the canard (2003)

Recovering the horizontal stabilizers, vertical stabilizers and the wings (2003)

Final finishing and painting on the wings, stabilizers, and fuselage              (December 2003 & January 2004)

Putting it all together in 2004

The flight of the Falcon - A short video clip of a Falcon XP in flight. The Falcon in the video was bought by Bob and Michael Wallette just recently.  There should be some info on it soon on their web site.

The Falcon XP is getting close to completion.  It's been a year and a half, but the project is finally winding down.

The body is composite, and doesn't look too bad. The engine has been crated for storage, so it'll be a little easier to haul it home.	The front wheel is retractable
Definitely some work to do here!	The canard.
The wings and one of the rudders.  Wonder where the other one is?	It'll take a little work, but watch this space for the improvements.

March 4... Dale, Kent and I went to North Georgia and picked up the XP.  Met the nice lady who was selling the aircraft and loaded the truck and trailer with the fuselage, wings, canard and some other parts.  The trailer was a bit too narrow, so we had to improvise to bring everything home.  Left about 8:30 in the morning and had it unloaded in the garage by 9:00 PM.  Long day.  Of course, after unloading, I found that we had left a few parts and would have to make the trip again.

		The XP is in its new home, but our garage is definitely not going to be the permanent home.

March 14....
No pictures.  Packed up the Rotax 503 engine and shipped it to South Mississippi Light Aircraft.  They are going to tear it down, inspect and do any repair work needed and ship it back.  Hopefully in about a week.  When it gets back, I'll install it in the Falcon and at least I'll be able to taxi around the house.  Also, I contacted the management at Air Park and contracted for a hanger there beginning April.  So the XP will have a permanent home soon.

Heading back to north Georgia this weekend to pick up the wing braces we managed to leave when we picked up the aircraft.

March 20....
Good and Bad.
Picked up the wing braces last week and they are in good shape.  The engine, however, is not in such good shape.  Ronnie (at South Mississippi) disassembled the Rotax and found it had a 'marginal' crankshaft.  That, coupled with after-market pistons and a few other 'marginal' things, led to a decision to search for either a new or 'newer' engine.  'Marginal' doesn't interest me when I'm at 10,000 feet. The Rotax was an older model with single ignition and points, so it really wasn't that hard a decision to make. 

March 24....
Ordered a new engine from South Mississippi Light Aircraft today.  Checked out a used one locally (another marginal), and talked to Ronnie about good used engines.  Seems there's not a whole lot of difference in the cost of a good used engine and a new one.  Moving the bird to Airpark (T-hangar) the first or second week in April, so I should have a few pics to show soon.

March 30....
The new 503 Rotax from South Mississippi Light Aircraft arrived last Friday.  The Cherry Blossom Fly-In was this weekend, so I didn't have time to work on the bird.  Ordered a new airspeed indicator and altimeter from Aircraft Spruce.  The ones in the panel were inop and Lowe Aviation seemed to think that 'new' would probably be cheaper than 'repair'.  Good people there.  Packing up the XP and taking it to a local shop to have tarps made for the wings next week.  I understand that sunlight is not beneficial  to fabric life.  Thanks to Dale (www. wolfpack-racing.com) for loaning me his trailer to move the bird.  Those wings are 16' long (each one) and just don't seem to fit in a small pick-up.  Also ordered a set of wheel pants from Falcon East.  All the parts are beginning to come together!

April 15...
It's tax time (I was early this year - I mailed mine yesterday), mosquito time and frustration time.  My son Dale came by to help me work on the bird this afternoon and after 4 hours we had managed to hang the engine, check the fit on the canard and receive a thousand mosquito bites!  We found that some of the old parts are not going to fit on the new engine.  Such is life.....  I talked to a fellow in Massachusetts who was a former owner of the Falcon.  It seems like it has had an interesting journey to Central Georgia.  Mr. S.. gave me some good tips on the care and feeding of an XP.  I appreciate any advice I can get!  

We had to check out the canard fit.  This is the first time we've seen it on the aircraft.	The new engine fills the spot.  You don't  realize how heavy a small engine can be until you try to hold it in place to bolt it in........	Unfortunately we're going to have to take it out again to mount the transfer brace between the engine and the frame.

May 6...
Moved the bird into my workshop and installed the new instruments into the panel.  Dale connected the control cables and re-wiring will be the next project.

May 30.....

Got it all together at Airpark.  Now we have to concentrate on connecting everything that connects.  At least now it looks like an airplane (although a strange one)!  The blue on the wings is a canvas covering to keep the afternoon sun from the fabric.  The myriad of ropes is simply to keep it from flying off by itself.  The bird is definitely not a heavyweight! The wingspan is 36', so a little wind creates a lotta lift.  And naturally this is the year Mother Nature is throwing a thunderstorm at us every week.

Having a cover made for the canard.  The elevators are fabric, although the front part is metal.  Probably need to keep the sun from that fabric, too.   I'll have rudder covers made next.  Then the cockpit (lexan) cover, and the last one will cover the engine.  Howard Hill Enterprises (Macon) sews the coverings for me at a very reasonable price.

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