Posted: 4/18/2008 3:46:40 PM EDT
| My brother just bought one of these off e-bay. Anyone know anything about them? I've got some information off the net but I'd like to hear stories of firsthand experience with this type of airplane. |
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There used to be one parked out at the Birchwood Airport outside Anchorage in the 1980s. Personally, I'd love to have one. Some info at the Quickheads web site. More probably after a Google search. |
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Fast landings/long takeoffs. My dad and I built one in the 80's. We started with a Revmaster engine. It did not do well with altitudes we were flying out of (almost 4K'). We ended up putting on a Continental C-90 that came off a C-150. I think we were short of funds for an O-200 engine. From what I remember, it was a flawed/compromised design. The conversion from Rutan's original Quickie to the Q-2 didn't take into account all the differences, such as weight and power. I'm sure there are few out there that have had the kinks worked out and the owners understand the Q-2's quirks. We had originally built the tail dragger, but converted to a tri-gear, and canard w/out anhedral. My dad developed an allergy to the epoxies so no more composites for him. In the end, ours was a negative experience. My dad wished he'd have built an RV instead. Still, it was neat as a kid to build one, and it is a beautiful plane. |
Thanks for the info. It's consistent with what I've read online. It seems like the Quickie is fast, strong and extremely efficient. The users report better gas mileage than a Prius. The tradeoff for all that efficiency, however, is that the airplane is difficult to land and doesn't handle very well on the ground. (I keep hearing about guys ground looping them). |
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Hey All, Dan Yager here. I own the quickheads website and I've been in love with the design ever since I was a little kid. There's a lot of information floating around on the web about these planes and some of it is actually true. her The original Quickie had an older airfoil on the canard and it was prone to lose lift if laminar flow was lost due to bug or rain contamination. During the time that the single seater was being sold in kit form, guys were begging Quickie Aircraft Corporation to build a two seater version. QAC sat on the idea for a while, and got beat to the punch by a couple of guys that developed the Dragonfly in their garage. The Dragonfly was essentially a scaled up version of the single seat Quickie. It doesn't perform as well as the later two seat Q's. However, the development of the Dragonfly lit a fire under the arses of the guys at QAC. They developed the Q2 from the ground up around the Revmaster powerplant as described by the previous poster. However, its canard still used the GU airfoil and was prone to bug and rain contamination. A little later QAC successfully tested a new airfoil (LS1) on both the single seater Q1 and the 2 place version. The upgraded airfoil allowed a higher gross weight and more power by installing a Continental 0-200. In addition, QAC developed a means of maintaining laminar flow on the older canards via "vortex generators." In addition, the quickiebuilders usergroup got together and solved the ground handling problems, via wheel alignment attributed to David Gall. QAC went out of business due to a lawsuit involving the widow of one of their builders, and this probably perpetuated some of the misconceptions surrounding the design. However, the Quickie series of tandem wing designs continue to be some of the fastest (200mph with 100HP) and most efficient airplanes ever designed! Like I said these are "high performance" airplanes, and therefore the pilot's skills need to match that performance before getting behind the stick, but otherwise I stand behind this great machine I'm building in my garage! havewebsite, join ourforum, or become a member of the quickiebuilders, group. On my website, I have a full set of text searchable plans for the Q-200, all of the original QAC newsletters, pictures of my own project (that I bought on eBay), and construction videos from the 80's. I plan on posting all of the large templates very shortly, as well as a full set of legible Q1 plans. I hope you find the information useful. Cheers, Dan Yager www.quickheads.com |
| Thanks. I'll give my brother this info. He's agreed to purchase a Q2 with the LS1 airfoil but has to get his taildragger cert before picking it up. The guy he's buying it from has 2 Q2s and has agreed to show him how to fly it when he goes to pick it up. I'm concerned because my brother doesn't have a lot of flight time and I really don't want him to get hurt. I understand that landing a Quickie is somewhat difficult. |
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No problem Danno. I just got my taildragger endorsement last night in a Piper Cub! It was A LOT of fun! (I'm still grinning.) he Tell your brother to get lots of taildragger time, and the checkout flights in an actual Q-200 will be very helpful. It sounds like he's doing the right thing. Just remember that flying a plane is difficult if you don't know how, but learning how is what makes it not so difficult! Keep learning! Good luck to you both! Dan Yager www.quickheads.com |
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It is truly interesting to see the rutan designs finally come to be respected. They were many years before their time. With today's fuel prices, such aircraft should be "current production". Im no artist, but I drew up a homebuilt design shaped like the quickie, with a more "Piaggio" shaped fuselage and a small "T" tail It looked great. I simply love the canard look. I currently own an older Cessna 177RG and (when it was airworthy) it got about 15MPG. It could cruise at 150-160MPH. Quite a bit shy of a Rutan type design! |
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Hey All, I've been updating my website pretty frequently, and I've managed to get quite a few of the pages from the original Quickie plans online. I also have the Large template sheets for sale there if anyone is interested. Check it out and let me know what you think. Cheers, Dan Yager www.quickheads.com |
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Cool, Thanxs! Flapper, You NEED to let me know more about your electric Quickie Plans! That sounds cool (although difficult to find a light battery) Feel free to contact me off list by using the "Contact Me" link on my site. Good luck, I really do want to hear more. Thanks, Dan Yager www.quickheads.com |