08.02.07
Sonex Aircraft–worth it?
Last night I went out to the airport to clean my plane’s windshield and get the bugs off the leading edges of the wings.
I ran in to a friend who owns a Sonex experimental kit-built aircraft. Here is his plane:
We had talked in the past about the Sonex’s features and how it fits a lot of my criteria for what I’d like in my next plane. It’s cheap to buy ($35k for a decent VFR-equipped Sonex), cheap to operate (6 gph fuel flow in cruise), fast (120 KIAS cruise), has a tailwheel, and is fully aerobatic.
So this friend of mine offered to take me up for a demo flight. It took me all of a few milliseconds to accept his offer!
Upon climbing in to this plane, it struck me as very roomy–quite a bit roomier than my 140. Plenty of shoulder and leg room to spare.
Next, I noticed it has very poor forward visibility, especially on the ground. I suppose I’ve been spoiled flying around in my 140 with fantastic visibility, but still, in the Sonex it’s as though you have a solid wall ahead of you. Side windows and peripheral vision are used for takeoff and landing. Even in level cruise flight the forward visibility is poor, but the outstanding side visibility makes up for it.
Third, I noticed everything is just a little “weird” in the cockpit. Maybe it’s because this was my first time in an experimental aircraft, but it really stuck out like a sore thumb to me. There is only one control stick, located between the seats. The throttle and elevator trim are mounted to the extreme left side of the panel, rather than in the center. The fuel shutoff valve is foot-actuated and located above the rudder pedals. Everything felt a little hodge-podge and nonstandard. I could probably get used to it, but that’s what I first noticed. I could tell it had been assembled in some guy’s garage.
So we took off and flew around for a bit. After a few minutes in the practice area, my friend let me take the stick and play around with it. Stick forces seemed very well balanced, tight, and responsive. I didn’t need to move the stick–I only needed to apply a slight pressure in order to roll in to tight, crisp turns. I could see it’s aerobatic talent showing through. I liked that a lot.
Then we flew over to Walla Walla Regional and went around the pattern a couple times. I did one takeoff and landing. It seemed a hair squirrelier (is that a word? more squirrely?) than my 140, but I think I was overcontrolling it because the steering is simply so tight and responsive.
Obviously the same tailwheel dynamics apply to this plane as are present with my 140, but the Sonex didn’t give me the same gentle, slow feeling as my 140. A takeoff in my 140 goes like this–Add power…roll….roll….roll…tailwheel slowly flies off the ground…roll…roll…work the rudder…roll…ease the mains in to the air.
In the Sonex it goes–Add power…roll…tail pops off ground…plane pops in to the air. Fun in its own way, but not nearly as relaxing and gentle.
As for landing my 140, I’ve gotten pretty good at greasing on three pointers. In the Sonex, every landing felt more like, “Fly, fly, fly, PLOP” no matter if I or my friend did it. It simply didn’t feel as graceful and more “tin can-ish.”
So after doing a few laps around the Walla Walla pattern, my friend flew it back to our home airport and demo’d a couple takeoffs and landings on the grass runway before we called it a night. I went back to cleaning my 140, pondering if a Sonex might be my next plane in a few years.
Straight up performance was obviously better. Faster, cheaper, and aerobatic. Who could argue with that?
But my mind kept drifting back to its homebuilt roots. The nonstandard panel…the nonstandard controls…the cheap, lightweight construction…the “do-it-yourself” style to everything…I dunno…it felt like everything was a compromise, or not thought out as well as it could have been.
I don’t question the safety of such a design. I’m more concerned about the possible “annoyance factor” that comes along with a seemingly cobbled together, lightweight airframe.
When it comes down to it, would I be happy flying a Sonex? You bet. They’re fun planes with a lot to offer. Would I trade in my 140 for one? Ehhh….I doubt it. I’d rather hold out for a Citabria. But it sure is nice to dream!