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Super Cub on Steroids

kanabco

kanabco

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You gotta see this Sherpa. It totally redefines STOL.

 
That first take off, looked like it was only about 50 feet.
 
longview said:
That first take off, looked like it was only about 50 feet.
Click to expand...

The plane weighs 3500 pounds empty and the specs say it has a 102' takeoff run at 5000 pounds so I figure that with a light fuel load and a good headwind, just for demo purposes, it could well get airborne on a VERY short run.
 
Interesting.

But...a) this video is almost 7 years old.

And b) extremely short take offs have been done before.



And this is a WW2 model plane with a dinky little engine and a fat guy in the back and it took off pretty short.



Check out the landing at 0:48



C) we have no idea which way the wind is blowing in the OP video and how strong it is. Any plane that is very light with lots of lifting surfaces can take off in incredibly short distances if the wind is strong enough and blowing against you.
 
DA60 said:
Interesting.

But...a) this video is almost 7 years old.

And b) extremely short take offs have been done before.



And this is a WW2 model plane with a dinky little engine and a fat guy in the back and it took off pretty short.



Check out the landing at 0:48



C) we have no idea which way the wind is blowing in the OP video and how strong it is. Any plane that is very light with lots of lifting surfaces can take off in incredibly short distances if the wind is strong enough and blowing against you.
Click to expand...


Judging by the non movement of the trees I'd guess the winds were light and given a single paved surface - which he took off parallel to - the headwind component is going likely going to be less than whatever the quoted windspeed it so it's safe to assume that that short takeoff distance wasn't because of the wind.

The blurb quoted 102' at 5000 pounds takeoff weight. Those number are *usually* quoted for no wind situations though they're probably marketing numbers and not actual performance stats from the POH so you have to take them with a huge grain of salt. The first takeoff did seem to not need more than 4-5 fuselage lengths which probably translates to about 100 feet. It's impressive no matter how you slice it. I could point a Cessna into the teeth of a hurricane and not get airborne that quickly
 
Gaius46 said:
Judging by the non movement of the trees I'd guess the winds were light and given a single paved surface - which he took off parallel to - the headwind component is going likely going to be less than whatever the quoted windspeed it so it's safe to assume that that short takeoff distance wasn't because of the wind.

The blurb quoted 102' at 5000 pounds takeoff weight. Those number are *usually* quoted for no wind situations though they're probably marketing numbers and not actual performance stats from the POH so you have to take them with a huge grain of salt. The first takeoff did seem to not need more than 4-5 fuselage lengths which probably translates to about 100 feet. It's impressive no matter how you slice it. I could point a Cessna into the teeth of a hurricane and not get airborne that quickly
Click to expand...

I think if you search YouTube you can find lots of videos of INCREDIBLY short takeoffs with Pipers and things. Some of these backwoods pilots have modified their planes to do amazing things.
 
DA60 said:
I think if you search YouTube you can find lots of videos of INCREDIBLY short takeoffs with Pipers and things. Some of these backwoods pilots have modified their planes to do amazing things.
Click to expand...

Thanks I will.
 
I remember when the Sherpa first came out in the late 90's. I still have an old Sherpa T-shirt somewhere. I thought they had never made it into much production. Good to see it back, now with the turbine. :mrgreen:

The Pilatus Porter was offering this kind of performance back in the 60's.
 
DA60 said:
Interesting.

But...a) this video is almost 7 years old.

And b) extremely short take offs have been done before.



And this is a WW2 model plane with a dinky little engine and a fat guy in the back and it took off pretty short.



Check out the landing at 0:48



C) we have no idea which way the wind is blowing in the OP video and how strong it is. Any plane that is very light with lots of lifting surfaces can take off in incredibly short distances if the wind is strong enough and blowing against you.
Click to expand...


None of the aircraft shown above are eight passenger bush planes with reversible brake-props or could even get off the ground with a 3000 lb load
 
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