Show me a pilot who hasn't had bouncy landings, I know I have had. First flight, he flew it great. Looked tough to handle on touchdown but he did excellently despite the comments here.
Should have gone around. You are taught to go around on a bounce, especially a massive one like that. I mean he made it alive so I guess thats "excellence"
@@kimjunguny I am not trying to argue with you but as a pilot, I was never trained to go around on a bounce. This bounce was by no mean massive in aviation terms.
For goodness sake, please cut the guy some slack. This is a single seat, kit built jet. At the time of writing there is no two seater to train on so your first flight in it is just that, your first ever flight. Confidence, smoothness and accuracy (particularly on landing) can only come with experience and at this stage the guy has zero. I think he did an excellent job
There is a 2-seater, that Sonex uses to train builders, it's essentially a Powered Glider...same body as a regular sonex, but with about double the wingspan
toadman506 that maybe the case but a motor glider will have no where near the wing loading of the single seater jet version so the speeds (and therefore the rate of decent on approach) will be very different.
Totally agree on this comment. Even when you do a normal Sonex training transition from another like configured Sonex aircraft - it's a different animal. One person on board vs. two makes a big difference in low speed handling of these light weight aircraft. Most light aircraft pilots will tell you that first time flying it - especially if it's the first flight for that aircraft ever - is a major learning experience. First flight in the Waiex I built - I landed and didn't damage anything, and that was a success in my book. Whether I bounced or not was irrelevant.
We need these people to build cheap but quality planes so that everyone can achieve their dreams of having and flying their own jets. Kudos you and your team!
First flight test. How could anyone, no matter their skill, land a plane perfectly without knowing how it handles? Kept calm and focused and did not panic. That's experience
Now THAT was a fun ride, please keep doing these "airborne" videos. The tech stuff is cool to see & know about, but the thrill of riding the beast is unbeatable!
@@XRinger it looked like it, it appears to be a really light yet fast plane. landing that the 1st time must have had a pucker factor of 9.5 edit: after watching other videos on this plane, the rudder is also controlled from the stick. there are not separate rudder pedals! I'd move the pucker factor up to a solid 10 on that fact alone :)
Ty Ron Enough to push this plane to 250-275 MPH 40 years ago. people would have called you crazy if you would have told them a this little engine was this powerful.
Great first flight! I'd love to build one of these some day. Can't Imagine my first flight in an aircraft being a solo too. The speed of that jet too. Definitely a little spoiled with 2 seaters when you can bring the instructor up with you first go.
I was a little nervous watching all that fast joy-stick movement on final approach, and there was more fast stick movement than I expected to see during the bounces when landing. I'm not a pilot, but learned to fly RC gliders by a few taking training flights in a Schweizer training glider (this was in the early 1970s, before flight simulators & PCs). I was always amazed at how slow and easy it was landing a glider. The only hard part was the large ground-effect, it required really pushing down the nose 'hard' to stop flying and start riding on that wheel. This jet was going so fast, and seemed to need so much input to stay in the right approach path.. My theory is you actually need to train in a real jet fighter simulator if you plan on flying one of these little mini-jets. Looks like fun when you are up high, but no way this old boomer would ever think of landing one of those. I've moved on to RC sailboats.. :)
@@peteranderson037 That's for sure! Plus, that little side-mounted stick can't be helping much. But, I guess there's no room for a man-spread center stick it such a small cockpit.
have you seen the Ph.D. physics guy in Palo Alto that built a jet engine in his Volkswagen, and then a TWO engine jet SCOOTER for his wife?????? Calif. had to register the Volks as 'street legal" but the blowback from the jet exhaust would have vaporized anything within a hundred feet, and cook the other hundred. he's posted photos running them AT NIGHT.
thanks for this vid. heard these little jets go up to 260mph and cruise at 220mph. me likey! in this video it looks like the pilot had the gear down the whole time (three green lights on the left side of the panel).
Nice job. I think the wide angle lens camera so close to the ground makes the speeds look much higher than they really are. That is an old Hollywood trick for car chases. Put the camera just above the road and drive 20mph. It looks like you are going 100. I couldn’t see the airspeed indicator but he may have been a tad hot and decided to use only moderate braking. As a Sonex owner myself...gosh that jet sounds nice.
I hope they can work out the stability issues, I wouldn't go to hard on the pilot for his landing it was an experimental test flight and his first for that specific jet as well. the thing is its very lightweight and the controls are pretty strong so that makes them touchy so id say some software adjustments with the controls could help.
Hate to nitpick, what an awesome video, but that would have even been more awesome from a standing start. Really gives you a sense of the acceleration of the aircraft.
They need to do something about the canopy glare thing. I couldn't see anything which doesn't matter but he often needed to use his hands to shield the glare. Is there a parachute in that thing?
I had guessed there would be a fairing between the Engine and fuselage to keep various components being ripped away in the wind? Also, it appeared the pilot was having trouble seeing the LCD screen?
Any well designed cockpit has shrouds or coamings over the instruments to protect from glare. Also in his pilots notes should be : Impossible to release canopy in emergency bale out!
If that stick works like my joystick at home, a little dampening in response might be in order to take some of the twitch out of the approach and landing. The very short throw might be challenging. That being said, any rubber side down landing is a good landing, especially on a first test flight. Wish there was a summary of different characteristics experienced included in the post. Happy flying.
One of the reasons for installing the motor above the wings is to eliminate the the thrust being chopped up by pressure difference across the wings... I like the tail design, but they might want to look at the air flow in a wind tunnel or something... vibration of two things at different frequencies sets up harmonics that can shake a machine to pieces.. although that is not apparent in this video... beautiful aircraft
but in most airliners, the engine is placed below the wing,.wouldn't that create any issues for the thrust? I'm not much familiar with aerodynamics but I would like to learn.
There is a tendency to create nosedown moment as power is increased but that can be the case with below wing engines. (737 max!!). Pilot needs to be aware.
The TJ-100 develops 258.53 lbf of rated thrust. The Quick Build kit price (including engine) is $115,352 as of this post: www.sonexaircraft.com/subsonex/
That was fascinating, thank you. If l were richer, smarter and younger I'd love to have something as exciting myself. BZ on the build and maiden flight.
Is it normal for modern glass cockpit attitude indicators to use cheap IMU's that can get fooled by sustained G-loading? That looked just like the OSD in my RC FPV plane where AHI drifts off angle when turning, and takes a while to recover when you straighten out. It can't be relied upon in IFR conditions.
Did my pilot training at Edward's AFB aero club (civilian private pilot). My first flight after my solo my instructor wanted me move a cesna 172 from south base to main base to pick her up. Instead of taxing the 2+ miles I took off from South base 22 and landed on main base 24. I was so nervous I bounced like a rubber ball on the landing. 24 is a 500' foot wide 15,000 long runway and I managed to bounce the landing hard enough that the tower made fun of me. Luckily it was Saturday morning and the place was a ghost town so no one else saw. Good times.
Beautifull recording it felt almost like i was flying myselve again. This aircraft seems to be verry sensitive on the controlls, though i really like it.
Its cool i bet plenty of people watch these vids and would love to build or fly these aircraft. My country gave up flying jets (skyhawks) too bad they didnt keep flying something similar to this.
He did not fly with clecos in the fuselage. That footage was from a previous ground test before the bottom of the fuselage was riveted. The airplane was 100% complete at the time of first flight. I suspect Mike got some of the footage mixed up
1st flight: max speed at level flight, Stall & MCA characteristics , S - Turns, power on climbs, power off climbs, power off descent, Take off speeds at mid trim, full down trim, full up trim.... Keep ironing them out and get them written down and know them!
How much of a deal would it be to add either a ventral or dorsal small speed brake to the SubSonex fuselage or bilateral small speed brakes to either side of the fuselage? Seems she don't wanna slow down approaching the runway unless power is reduced a lot. I know she has a slow stall speed but power reduction didn't seem linear, but what do I know.
Are these kind of aircrafts controlled fully manually or is there a flight computer that helps stabilize the plane. It seems the plane was yawing left and right during flight is that normal? Being from the RC background its amazing to see a small plane taking a trip through the sky. The landing was scary though.
Show me a pilot who hasn't had bouncy landings, I know I have had. First flight, he flew it great. Looked tough to handle on touchdown but he did excellently despite the comments here.
@The94GTC Can't blame em it'S a cool plane
I have never bounced a landing, not even once. You say im full of B.S. Well here is my proof, Im not a pilot.
Should have gone around. You are taught to go around on a bounce, especially a massive one like that. I mean he made it alive so I guess thats "excellence"
@@kimjunguny I am not trying to argue with you but as a pilot, I was never trained to go around on a bounce. This bounce was by no mean massive in aviation terms.
He's a former Tomcat pilot. They always used to land hard.
For goodness sake, please cut the guy some slack.
This is a single seat, kit built jet. At the time of writing there is no two seater to train on so your first flight in it is just that, your first ever flight.
Confidence, smoothness and accuracy (particularly on landing) can only come with experience and at this stage the guy has zero.
I think he did an excellent job
You know what they say, any landing you walk away from is a good one.
There is a 2-seater, that Sonex uses to train builders, it's essentially a Powered Glider...same body as a regular sonex, but with about double the wingspan
toadman506 that maybe the case but a motor glider will have no where near the wing loading of the single seater jet version so the speeds (and therefore the rate of decent on approach) will be very different.
@@spency787 It seems good enough for the factory and insurance companies.
Totally agree on this comment. Even when you do a normal Sonex training transition from another like configured Sonex aircraft - it's a different animal. One person on board vs. two makes a big difference in low speed handling of these light weight aircraft. Most light aircraft pilots will tell you that first time flying it - especially if it's the first flight for that aircraft ever - is a major learning experience. First flight in the Waiex I built - I landed and didn't damage anything, and that was a success in my book. Whether I bounced or not was irrelevant.
That was freakin awesome. Flying around in a jet they made themselves. What an experience that must have been.
Dude I’m saying! I just got onto aviation technician school and mark history in my life 🙌🏻
@@jassonmonzon7671 awesome, congratulations!
We need these people to build cheap but quality planes so that everyone can achieve their dreams of having and flying their own jets. Kudos you and your team!
What a rewarding feeling to have to be able to fly what you just spent so much time on building. Nicely done
how are you
I flew ultra lights and bounced alot of landings. Dude did gud.
God what an awesome feeling that must be to get a first flight in an aircraft you built, especially one so fast.
Very cool little jet. It’s almost like a big RC plane that you can actually fly in.
So cool!! Nice triple bounce landing. Looks like he was extra hot. Can't blame him on his very first test flight.
According to Sonex's numbers, he touched down right at what he should have. 1.3xVso=60 (Vso=58)
It really is amazing. You're apparently supposed to come in a little hot like the other commenter said.
You can't even fly a jet lol
I need a jet fly 🚀
First flight test. How could anyone, no matter their skill, land a plane perfectly without knowing how it handles? Kept calm and focused and did not panic. That's experience
No guts, no glory! It takes guts to do the first test flight of a "plane" like that. Nice flight.
A tinted canopy and/or the extension of the glare shield over the instrument pod perhaps?
‘Think that I’ll just enjoy this aircraft from the ground, and in your excellent videos. Fine job. Thank you for showing us these wonderful aircraft.
Now THAT was a fun ride, please keep doing these "airborne" videos. The tech stuff is cool to see & know about, but the thrill of riding the beast is unbeatable!
That thing looks like a handful to fly!
D00rGunner actually to land.
Flying looks like a lot of fun, but landing looks scary to me. Or maybe there was a messy crosswind situation..?.
@@XRinger it looked like it, it appears to be a really light yet fast plane. landing that the 1st time must have had a pucker factor of 9.5
edit: after watching other videos on this plane, the rudder is also controlled from the stick. there are not separate rudder pedals! I'd move the pucker factor up to a solid 10 on that fact alone :)
That little engine puts out some strong thrust.
Ty Ron Enough to push this plane to 250-275 MPH 40 years ago. people would have called you crazy if you would have told them a this little engine was this powerful.
Lol, human tech is funny.
The engine is PBS TJ100 a compact low weight design with a thrust of up to 1,250 N.
That's what she said
@@kaikart123 nyasar bang?
Man, looks like it is a touchy thing but very cool little jet.
test flight .. I'm sure that will get worked out plus it was not a clean aircraft during flight.
Look at that cute little baby. I'm so proud of Papa A-10 and Mama T-38
Great first flight!
I'd love to build one of these some day.
Can't Imagine my first flight in an aircraft being a solo too. The speed of that jet too. Definitely a little spoiled with 2 seaters when you can bring the instructor up with you first go.
Wow coming in hot! Looks like a manned V1 plane. Nice work lads.
that’s freaking crazy! that little plane and that little jet engine flew!! with a DUDE inside!!! WOW!!
Amazing power from such a small jet turbine.
Andrew Jenery how do you know ?
Looks like it flies on rails, very impressive.
I can imagine that is a fantastic feeling first flight of the plane you built yourself. Great accomplishment! Congratulations!
Well that was a sphincter clincher of a landing.
When he took off, there WAS a seat bottom cushion...
Pilot: "Tower, what time did I land?"
Tower: "Which time Sir?"
I was a little nervous watching all that fast joy-stick movement on final approach, and there was more fast stick movement than I expected to see during the bounces when landing.
I'm not a pilot, but learned to fly RC gliders by a few taking training flights in a Schweizer training glider (this was in the early 1970s, before flight simulators & PCs). I was always amazed at how slow and easy it was landing a glider. The only hard part was the large ground-effect, it required really pushing down the nose 'hard' to stop flying and start riding on that wheel.
This jet was going so fast, and seemed to need so much input to stay in the right approach path.. My theory is you actually need to train in a real jet fighter simulator if you plan on flying one of these little mini-jets. Looks like fun when you are up high, but no way this old boomer would ever think of landing one of those. I've moved on to RC sailboats.. :)
@@XRinger Yeah, this isn't a plane you can transition directly into from a Cessna 172.
@@peteranderson037 That's for sure! Plus, that little side-mounted stick can't be helping much. But, I guess there's no room for a man-spread center stick it such a small cockpit.
Wow, it's like having a go cart that can fly! Very cool.
Andrew Heffel no it’s not
Superb , nice recovery on landing , shows calm , cool , collected piloting.
These tiny things are INSANE! Awesome vid.
Thanks Mike! Great little aircraft that is very fast!
Love the SubSonex, just wish there was a twin engine version.
have you seen the Ph.D. physics guy in Palo Alto that built a jet engine in his Volkswagen, and then a TWO engine jet SCOOTER for his wife?????? Calif. had to register the Volks as 'street legal" but the blowback from the jet exhaust would have vaporized anything within a hundred feet, and cook the other hundred. he's posted photos running them AT NIGHT.
Or a twin seater
Right .. One that looks like a F15
Awesome vid!!! Hats off to the pilot, glad he had a safe landing in that little jet
fastest go cart I have ever seeen
Fr
looks awesome, would have been nice to see some exterior shots while flying. maybe a flyby or something
thanks for this vid. heard these little jets go up to 260mph and cruise at 220mph. me likey!
in this video it looks like the pilot had the gear down the whole time (three green lights on the left side of the panel).
Not uncommon on an aircraft's first test flight
Yep. First flight gear down all time. Limited to 108 lots
Wish. I. Finished. My. BD..FIVE. BACK. IN. THE. DAY. ..............
Good landing for landing gear like that
It shows this plane is durable
Given the narrow wing span and light weight the hands off stability is much better than I expected. Nice flying plane.
Nice job. I think the wide angle lens camera so close to the ground makes the speeds look much higher than they really are. That is an old Hollywood trick for car chases. Put the camera just above the road and drive 20mph. It looks like you are going 100. I couldn’t see the airspeed indicator but he may have been a tad hot and decided to use only moderate braking. As a Sonex owner myself...gosh that jet sounds nice.
Got to be so much fun!! Nice build!! Safe travels out there!!
I hope they can work out the stability issues, I wouldn't go to hard on the pilot for his landing it was an experimental test flight and his first for that specific jet as well. the thing is its very lightweight and the controls are pretty strong so that makes them touchy so id say some software adjustments with the controls could help.
I so want one of these badass things. I plan to use mine for actual travel across the state. It's genuinely perfect for the distances I'll be going.
Hate to nitpick, what an awesome video, but that would have even been more awesome from a standing start. Really gives you a sense of the acceleration of the aircraft.
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Well done. So many homebuilts never get finished.
mclaren aerospace
May I recommend shocks and a drag chute.
What a smooth ride. He was very confident and relax.
They need to do something about the canopy glare thing. I couldn't see anything which doesn't matter but he often needed to use his hands to shield the glare. Is there a parachute in that thing?
I had guessed there would be a fairing between the Engine and fuselage to keep various components being ripped away in the wind? Also, it appeared the pilot was having trouble seeing the LCD screen?
Any well designed cockpit has shrouds or coamings over the instruments to protect from glare. Also in his pilots notes should be : Impossible to release canopy in emergency bale out!
What a thrill! Building the plane, dreaming of what it would be like. and actually DOING IT!!!
This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. My new objective is to build a personal jet.
cool flight ,good luck with your new plane.
If that stick works like my joystick at home, a little dampening in response might be in order to take some of the twitch out of the approach and landing. The very short throw might be challenging.
That being said, any rubber side down landing is a good landing, especially on a first test flight.
Wish there was a summary of different characteristics experienced included in the post.
Happy flying.
One of the reasons for installing the motor above the wings is to eliminate the the thrust being chopped up by pressure difference across the wings... I like the tail design, but they might want to look at the air flow in a wind tunnel or something... vibration of two things at different frequencies sets up harmonics that can shake a machine to pieces.. although that is not apparent in this video... beautiful aircraft
vibrations of which two things ?
but in most airliners, the engine is placed below the wing,.wouldn't that create any issues for the thrust?
I'm not much familiar with aerodynamics but I would like to learn.
@NaDopros ah yes thank you
There is a tendency to create nosedown moment as power is increased but that can be the case with below wing engines. (737 max!!). Pilot needs to be aware.
Wow, that tiny little turbine has some serious thrust for its size.
These really need two pods, mounted in the A-10 style configuration. Thrust to weight can't be all that great with a single?
Perfect landing, he walked away! Practice in a new configuration will make it better!
How much thrust and cost?
The TJ-100 develops 258.53 lbf of rated thrust. The Quick Build kit price (including engine) is $115,352 as of this post: www.sonexaircraft.com/subsonex/
it's amazing that little turbine powers the whole thing
In the air when u reach high altitudes u get little air resistance and gravity is less effective
@@arbenmccarthy-lucasan3776 what?
@@arbenmccarthy-lucasan3776 "gravity is less effective"?
What would that thing have for cockpit ventilation? Looks like a mighty small volume of air in there. Very cute craft, though.
Pretty awesome first flight Mojo!! I would love to flight that baby myself!!
Wow very Kool. Little bumpy on the landing but that is expected.
So stable and perfect to fly. Awesome 👍
That was fascinating, thank you. If l were richer, smarter and younger I'd love to have something as exciting myself. BZ on the build and maiden flight.
Is it normal for modern glass cockpit attitude indicators to use cheap IMU's that can get fooled by sustained G-loading? That looked just like the OSD in my RC FPV plane where AHI drifts off angle when turning, and takes a while to recover when you straighten out. It can't be relied upon in IFR conditions.
How fast does it spool back up to flying speed if you have to make a go around!
Congratulations...The pilot has nerves of steel.
Why this so satisfying to watch?
Did my pilot training at Edward's AFB aero club (civilian private pilot). My first flight after my solo my instructor wanted me move a cesna 172 from south base to main base to pick her up. Instead of taxing the 2+ miles I took off from South base 22 and landed on main base 24. I was so nervous I bounced like a rubber ball on the landing. 24 is a 500' foot wide 15,000 long runway and I managed to bounce the landing hard enough that the tower made fun of me. Luckily it was Saturday morning and the place was a ghost town so no one else saw. Good times.
Beautifull recording it felt almost like i was flying myselve again.
This aircraft seems to be verry sensitive on the controlls, though i really like it.
Love the way it sounds
Great job for a maiden flight !! Keep on !!
Its cool i bet plenty of people watch these vids and would love to build or fly these aircraft. My country gave up flying jets (skyhawks) too bad they didnt keep flying something similar to this.
What fun, congratulations, well done, thanks for sharing your experience.
Cockpit engine audio 100dB!? Would love to try the rear parachute deployment test.
Needs an instrument cluster shade and it pulls to the right on decent
A test-flight so successful the pilot had time to make his shopping list! BRAVO 🏆
And change his underwear
Why is the thrust placed off center?
Any way to make it noisier?
Car house, I'd give anything for one of these. Absolutely brilliant.
Flying that thing like a boss
Love your videos, but you missed the most important part of the first flight... the pilots response when getting out of the plane.
Was the long ground run deliberate - to reach the turn-off area? Was he applying brakes at all, or avoiding doing so?
Congratulations !!! This is awesome
Is he flying with clecos in the fuselage?
Sure...
This is the comment I was looking for. I thought I might be the only one that noticed that the belly is being held on with cleco clamps, wtf?
He did not fly with clecos in the fuselage. That footage was from a previous ground test before the bottom of the fuselage was riveted. The airplane was 100% complete at the time of first flight. I suspect Mike got some of the footage mixed up
Nice hot landing!..that jet is awesome
1st flight: max speed at level flight, Stall & MCA characteristics , S - Turns, power on climbs, power off climbs, power off descent, Take off speeds at mid trim, full down trim, full up trim.... Keep ironing them out and get them written down and know them!
That's one brave dude.
I wanna know what the speeds and fuel consumption were
Wow, big balled pilot. Very brave.
Seems like an ultra high speed approach!
Was the red dial the trim?? Pretty exciting project...
This is absolutely amazing
Sweetest thing I seen on you tube for a while🇦🇺👍👍
I dont know why but this vieod is so soothing to me
Seems like a lot of fun!
Excellent jet video, one of the best.
Looks like the wingspan could have been wider. Not a pilot but just observed a few Rutan Long-EZ landings that are considerably slower landing.
Nice little rocket. That joystick setup makes me nervous, seems pretty twitchy. Good job landing it.
Mental, absolutely mental, well done all.
How much of a deal would it be to add either a ventral or dorsal small speed brake to the SubSonex fuselage or bilateral small speed brakes to either side of the fuselage? Seems she don't wanna slow down approaching the runway unless power is reduced a lot. I know she has a slow stall speed but power reduction didn't seem linear, but what do I know.
You are correct. Very slippery. Your suggestion is worth considering. The boys are thinking about it.
Alright, who had the cranial with the VF-103 shirt? VF-103 Sluggers/Jolly Rogers was my command in the Navy(AE3 - F-14Bs)!
I would add sped brakes or thrust reversers to that one. At least an umbrella for a drag chute.
That's a tight grip on the stick.
Are these kind of aircrafts controlled fully manually or is there a flight computer that helps stabilize the plane. It seems the plane was yawing left and right during flight is that normal? Being from the RC background its amazing to see a small plane taking a trip through the sky.
The landing was scary though.