What happened to the Polliwagon
Tim Piscitelli
homebuilt aircraft. The hot kit at the time was the Polliwagon
(designed by Joe Alvarez?). The plane then seemed to disappear
from the homebuilt scene quite suddenly. What happened? As I
recall, there was a rumor that it was being considered for
production in Europe.
I have now found a partially completed kit and am wondering if
it would be worth looking into farther. If anyone has any info on
the particulars of this type of aircraft, and its story, I'd
appreciate the help.
Thanks,
Tim P
--
Tim P
van...@delphi.com
To the best of my recollection these are the significant points. A borowed
airplane/fatal accident/ wild performance claims/ design not well developed
before it was sold in other words, the usual.
With the right coat of paint and a shiny canopy this would make a great
static display for a Mall or something! It really was a pretty airplane.
Brent H. Van Arsdell
"Don't be misled by peoples promises, count the airplanes at Oshkosh."
Burt Rutan
Mark Hall
: About ten years ago, while in A&P school, I was researching
I got a chance to fly in the prototype Polywagon at Tullahoma in 1980.
I have flown in a number of homebuilt aircraft, but this is the only one
that I refused to allow any other member of my family fly in. The demo
pilot was supposedly an airline pilot with tens of thousands hours
experience, yet he seemed to have his hands full with this little
monster. I remember that as he accelerated for takeoff the fuselage sides
vibrated wildly at some harmonic to the engine/prop, but this was
virtually ignored as the pilot appeared to work to stay ahead of the
controls.
Not a fun experience.
Mark
M. G. McGee
>From: van...@delphi.com
>Subject: Re: What happened to the Polliwagon
>Date: Tue, 2 May 95 21:18:18 -0500
I personally have no experience with the Polliwagon but have a friend in
Hoodriver, OR who has over 100 hours on his O-320 powered one. I know it was
at SNF in '94 and he has probably had it at OSH. If you have your back issues
of Kitplanes mag you know him and his partner as the two who toured a pair of
Murphy Rebels a couple of years back and most recently in an amphibious
Renegade.
If you want some hands on info send me a note and I'll let him know.
Regards
Mike
Mike & Jackie RV-6.....shop construction phase
SHOP.....|+++++-----|
SidLloyd
second flight. He had been building it for 10 years and it was still in
primer. This, however, wasn't the fault of the Polliwagon.
He had an O-320 motor in it and a 3-blade Warp-drive ground adjustable
prop. He set it up for static at 2250 rmp instead of 2700 rpm due to
mis-information. On his first flight he flew it into his private grass
stip after takeoff from a long paved runway.
His private strip (I saw it) is about 1200 ft long, slightly uphill over a
couple of mounds, with 100' trees at one end and a road and 25' powerlines
at the other. He had never tried taking off from grass and hadn't done
any distance testing. He had been told that an O-320 Polliwagon could
take off in 350 ft.
He never made it off the ground. He went through the fence at the end of
the runway, and hit nose first on the far side of a small roadside ditch
which flipped the plane over and landed in the road. The carbon fiber
reinforcements he had added to the leading edge of the t-tail kept the
tail from collapsing and kept him from getting squished. He got knocked
out and had some bad lacerations on his head from the road. His
seat-belts held, but he hit the instrument panel with his hands and got
compound dislocations.
This happened about 45 days ago and he just went back to work. He is
selling the O-320 and the instruments but wants a lot for stuff that has
been in a crash. He plans on having a cerimonial Viking funeral for the
remains of the Polliwagon.
He still thinks it's a good plane and it flew well on his single flight.
-------------------------------------------
Sid Lloyd
Cozy IV & GlaStar under construction
email: SI...@bangate.compaq.com or SidL...@AOL.com
Dave Munday
> I just visited a guy here near Houston who crashed his Polliwagon on his
> second flight. He had been building it for 10 years and it was still in
> primer. This, however, wasn't the fault of the Polliwagon.
>
> He had an O-320 motor in it and a 3-blade Warp-drive ground adjustable
> prop. He set it up for static at 2250 rmp instead of 2700 rpm due to
> mis-information. On his first flight he flew it into his private grass
> stip after takeoff from a long paved runway.
>
> Sid Lloyd
>
> Cozy IV & GlaStar under construction
> email: SI...@bangate.compaq.com or SidL...@AOL.com
>
On the one hand, I feel for this guy, but on the other ...
I really can't understand people spending years to build a plane, hopping in
and going for a trip (short trip, joyride, whatever) in the first flight. Am I
alone in thinking this is an invitation for natural selection? I for one plan
on doing a full test series. Taxi tests, land backs, organized methodical
envelope expansion, etc. And ALL from far more runway that I eventually plan
to use for normal operation. All with a parachute, helmet, nomex suit chase
plane, and as many other sets of eyes/ears/minds focused as I can arrange.
... on the other hand, this guy asked for it.
Dave Munday - dmu...@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu
PP-ASEL - Tandem Flybaby Builder - EAA-284 (Waynesville, OH) Pres.
david_fisher
> In article <3od8i4$p...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, sidl...@aol.com (SidLloyd) writes:
> > I just visited a guy here near Houston who crashed his Polliwagon on his
> > second flight. He had been building it for 10 years and it was still in
> > primer. This, however, wasn't the fault of the Polliwagon.
> >
> > He had an O-320 motor in it and a 3-blade Warp-drive ground adjustable
> > prop. He set it up for static at 2250 rmp instead of 2700 rpm due to
> > mis-information. On his first flight he flew it into his private grass
> > stip after takeoff from a long paved runway.
> >
> > -------------------------------------------
> > Sid Lloyd
> >
> > Cozy IV & GlaStar under construction
> > email: SI...@bangate.compaq.com or SidL...@AOL.com
> >
>
>
>
> On the one hand, I feel for this guy, but on the other ...
>
> I really can't understand people spending years to build a plane, hopping in
> and going for a trip (short trip, joyride, whatever) in the first flight. Am I
> alone in thinking this is an invitation for natural selection? I for one plan
> on doing a full test series. Taxi tests, land backs, organized methodical
> envelope expansion, etc. And ALL from far more runway that I eventually plan
> to use for normal operation. All with a parachute, helmet, nomex suit chase
> plane, and as many other sets of eyes/ears/minds focused as I can arrange.
>
>
> Dave Munday - dmu...@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu
> PP-ASEL - Tandem Flybaby Builder - EAA-284 (Waynesville, OH) Pres.
>
>
>>>>
than for their passion....
David Fisher
David Hyde
[much deleted, with attributes]
> >
> > On the one hand, I feel for this guy, but on the other ...
> >
> >
> >>>>
> than for their passion....
And (professional test pilots) spend many hours of ground preparation
preparing for a one-hour test flight. Something I don't think a lot
of people consider in the homebuild world (but then I'm _very_ biased, no?)
is that the object of the first flight (or any test flight, for that matter)
is not to get airborne safely, but to land safely, bringing back info
about the flight characteristics that you can _use_ to map the envelope
of the airplane before you start flying it regularly.
Dave Hyde
na...@windvane.umd.edu
Dave Munday
Both hours preparing for a test flight, and hours after the test flight
interpreting the results, and deciding what, if anything, needs to be done
before the next flight.
Guido
You wouldn't believe the aircraft that are out there with no thought
given to flight test!
I can name over a dozen with little or no flight test done on the
aircraft, and what little was done was done improperly and without regard
to simple flight test philosophies!
Anyway, keep up the good attitude about flight test....it is the most
important factor in any aircraft's life, and one that will pay great
dividends when it comes time to call on the aircraft's full capability.
Don't ever be afraid to proceed cautiously....as my TPS mentor said....
"Many is the aircraft that never made it past the prototype
stage....because it crashed!"
Guido, The Guy In Back
"Airplanes aren't everything....they're the ONLY thing!"
David Hyde
> You wouldn't believe the aircraft that are out there with no thought
> given to flight test!
> I can name over a dozen with little or no flight test done on the
> aircraft, and what little was done was done improperly and without regard
> to simple flight test philosophies!
And a dozen more that spent hours of flight test to improve performance
by one kt or 0.001 GPH with little or no effort spent on improving
handling qualities. <soapbox alert! soapbox alert!>
DH
na...@windvane.umd.edu
well-tested and proven RV-4 builder
(the kit, not the builder :) )