July 6, 2002
PAC 750XL News Update
Hi,
We had a recent meeting with the Managing Director of PAC, Mr. B. Hare. Mr. Hare was on his way back to New Zealand after a trip to the UK. A distributor will be set up
soon for Europe and Africa.
Mr. Hare was also visiting Skydiving centers in the UK and Europe. Visiting us here in Northern California, he was keen to ride right seat in Skydance Skydivings C208,
and his associate completed his first tandem!
The PAC 750XL Exelerator, ( more on how this name came about later) is currently about a third of the way through the spin trials.
There are two paths a manufacturer can elect to take regarding spinning. One path makes the plane spin proof, and this usually involves stick shakers and the like, which
take control when a stall/spin situation is immanent.
The second path makes the aircraft spin resistant, which means the plane is aerodynamically configured to unstall itself and be highly resistant to spinning.
The second path involves the least amount of complexity, but isn't the quickest for the manufacturer. It is actually much simpler to program a computer to take control and
make a plane stall proof. The cost, however, can be immense for an operator as the system is a "must work" item.
Pacific Aerospace Corporation are taking the second path.
The PAC 750XL meets all the requirements for spin resistance as it is, if it were not going to be a skydiving aircraft. With the wide center of gravity requirements
necessary for a jump plane there is ongoing aerodynamic tuning. This involves subtle aerodynamic additions and a lot of trial and error air work. This hasn't been made
easy by the very bad weather New Zealand has experienced this winter. For the last four weeks, there have been few suitable VFR flying days. When the rains and wind
stops, they get fog!
At least the factory is busy churning out CT4E military trainers, to fill their contracts. Some of the latest are EFIS equipped.
www.aerospace.co.nz/gallery/ct4.htm
We will have firm numbers soon, but the preliminary cruise speeds at gross weight are working out at around 177 KIAS at 10,000 feet. PAC were deliberate in publishing
preliminary specs that underestimated their proposed performance. We have felt confident that we will meet or beat the target numbers. As the PAC 750XL moves closer
to certification, the correct numbers are emerging, and its all good news.
We are sorry for the long delay between updates, but its been a frustrating time for the factory testing staff and the progress has been slower than everyone wants.
We will be getting out some preliminary center of gravity graphs and will notify you when they are posted on our web site.
Hope you are having a good season.
Regards
Philip Esdaile
Utility Aircraft Corporation
www.utilityaircraft.com
(530) 750-3226
(530) 754-7371 fax
e-mail info@utilityaircraft.com
