Velocity V-Twin - Review & Specs Of Starships Brother

which airplane has a Canard Wing two powerful Pusher props and a range of over 1,000 miles right of course it's beachcraft Starship and what if you shrink it down welcome to big metal birds and in this video we review a velocity v twin before we dive into the specs and unique features let's trace the roots of this aircraft I always find it fascinating to research the genius engineers and designers who push the boundaries of general aviation and Danny Mayer is no exception in 1984 he founded velocity Incorporated with the idea of upgrading the older long EZ designed by Bert routon which was a two-seater to something that could fit at least four adults and their belongings for a CrossCountry trip but what's long EZ long EZ was a continuation of Bert rutan's design genius and the experience he gained with his very ease and very vegan kit to build airplanes with Pusher props and Canard wings and if we continue down the history Lane we can trace the inspiration going back to a Swedish fighter jet Saab 37 vegan the US prototype xp70 Valkyrie and even the right flyer since velocity adopted Routan design let's check what upgrades they brought their first model was called SE which was an abbreviation of standard Elite kit build with options for either 160 or 200 horsepower Lings and fixed or retractable gear it was capable of a cruise speed of 190 knots for over 1,000 miles carrying four adults those are pretty solid specs for a kit plane right an interesting fact is that there was even a jet powered variant built for the rocket Racing League I personally have never heard of it but apparently there was a Racing League for Rocket powered planes to race in a circuit air racetrack later velocity offered an XL model basically just a bigger fuselage and wingspan with a wider array of engines ranging from 180 horsepower lying to 350 horsepower Continental as with the SE model options with fixed and retractable gears were presented XL model offered more comfort for four or even five passengers as the model xl5 had a rear bench seat for three rather than the alternative separate pair of seats now the latest addition to the lineup is the vwin let's take a closer look as usual let's start with the fuselage and despite of many interesting and Innovative features of this plane it would be silly not to mention the Canard Wing first so let's dive into the design starting with the main feature of the plane one of its main benefits and probably most advertised features which indeed is crucial in terms of safety is stall prevention imagine this you try to climb lose too much speed and stall your plane well with a Canard wing it will lose the lift first naturally pulling the pitch down and preventing the full stall it's like a safety feature by design that being said it won't save you if you don't know how to fly so it's more like a nice to have design rather than a guardian angel like for example a full recovery BRS I still don't get why most us homebuilts don't have this option while in Europe it's mandatory for all light sport aircrafts another interesting aspect of Canard which to be honest is not that well researched so if anyone with a degree in aerodynamics can hop in comments I'd appreciate that some research shows that the Canard Wing helps keep the airf flow laminer thus increasing the pusher prop efficiency but of course this small wing is not all the fuselage itself is pretty light thanks to the fiberglass it might be that carbon fiber would be an even better choice but I assume it would make it more expensive anyhow velocity claims the airframe to be tested for up to 6G positive the main Wings span 34 ft generating lots of lift which again thanks to the Canard Wing you shouldn't be afraid to utilize in full climbing 2,000 ft per minute so this combination of main Wing Canard wing and Pusher props sitting very close to the center line is what makes this plane truly special There is almost no other twin to be this safe of course we have diamond with its roll cage fuselage and record in least fatal incidents but v twin also does a lot to to ensure you are safe even in the worst case scenario and what could be worse than a stall and an inevitable roll in the direction of the Dead engine well the combination I talked about earlier basically gets the chance of that to the bare minimum not to mention that it costs a lot less than Diamond twin but it comes with the price of some unusual additions or in this case reductions flaps you won't find them on velocity and it seems like it is one of the main concerns for the potential Pilots well from the pilots who actually fly velocity it's just a thing to get used to just to mention the landing speed for vwin is 85 knots just 10 knots higher compared to the Cessna 172 as with many kit planes you have a wide array of engine options starting with a pair of Lycoming 320 of 160 horsepower capable of 18 80 knots up to a turbocharged UL 520t swooshing at over 230 knots interesting that velocity State V never exceed to be 200 so I don't really get how they tested it for over 230 knots anyhow all of these engines will give you an over 1,000 mil range and over 1,000 lb of useful load with cruise speed being over 180 knots doesn't it sound like an ideal CrossCountry Cruiser but one thing this plane Demands a proper concrete Runway even if velocity claims 1500 ft for takeoff and Landing you would be much more comfortable with a Runway at least 2,000 ft long another Point contributing to its Cruiser capabilities interior it's so cozy yet roomy inside with a level of comfort comparable to beachcraft Baron by the way we just did a video about it in case you are considering an older time- tested twin rather than this experimental one but being experimental doesn't make v twin bad in any case the pusher prop makes noticeably less noise when located behind and optional door seals add extra noise cancellation an interesting fact is the door seals don't actually make the cabin pressurized they are purely a feature of Passenger Comfort also it's worth mentioning there is no deicing on on this plane getting back to the kit building philosophy you are limited only by the instrument panel size early models came with MFD and PFD from mgl avionics but again you can easily fit a Garmin or d on there so the kit costs 148,000 it's already fast bu and has retractable gear but what's in the kit well everything except the engines avionics and interior and paint to be absolutely honest there is no real number I can tell you cuz you have tons and tons of different options here I wouldn't recommend buying a used homebuilt but on a trade a plane.com there is just one vwin fresh year 2020 build over half a million dollar but again we can see it's a state-of-the-art build with double g3x Fleer cameras and truly lots of custom features another thing consider is that velocity offers Builder assist for 500 per month for you to use their facility while building the aircraft all tools and examples are included also while you are building your plane there is a vwin training course from velocity for 2500 it's not mandatory but it's highly recommended well as we wrap this video let me know in the comments if you'd fly this bird or you'd better stick to the time tested ones of course each bird we review has its place in the sky and I'm sure there are many pilots who will choose it for its safety and comfort thank you so much for watching this video and if you enjoyed it don't forget to like it and subscribe to our channel for more fascinating stories from above the clouds

Channel: Big Metal Birds

Views: 147,509

Keywords: aviation, avgeek, general aviation

Id: k7YOaS9Lz6E

Length: 9min 25sec (565 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 12 2024