Anyone flying a Steen Skybolt?

Johnny Beau Bekkestad

Johnny Beau Bekkestad

Well-Known Member
Hey, i am considering buying a Steen Skybolt, but i am not sure since i have not flown the AC before.
Any information on what to look for, specific info about how this AC flies etc would be greatly appreciated.
 
Johnny Beau Bekkestad said:
Hey, i am considering buying a Steen Skybolt, but i am not sure since i have not flown the AC before.
Any information on what to look for, specific info about how this AC flies etc would be greatly appreciated.
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I never flew a Skybolt in a contest (I think mshunter is thinking of the Great Lakes) but I did fly & teach in one for a bit. Go fly one before you buy one. They're different and make sure you like the open cockpit and the view a biplane gives you. They are a fun and a good performer but the elevator pressures are very heavy. Some find it annoying. With an IO-360 up front, expect the performance to be less than Pitts S2A or Eagle II. Also there really isn't any room in the front hole for someone who is close to 6ft wearing a chute. You do get a lot of bang for your buck.

...and what Inverted said. Find some one who KNOWS Skybolts inside and out and have it gone over.
 
TwoTwoLeft said:
I never flew a Skybolt in a contest (I think mshunter is thinking of the Great Lakes) but I did fly & teach in one for a bit. Go fly one before you buy one. They're different and make sure you like the open cockpit and the view a biplane gives you. They are a fun and a good performer but the elevator pressures are very heavy. Some find it annoying. With an IO-360 up front, expect the performance to be less than Pitts S2A or Eagle II. Also there really isn't any room in the front hole for someone who is close to 6ft wearing a chute. You do get a lot of bang for your buck.

...and what Inverted said. Find some one who KNOWS Skybolts inside and out and have it gone over.
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This one is in a very good shape, is being flown in and competed in all the time,
It has an IO-540 with 260hp and it has the bubble canopy. My main concern is being 6.2 and over all a big guy, but when i was reading the manufacturers website i get the impression that it will fit big guys.
I have yet to fly it, i hope to do that this coming week.

How is the ground handling characteristics? I hear it is easier than a pitts. I presume it is harder than a decathlon though...

Keep you all posted!

/JOhnny
 
You may be interested in this website that IAC has created called All Airplanes Break. The idea for this website is that it has a user updated database for technical problems that others of the same make/ model airplane could potentially encounter. Such as nose wheel shimmies in an xxx airplane... So you may find some answers here:

http://www.usnationalaerobatics.org/IACSafetyForum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=52

That link connects to recent event about a Skybolt that experienced a structural failure and loss of fabric. Leading up to a crash. The pilot bailed out and escaped unscathed and wrote up a good article about it.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
I wasn't aware that they were selling plans for a round engine on the Steen now. That would be a cool setup.
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What is really, really needed is a small radial that can replace the Warner's that used to appear on Monocoupe's, Great Lakes, the baby Waco's, etc. I'd really love for something in the 185-250hp range that was light. I think the prop wouldn't be a really hard deal but we desperately need a motor like that to replace the Warner's. I've seen some Great Lake's, a Skybolt (I believe) and others with a 220 Continental and I've seen a Fairchild 24 with a 245 Jacobs - but they don't look quite right - and heavy. I need Rotec to create something, or perhaps someone to buy the Type Certificate for the old Warner's and start making them again.

The reason is - the old Warner's are getting tough to find parts for. Second - you could have an incredible crop of homebuilts that could spring up around an engine such as this. I'm thinking of variants of airplanes like the Flagg F-13 and such that would just really kick ass and have a radial that you can get parts for.

Here is the Flagg. It was a built in 1933. Now - imagine this machine - 185hp Warner - and then imagine how many cool designs could be created if there was the engine I describe. A 220 Continental would be too big obviously for this airplane - but the Rotec would be too small - and the commie motor (Vendeneyev) probably wouldn't work either (I think its physical dimensions are closer to the Continental/Jacobs and I think the accessory section for that motor might not work on something like the Flagg).

Here's the Flagg - let your imagination run wild on the designs that could had if that motor existed:
flagg3.jpg

Flagg2.jpg

Flagg1.jpg
 
TwoTwoLeft said:
Out of the two that I've flown and sat in the front of, my eye level was over the top of the wind screen and my legs had no where to go because of the fuel tank. Getting in and out with a chute was interesting and I'm 6'2".
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To be fair, I'm skinny as a rail. I didn't have a problem with an S2 either.
 
SteveC said:
That Flagg is really cool!
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I agree - only one of its kind and it is based at Dauster Field in Creve Couer by St. Louis. Because it is the only one there isn't much out there about it - but it is supposed to be a great performer and apparently has "interesting" manners on the runway. Either way - an entire generation of unique homebuilts and Replica's could be created if we had an engine that basically replicated the physical dimensions of the Warner.

Cessna had some Warner powered racers:
MysteryPlane2.jpg


Lots of neat machines could be built around the engine I describe.
 
WacoFan said:
What is really, really needed is a small radial that can replace the Warner's that used to appear on Monocoupe's, Great Lakes, the baby Waco's, etc. I'd really love for something in the 185-250hp range that was light. I think the prop wouldn't be a really hard deal but we desperately need a motor like that to replace the Warner's. I've seen some Great Lake's, a Skybolt (I believe) and others with a 220 Continental and I've seen a Fairchild 24 with a 245 Jacobs - but they don't look quite right - and heavy. I need Rotec to create something, or perhaps someone to buy the Type Certificate for the old Warner's and start making them again.

The reason is - the old Warner's are getting tough to find parts for. Second - you could have an incredible crop of homebuilts that could spring up around an engine such as this. I'm thinking of variants of airplanes like the Flagg F-13 and such that would just really kick ass and have a radial that you can get parts for.

Here is the Flagg. It was a built in 1933. Now - imagine this machine - 185hp Warner - and then imagine how many cool designs could be created if there was the engine I describe. A 220 Continental would be too big obviously for this airplane - but the Rotec would be too small - and the commie motor (Vendeneyev) probably wouldn't work either (I think its physical dimensions are closer to the Continental/Jacobs and I think the accessory section for that motor might not work on something like the Flagg).

Here's the Flagg - let your imagination run wild on the designs that could had if that motor existed:
flagg3.jpg

Flagg2.jpg

Flagg1.jpg
Click to expand...

As always amazing history Waco, I never knew a Flagg even existed. I need to check out that museum. You are right about the Warner though, I could think of a few projects I would want to start with that.
 
Has anyone ever heard of a Skybolt with aluminum spars and ribs? Apparently there were only 2 kits sold by Schweizer aircraft and I can't seem to find any information on that specific version. I am looking at possibly buying one of them and was hoping someone could fill me in on the history of this plane or knows if the aluminum structure has a higher G tolerance, because this one shows 6/-3 which is less than the wooden wing airplanes.
 
TwoTwoLeft said:
Out of the two that I've flown and sat in the front of, my eye level was over the top of the wind screen and my legs had no where to go because of the fuel tank. Getting in and out with a chute was interesting and I'm 6'2".
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I cannot get into my friend's Skybolt and I am 6'5". (And that was without a chute on, just to try it on. With the slightly added dimensions of the parachute, forget it. Specific to the front seat.)

I second getting someone who KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING specific to this aircraft to go over it with a fine toothed comb before you buy. I personally won't buy a home-built that I wasn't heavily involved in the construction of, especially an aerobatic one.
 
aobt14 said:
Has anyone ever heard of a Skybolt with aluminum spars and ribs? Apparently there were only 2 kits sold by Schweizer aircraft and I can't seem to find any information on that specific version. I am looking at possibly buying one of them and was hoping someone could fill me in on the history of this plane or knows if the aluminum structure has a higher G tolerance, because this one shows 6/-3 which is less than the wooden wing airplanes.
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I would go over to the biplane forum and ask - lots of knowledgeable guys there on this type of stuff. Not to say someone here does not know. I never knew Schweizer made an aluminum kit for the airplane.
 
n57flyguy said:
I would go over to the biplane forum and ask - lots of knowledgeable guys there on this type of stuff. Not to say someone here does not know. I never knew Schweizer made an aluminum kit for the airplane.
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I've checked and nobody seems to know about that kit.
 
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