Mon, Jun 13, 2016
While at Sun ‘n Fun 2016, ANN News Editor, Tom Patton, saw a light-airplane that looked like a stylized F-15. The airplane is called the PJ-II “Dreamer”. To get the details, Tom talked with Len Bechtold, who designed the engine for the aircraft, as well as the technical director of design, Ben Kolotilin.
The Design of this fascinating airplane originated in Russia and has now been brought to the United States with the hopes of placing it into production. Kolotilin explains that the intent was to produce a stylized fighter-like airplane with flying characteristics that any general aviation pilot could deal with. He describes the performance as having a high-end speed of about 200 knots with a stall speed in the range of 60 knots.
Len Bechtold got involved in the project to provide the powerplant. The twin ducted fan aircraft is powered by an LS6 modified Corvette engine that is actually mounted inside the fuselage and drives the two ducted fans through a transmission. He explains the gear ratio for the fans allows the 5000 RPM engine to drive the fans at about 6000 RPM.
The video goes into much more detail, and provides some interesting in-flight shots of this unusual airplane in action. By the end of this video you will almost certainly be saying “I want that!”.
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