The Brady's Rugged Little RANS S-7

While I'm sure that you're having as much fun with the heavy iron and hot biz birds as we are, sometimes it makes sense to get back to basics... especially when Part 2 of our program on the Eclipse Training Program gets nuked by a bad hard drive (Don't worry, we'll salvage it and have it for you shortly) and we really needed a good excuse to put up a different program.

Grin.

OK... so let's get to the meat of the matter. While perusing Oshkosh 2008, we ran into lots of REALLY cool people, planes and products... sometimes all at once. The Bradys provided one of those welcome interludes as well as an excuse for a cool Aero-TV piece... from the perspective of a Sport Aviation couple and their little RANS S-7.

Their RANS S-7 was the result of a "need to train Coyote I pilots: (the single seat Randy Schlitter design that preceded the S-7 by a number of years). Named the Courier in honor of one of Designer Schlitter's favorite planes, The Helio Courier, the S-7 must have inherited some Helio spirit, since it also is very STOL. Built with keeping-it-simple in mind the original plane weighed in at only 390 pounds with a 503 Rotax. It flew very well for the low horsepower, but soon was fitted to the 65 HP 532.

Over the years the basic plane stayed true to form, a light, simple plane, with traditional construction, minus the traditional headaches. However, in 2001 the S-7C, a much-refined version, was certified under the primary category. This plane represented 7 years of process to obtain the Type Certificate. In 2003 they introduced the S-7S, the kit form of the "C", and enjoy strong sales of this very much-refined fun flyer. The S-7S also complies with the new Sport Plane Rule.

Because the S-7S complies with the ASTM standards for sportplanes they are also able to offer this plane in ready to fly form. Designated the S-7LS, this form of a ready to fly Courier is in production with deliveries being made all over the USA and beyond.

The Bradys, however, did it THEIR way and the result is a pretty sweet little flyers. A standard S-7 boasts a TakeOff Roll of 325 ft, a Rate of Climb of 850 fpm and a Service Ceiling of 14,500 ft (though a number of S-7 drivers say it will go MUCH higher). The S-7 can cruise 110 mph, stalls (clean) at 50 mph, and (flaps down) at 45 mph. With a Roll Rate of 70°/sec, and a Glide Ratio of 8:1, the S-7 can land in as little as 340 ft. With a 3.1 hr endurance (with the Rotax 912S, the S-7 has an average range of 341 miles.

Check Out The Brady's RANS S-7 With Aero-TV!

FMI: www.RANS.com, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews