October 31, 2013 - It's not unusual for a new airplane design to generate some buzz in the aviation community, but a new bush aircraft design, the DoubleEnder, has become an online sensation. The airplane's name reflects its twin Rotax 914 engines, which have been beefed up to 130 hp each, mounted inline with the front end pulling and the rear end pushing. DoubleEnder. The aircraft is based on the venerable Super Cub, which is also the type New York native and DoubleEnder creator Alec Wild learned to fly in. Wild currently lives in Kenya where he's a bush pilot flying anti-poaching and other conservation missions in Super Cubs. He started work on the DoubleEnder about seven years ago after a decade of bush flying in both Africa and Alaska.
Wild's goal from the outset was to build an airplane that maximizes safety, performance, and visibility for pilots who fly in the inherently dangerous conditions of remote bush flying. Safety has always been paramount, and everything was built around that, he said. For example, the push-pull engine configuration maximizes single-engine performance and also avoids any directional instability during an engine failure.
"This airplane was designed to fly in tight places, where one can't afford any kind of deviation during an engine problem," Wild wrote. "An engine failure is a non-event; you simply push the throttle forward on the good engine and keep going."
He spent several years envisioning what he wanted to build, and began designing it in 2007. "The goal is to fly like I've always flown, only more effectively," he said. "In aviation, there's nothing that hasn't been done. We did not reinvent anything; just looking for the right recipe."
DoubleEnder has evolved through four different wing configurations, three kinds of flaps, two airfoils, three types of roll spoilers, four different ailerons, three horizontal stabilizers, and two vertical stabilizers. Leading edge slats have been in the mix since Day 1, Wild said.
The helicopter-like bubble canopy allows the pilot to see down between his feet, remaining in constant visual contact with the landing spot - an immensely useful advantage in the bush. S-turns normally required while taxiing are no longer needed, and the view in flight is spectacular, Wild said, likening it to being in an IMAX film.
A pair of short YouTube videos, appropriately titled, "Cliff Diving... Alaska Style," are blowing up on the web showing the DoubleEnder falling off the edge of a cliff but recovering in plenty of time, giving a glimpse at the advanced capabilities of the new design. (See the videos below.)
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