On Friday, June 5th 2009, I took a RANS Aircraft Factory tour and a demonstration flight in the S-19 light sport aircraft at Hays Kansas. My wife Sharon and I arrived as scheduled at 8:30 at the factory. We checked in and met Randy Schlitter, president, owner and chief designer at RANS.
 

He gave us a very complete in-person tour. The factory is clean, well organized and crowded. Randy had recently reduced staffing to improve efficiency but they seemed to be busy. You wouldn't know that there is a recession going on from looking at the factory floor. Kits were crowded into the shipping area, and many detail parts were in various stages of production. I had thought that the sheet metal parts were sheared and the holes punched, but this is not the case. Sheet stock is stacked together and multiple parts are routed and holes drilled using a multi-function head numerical controlled machine. The sheet metal parts are then formed as necessary in a press. Routing and drilling operations result in better quality than shearing and punching. They are building kit parts in 50 airplane lot sizes.

While I was there, S-19 Kits were being shipped to Argentina and Chile . A high-wing kit was being shipped to Russia. In the final assembly area, they were putting the finishing touches on a S-6 or S-7 light sport, and working on a S-19LS wing. They are in the early stages of working on the design of a new high wing airplane using the S-19 wing and empennage, the hope was to also use the same firewall forward package but there will have to be some changes made.

The ride out to the airport gave me the opportunity to ask some questions I had prepared.

1. What is the maximum L/D? Probably around 10 to 1, but conservatively say 9 to 1.

2. Can the canopy be opened fully in flight? Yes, but it is hard (takes two hands) the airload force pushes it to the closed position. The canopy can be easily opened a few inches and it rests against the latch which keeps it open about 2 inches.

3. Does the canopy seal work in the rain? On the ground rain will drip onto the seat.

4. Are the ailerons mass balanced? (asked in relation to the apparent flutter problems of the Zodiac 601).Yes, and he also feels that some of the competition is under-built.

5. Possible future weight savings? A wet wing. Possible reduced wing spar cross section. Possible shorter extrusion length made up with more span in the sheet metal section. Thinks that the horizontal stab has more chord than it needs. Some changes to materials in some areas might be possible.

6. When will wet wings be incorporated into kits? This is something they want to pursue but it will take a significant effort. There is currently no time frame for availability.

7. Is the S-19 going to get a name? Yes, they are considering Ulterua or Vinterra.

8. Are you going to Oshkosh ? Yes, they are currently planning on going. But it is expensive.

9. The forward extension on the rudder was originally designed for a mass balance that wasn't needed.

10. There will be two interior color options, gray and beige (see picture).

11. Randy feels that the empty weight difference between the RV-12 and the S-19 is not due to the sliding canopy, but it is because of the more robust structure in the wing and under the cockpit floor of the S-19. He feels that the S-19 is a more durable and crash worthy airframe than the competition.

When we got to the airport the first impression of the S-19 was quite positive. It has a certain stage presence, it looks good just sitting there. The airplane was reasonably easy to board and there was plenty of room in the cockpit, it certainly felt much more roomy than a Cessna 172. There is plenty of leg room, in fact I (5’9”) had to have the seat almost all the way forward. My wife is 5 feet tall, and she couldn't reach the rudder pedals. Randy suggested a possible modification of the seat bracket to bring the her seat back forward - good thing this is going to be an experimental. We talked about the possibility of placing two breakdown bikes in the baggage compartment. There was a bike in the hanger and we put the front wheel in the back to judge size. It looks like it will work.

The Rotax started right up and we taxied out. It took a little while to get used to steering with differential breaking but it was no big deal. Randy flew the take-off and the airplane seemed quite lively. We had about 10 gallons of gas on board (I'm 170 lbs and Randy is perhaps about the same) and we were climbing at 900 to 1000 ft/min. I don't remember what our speed was though – too busy looking around with a silly grin. On climb the airplane seemed very quiet, I took my headphones off and the noise level was comfortable. Over the nose visibility was extremely good even in climb attitude. All around visibility is outstanding.

The air was smooth but the airplane seemed to be stable and well behaved. Randy did some steep turns and stall, there was no oil-canning or other strange noises. I did some Dutch rolls, the airplane felt good. During some turns and such I had trouble with rudder coordination, but that was just me, I'm mostly a glider pilot – gliders require a lot of rudder, and its been 12 years since I've flown. The airplane is easy to trim and the stick forces remain light even with the airplane out of trim. I'm so rusty that mostly I just had fun. It was a calm day so Randy (brave man) let me fly the landing. Halfway through the pattern he started muttering something about this being his only demonstrator, I flew a very high pattern (glider pilot) and put in full flaps on base. Full flaps were very effective but even so I needed a full slip on short final. With full flaps and a slip the airplane lost altitude as well as a glider with full spoilers (very fast). The big rudder made it easy to slip the airplane down to just above the runway. The airplane felt very stable and recovered out of the slip into landing attitude very easily. Randy was saying something about how my flying might be bad for his business and his right hand was making funny twitching motions. On flare I let the airplane get a little cross ways to the runway centerline. We touched down firmly but there was no bounce, we were headed towards the weeds bordering the runway but the airplane tracked well after the touch down and was easy to control back to the approximate direction of the centerline. Randy, amazed that we were still alive, threw caution to the wind and suggested that we go around again. Naturally I forgot that we still had full flaps and added full power. Randy, who was paying attention, picked up the flaps and we were back in the air and immediately in a rapid climb. The next landing, while not a whole lot better, was perhaps a little more under control, it sure is fun being a bad pilot in a good airplane. I flew what I thought was a more normal pattern and approach. It didn't feel quite as much like a kamikaze on approach, but even so we landed well down the runway and way off center. The airplane withstood my mishandling without complaint. It was as much fun to fly as a sailplane, and that is saying a lot. Great airplane – great fun. We headed back to the office and I happily put in my order for the fuselage kit.

Its been my opinion for a while that what the world really needs is a good high performance electric self launching sailplane. I think the technology has now caught up with the requirements. Since a sailplane is very efficient and only requires power to climb to 2,000 ft or so – and then is gone for the day using thermals to stay aloft, the demands on the battery system would be low. Toss in the ability to recharge the battery in flight from a windmilling propeller and you could have a real game changer. We talked about this and after lunch he brought out and flew his new radio controlled electric model sailplane. It seems that he is thinking along the same lines. There might be a second RANS kit in my future.

--Bruce Fox