Wt-11 Chinook

The Vic/Tas agent for the Chinook is Staywood Air of Warrnambool Airport, Victoria, the principal of which is Bill Bell.

On arrival at the neat and tidy Operations office, Bill was quick to convey his enthusiasm for the little aircraft. In looking at the Chinook one is immediately impressed by the fact that it is more of a conventional aircraft than most ultralights. Little wonder then that it is described as a third-generation ultralight.

The Chinook is a Canadian-built machine, all the way from Edmonton, Alberta. The Canadians seem to have a knack of building things rugged – must be something to do with the weather – and the Chinook is no exception. The machines are imported into Australia by the distributor, Basic Flying Machines of Molong NSW, from where they are despatched to agents in each State to sell in kit form or fully assembled (at extra cost).

To date Staywood have acquired five Chinooks, including a two seat trainer, but that is another story. The sale of ultralight Chinooks by Staywood is in fact a partnership between Bill Bell and Alec Moore of MacArthur, near Warrnambool.

To build a Chinook from a kit is not as easy as falling off a log but for a fellow with some mechanical aptitude and a home workshop, he should be able to assemble the kit in around 80-100 enjoyable hours. All parts are numbered and each kit comes with a comprehensive illustrated assembly manual. If you want a Chinook ready to fly away, Bill’s son David can assemble the kit for you (at extra cost) in around 40 hours; the reduced time comes from the experience gained in assembling several machines.

The basic structure of the Chinook is 6061. aluminums tubing, most of it straight except for some bends around the cockpit. The dacron covering is put on in the form of envelopes and stuck down, velcro taped on or laced in position. The cabin window is Mylar, a thin very clear plastic material that is stuck in place and then shrunk to a taut skin by use of a hot air gun. The Chinook can be flown with or without the cabin door but cabin door or not the view from the cockpit is very good – the next best thing to a helicopter but at a fraction of the cost.

The seat is a padded fibreglass affair complete with a metal-to-metal lap belt. The rudder pedals can be adjusted for different pilots and between them is the instrument panel, a simple affair of ASI, Tacho/EGT, Altimeter and Ignition switch in that order from top to bottom. The cabin has more than adequate elbow room. The throttle is mounted on a seat support next to the pilot’s left thigh.

The Chinook has a small tailwheel and both it and the mainwheels are sprung with bungee cord. There are no brakes and they are not required. The 5′ track makes for easy ground handling and the 13″ wheels and the 4″ wide tread are ideal for unimproved surfaces.

The engine is the Austrian-built Rotax 277 of 28 hp. While it is a single-cylinder two-stroke a recent listing of engines in production US ultralights revealed almost half were powered by the Rotax 277. Someone must be doing something right!

The fuel system comprises a marine-type see-through fuel tank of 5 (US) gallons secured to the keel tube, behind the pilot The fuel used by Staywood is a 50:1 mix of Valvoline Racing oil and Super Automotive petrol. The only hitch in the whole machine appears here, for refuelling means balancing a fuel can on the seat back and the pilot is unable to see the fuel quantity during flight. However, if ultralight flyers were concerned about this they would soon modify the situation, which is much the same in most other ultralights.

While I was gathering material for the article a Pitts S2 roared into the Warrnambool circuit, landed and outhopped the builder and owner, Ed Manifold, who had recently bought a. nd assembled a Chinook kit that he purchased from Starwood. Ed, who comes from the nearby Camperdown area, is the sort of fellow that a salesman loves to have around when trying to sell something to another prospect; Ed was full of praise for his Chinook and even went so far as to say that if he had to make a decision between keeping the Pitts or the Chinook the latter would stay. As Ed put it, the Chinook was just so much fun for your dollar.

Ed bought the Chinook for use on his property. In the past he had spent up to 3½ hours a day using a motorbike to ride around his property checking his Romney sheep; now he spends 30 minutes in the Chinook doing the same thing, and having a lot more fun!

Ed had flown over 60 hours in the short time since he put the Chinook into the air and estimated it had directly saved some $1500 in spotting distressed sheep, in addition to the saved time he could now put into other areas of the property.

Strong winds unfortunately prevented a demonstration flight. However, Alec Moore, who is a partner in the ultralight side of Staywood Air, describes a typical flight in a Chinook.

‘The pre-flight aspects much like a conventional aircraft in that you top up the fuel and then check the cockpit controls. Next you check the under cart and move out along the wing, undoing the four large inspection zippers to ensure the structure and controls are OK. The engine and prop are straightforward and the lack of a cowl makes for a very easy inspection. The tail feathers are checked to see they are all right and that the tail wheel, on the base of the rudder post, is operating properly. Because of the light weight of the ‘Chook it is very easy to move around on the ground.

‘To start, set the throttle, switch on and standing on the left side of the engine pull the starting handle. After start up, strap in and you are ready. Although there are no brakes it is easy to taxi due to the airstream from the prop over the rudder.

‘Throttle forward, ease the stick forward and it is ready to lift off. There is no noticeable swing. Normally no more than 100 feet is required to take off. Climb out is at 50 mph. The cruise is 60 mph at 5800 rpm. I find the roll sluggish but this is due to the low airspeed. It does require a rudder to balance turns. The stall is more a mush than a clean break, at around 25 mph. The descent and landing is at 40 mph and you need to carry some power because the machine is light and without power, it stops quickly. Over the fence you flair it and it touches down in a three-point landing. Shut down is to idle and use the ignition switch.

‘I really like the Chinook because it is just so easy and comfortable to fly. ‘

To date over 100 Chinooks are reported to have been brought into Australia. The type is well-proven and flown in a number of countries. It has even been aerobatted on occasion in Canada by the factory pilot. The design is stressed to + 6 – 3.

At Warrnambool, Bill Bell is looking at supplying floats from a mould he has obtained and snow skis are another option that can make the Chinook an even more versatile machine for year-round use.

To sum up: The WT-11 Chinook is inexpensive to operate ultralight, rugged yet with good looks. It will appeal to a lot of people who want a flying machine that they can assemble, fly and maintain themselves and give a lot of enjoyment and pleasure at very low cost. The Chinook is all of this and more.