Team Tango Updates
July 2010
- Texas foxtrot comes home for some upgrading. Tom Miller's Foxtrot 4 has been brought back by Team Tango and is being re-engined with a certified IO-540 250hp engine. The flight back from Texas inspired her new N# N190KT. Into slight head wind caused by hurricane Alex the controllers kept asking me,"What kind of experimental is that? You have been doing 190 knots for awhile now." Besides the engine change we are installing a Dynon 10" Skyview EFIS and our larger horizontal tail. Flight testing will begin soon and we will have her at Airventure 2010 to show you all.
- Great news on the alternative aircraft engine front with a number of new engine designs being explored now at Team Tango. Bob and Reed Mayer's Foxtrot 4 received it's new 350hp LS1 Chevrolet engine (picture 1) from Geared Drives and it is being installed as you read this. Also from Geared Drives the EcoTech 2.0 liter supercharged 4 cyl is going in our CEO, Dennis Moleman's Tango 2, at 205hp it ought to flat out scream (picture 2). The cowling has just been fabricated and test running will start right after we get back from Oshkosh. And Dave Williams (picture 3) got a little help from the people at DeltaHawk when they lent him the show model from Sun N Fun so that he could get a jump on his engine mount fabrication and be ready and waiting for the, most anticipated, final installation and flight testing of this hot new diesel design. Of course all of our aircraft are designed for the easy insallation of the Avco-Lycoming series of engines and as an OEM dealer we can assist you in your final selection of powerplant.
Picture 1: LS1 Chevrolet engine.
Picture 2: EcoTech 2.4 liter supercharged 4 cyl.
Picture 3: Dave Williams and his diesel engine.
June 2010
- The FAA made a visit to the factory to inspect out kits on both planes for compliance with the current regulations. Everything went quite well.
May 2010
- We flew the floats on the Kitfox and did some rough weather taxi test. Video will be posted soon of these flights and the ones still to come.
April 2010
- Super busy month with the shipping of more kits, including one to an engineer at Scaled Composites. We will be at Sun-N-Fun again this year with Art Duval’s beautiful Tango 2 on display.
March 2010
- Foxtrot going down under with the shipping of a Foxtrot 4 kit with the expanded cabin size to an airbus captain from Australia. He also ordered the extended range option with the full wet wing. That gives you 200 US Gallons and a gross weight increase to 3400 lbs.
January 2010
- It was great to see everyone at the Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo this January. We had our “Gator floats” on display mounted on a Kitfox 2 and the test mule for the amphibious set-up.
December 2009
- Hope everyone had a great year! Things went great for us and we have plenty of things in the works for the upcoming year!
- !!!Showdown at the O-K Corral!!! Well actually at the Team Tango factory. It was long awaited but finally happened, a head to head between a RV-10 and a Foxtrot.Ken Bartow, whom we have known for some time, was kind enough to show up in Williston with his lovely RV-10 N347JK on November 20. After a few rain delays (actually several days worth) the two aircraft did a formation takeoff from the Williston Airport X60 7500 ft runway. All in all they did a series of maneuvers and straight speed runs. The full results of which we expect Ken to publish in an upcoming Kitplane article, so stay tuned.Not to steal Ken’s thunder but the results to report should portray the Foxtrot in a very favorable light!
- Australia Bound The morning of December 2nd
our Australian builder left to go back home and flying his Airbus 330.He spent a very profitable week building and
completing his stabilizer – it involves all the steps and procedures
needed to complete the wing. So he is
well on his way! Now all we have to do
is receive some long awaited parts and load his kit into a shipping container
bound for Brisbane, Australia
Final Thoughts for 2009 Unless there is some other newsworthy happening we at Team Tango will leave you with these thoughts:
May All Have a Wonderful and Safe
and
We Hope to See You Next Year
November 2009
- Hey everyone! Check out the November issue of Kitplanes featuring us on the cover. The only suggestion they had was they thought the plane needed a bigger horizontal stabilizer. That agreed with our test pilots feelings, which is why we were already in the process of developing one!
OCTOBER 9, 2009
- UPDATE 9 October 2009: The FAA this week released the long-awaited final order that revises the amateur-built aircraft certification policy known as the 51 percent rule as well as Advisory Circular 20-27G, the guide for amateur builders on how to properly certify every step of the building process. Our aircraft kits exceed both the old and new FAA 51% rule requirements by a wide margin. The final FAA references can be found here: http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Order/8130.2F%20Ch%204.pdf and http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC%2020-27G.pdf
SEPTEMBER 23, 2009
- Our four place Team Tango Foxtrot is on
this months cover of Kit Planes Magazine accompanied by a comprehensive
flight review: http://www.kitplanes.com Additional detail can be
found in the June news release.
- Geared Drives is currently running and testing the Chevrolet LSJ
2.0L Ecotech supercharged 4 cylinder engine
designed for the Tango Two. A YouTube video of one of the test runs can be
found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEZ1y0IsE2g
AUGUST 6, 2009
- We want to thank all of those
who visited our booth at
- At
- We had both a Foxtrot (the prototype to be featured in a KitPlane article this fall) and a spectacular Tango recently completed by Art Duval. Our thanks to Alan Tuck who loaned his Foxtrot and Art who helped man our booth and share his building experiences as well as receive accolades for his craftsmanship. We were also joined by Bob and Reid Mayer (father and son) who start a Foxtrot at our build center this week. Relatively new to the flying and aircraft scene the Mayers were like two kids in a candy store with all that AirVenture 2009 had to offer.
- Also adorning our booth was a
Gator 1600 float designed for Light Sport Aircraft by our friend, Gary Tanus, and built in our Williston facility.
Unfortunately
- For those of you who visited us at Sun ‘n Fun 2009 rest assured the AirVenture 2009 air shows paled in comparison to those at Fun ‘n Sun. However, AirVenture had visits by the Scaled Composites/Virgin Atlantic Mothership “Eve”, an Airbus 380 and a British WWII Lancaster bomber. But at Sun ‘n Fun we were visited daily by the F-22 Raptor performing an awesome stunt routine.
- For those of you who have questions or comments, you are invited to contact us directly or share your thoughts, comments or questions on our forum site.
JULY 21, 2009
- Please join us at booth 628 in Osh Kosh
JUNE 11, 2009
- On 12 May, in preparation for the article, KITPLANES dispatched one of their test pilots down to Williston factory to fly the Foxtrot. We were told that the article will be in the October or November issue. Be sure to look for it!!
- Overall the KITPLANES test pilot seemed to like the aircraft very much. He did, however, make two adverse observations: he (1) encountered aileron friction and (2) felt the CG would be too far aft with four passengers on board.
- In response to the KITPLANES flight review input: (1) we are currently examining and testing several ways to reduce the stick forces required to deflect the Foxtrot ailerons (we prefer that a cross country airplane be very stable in roll but there may be some builders who prefer lighter roll forces); and (2) we are increasing the size of the Foxtrot horizontal stabilizer by roughly 25% to further widen the CG range and provide even greater pitch authority at low speeds, like in the landing flare.
- GearedDrives is making headway on the 205
hp GM Ecotech engine for a Tango
installation. They are about to do bench run testing of the
engine. The engine may be on display at
- Based upon the Sun ‘n Fun response, we are in the process of furthering the Gator Float design. We are currently manufacturing floats for LSA aircraft and somewhat larger, up to 1600lb’s gross weight aircraft. We should have an amphibian version ready for testing in the next few months. See www.floatslsa.com for details.
- There seems to be growing interest in the experimental community about our composite plenums. We are currently working with RV 7, 8 and 9 builders to design a cooling plenum, similar to the one we use on our aircraft, which will be a simple bolt on affair for builders of those aircraft. It reduces cylinder head temperatures significantly, isn’t prone to the cracking that plagues metal baffles and installs in hours. It is much better solution for builders than trying to manufacture and fit metal baffling.
MAY 11, 2009
- Added Headroom – We’ve redesigned the front seat
installations in the Foxtrot and Tango and have achieved an added 5 inches
of headroom in the Tango and an additional 3 inches of headroom in the
Foxtrot.
- Our latest completion is Dave Parnell, who received his
airworthiness certificate for his Tango 2 on April 2nd. First flight
was April 8th. The aircraft was completed at our build center. His
plane has a 3 blade Aerocomposites prop,
- We are working with Geared Drives, www.GearedDrives.com, to install a 205 hp GM Ecotech engine on a Tango 2. We expect to begin
installation in the next month or two.
- We’re very excited about an interview we gave to GA News at
Sun ‘n Fun so look for that in GA News soon.
- We conducted some air to air photo shots with Kit Planes magazine
and we should see a flight test report appearing in Kit Planes some time
late summer or early fall.
- We’ve completed work on a cooling plenum for the Lycoming
angle valve IO-360 and expect to reduce cylinder head temperatures on
those engines significantly.
- We would like to thank everyone who visited our booth at the Sun
& Fun air show. We had a much bigger booth this year and the
response was excellent.
March 30, 2009:
TEAM TANGO ANNOUNCES NEW SUN ’N FUN PRICING STRUCTURE
TEAM TANGO, the premier manufacturer of high performance amateur built aircraft, is offering a new Sun ’n Fun price structure. Designed to get new builders airborne as quickly and economically as possible, the two-place, 212 mph, 1400 mi. range, TANGO 2 quick build is reduced from $29,750 to $24,750 and the four-place, 230 mph, 1800 mi. range, FOXTROT quick build is reduced from $45,995 to $40,750 and the 212 mph, 2100 mi range Tango 2 XR is reduced from $31,750 to $26,750. Sun ’n Fun pricing begins Monday, March 30 and will continue for a 90 day period. Any Tango or Foxtrot contract for order position during that period qualifies. Sun ’n Fun attendance is not required to qualify for this offer.
For more information: 352-528-0982
October 2008:
So far we have been unaffected by that big annual event known as hurricane season. We had a good showing at Air Venture and would like to thank everyone who visited our booth. Denny Funnemark is now flying with the production version of our plenum chamber. If anything, it works even better than the prototype. Average CHT’s are about 320 degrees. With the basic design more or less finalized we will now begin choking down the inlet size to allow the CHT’s to rise while reducing airflow to reduce cooling drag. The plenum is made for the 180 hp O/IO-360, but can be narrowed to fit an O-320. We are working on getting some pictures posted in the OPTIONS section.
We are working with Geared Drives, to install a 205 hp GM Ecotech engine on a Tango. The firewall forward package is just getting underway, so we won’t have any thing to report for a while, but we’ll keep you posted. We also spoke with Delta Hawk while at
April 2008:
Congratulations to our latest fliers, Dave Bareiss and Art Duval. Both are in flight testing and also doing body work to get ready for painting. Dave’s has a FADEC equipped IOF-360, Aerocomposite prop, and EFIS 1200. Art has a standard IO-360, Hartzel prop, and EFIS 1200. Yes, there will be a race.
We are currently developing a composite plenum chamber in our shop. After some refinement it will be installed on Denny Funnemark’s Tango for flight testing. We hope to get even better cooling, reduced drag, easier installation, and greater durability with this design. It has a low profile to allow it to fit other airplanes besides the Tango.
Once again we will be attending Sun & Fun in
October 2007:
We will be attending three fly ins in October. The first will be the AOPA Expo in
September 2007:
We continue to build experience with the EFIS 1200 and now offer it as the standard panel option for the Tango 2 and the Foxtrot 4. Denny Funnemark has accumulated over 140 hours flying with his EFIS 1200 on trips to
Check the Options page of the Website for information and larger pictures of the EFIS 1200.
March 2007:
Denny Funnemark completed the initial installation of the first EFIS 1200 and has begun flying with it. Initial impression is WOW. Size does matter. So does brightness. The pictures were taken in broad daylight with the sun behind the airplane, shining on the screens. If you can, enlarge them to 12 inch diagonal to get the actual screen size. The right screen views shown are with the True Map software from www.aviationsafety.com. You may also add MountainScope software from www.pcavionics.com. More features are coming and we will include a more complete description as we progress.
December 2006:
Merry Christmas from Team Tango. We are proud to announce the introduction of the brand new EFIS 1200 glass panel as standard equipment available exclusively on the Tango 2 and Foxtrot 4. This new system includes dual 12 inch screens which are 44% bigger than the more common 10 inch screens, yet they have a footprint including the bezel that is about the same at 8 ½ x 11 inches. The display includes the two screens, redundant processors, a built in GPS, and a total solid state magnetometer, air data system, and Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS). The displays have numerous options including typical EFIS type pitch/roll ladder, digital and analog airspeed indicator and altimeter, slaved HSI, moving map, XM weather overlays, approach plates, terrain mapping, and obstacle alerts. An engine monitor customized to individual engine requirements is also included in the package. There are no buttons on the screens to control the displays. Instead you use a trackball, joystick or hat switch to move a pointer, much like a mouse on a PC.
The components are rugged industrial quality, designed for and used in heavy equipment, marine applications and medical instruments, as well as aviation applications. The software is written by pilots for pilots. For those long cross country flights you can make in a Tango or Foxtrot, you can also plug in a DVD player to let your passenger watch in flight movies.
We currently have three Tangos and one Foxtrot under construction in our
August 2006:
In April, Andy Gamache successfully completed flight testing of his 90 gallon wet wing Tango 2. Following that he headed west and is now sporting a new interior from Oregon Aero. He logged his first really long cross country flight on his return trip from
April 2006:
Andy Gamache continues flight testing of the latest Tango 2, the 90 gallon wet wing CROSS-THE- COUNTRY airplane. Aside from some minor glitches with the outside air temperature probe and a couple other sensors, flight testing continues to go well. He has greatly expanded the envelope by taking his plane up to 284 KIAS in about a 15 degree dive, well beyond the previous Vne of 200 KIAS. He reports the plane is steady as a rock. Upcoming flight will include testing at a gross weight of 2,200 pounds.
The Foxtrot is in full production. We will then begin building up an inventory of kit parts to reduce the lead time for new kit builders.
We would like to thank everyone who came by our booth at Sun & Fun this year. We had a lot of interest in both airplanes. Please keep in touch and contact us to set up a visit and demo ride.
March 2006:
In November we began flight testing the first Tango with a full wet wing. The first flight was uneventful, as were all the following flights. Total fuel capacity came in at 90 gallons total. The Tango will cruise at 175-180 KTAS at a density altitude of 12,000 feet while burning 7.5 gallons per hour at about 62% power when equipped with an IOF-360 (FADEC) and a constant speed prop. Quick math gives an eleven hour duration with an hour reserve. This is enough to fly LAX to JAX without a tail wind. The owner will be making that flight later this year after he gets a VERY comfortable interior installed. His work schedule gets in the way of a faster flight test program.
Denny Funnemark is closing in on the 1,000 hour milestone in his Tango, N99GE, with 971 hours as of March 5th , 2006. He has the most hours on the Tango, the Aerosance Powerlink FADEC system, and the Superior XP-360.
We are prepping for the Sun & Fun air show in
September 2005:
We began test flying the first Tango 2 with an IO-320 and a fixed pitch prop. The builder chose a basic VFR airplane with dual electronic ignition. Other than the normal rudder trim tab, the airplane flew straight with no other adjustments required. So far flight testing has been delightfully uneventful. We do not have enough flight time to publish any numbers yet, but 75% power looks like it will give between 150-155 KIAS.
Denny Funnemark is flight testing the low cost autopilot. The wing level function works well, but the altitude hold needs some software adjustments to limit pitch rates. In reality, when the wing leveler is on, the altitude hold isn't really needed because of the inherent pitch stability.
Our first CROSS-THE-COUNTRY Tango 2 with the full wet wing should fly in late October. The builder spends most of his time flying overseas, so his progress is slow. We are also anticipating the arrival of the first Delta Hawk diesel engine in November or December.
July 2005:
We are busy preparing for AirVenture 2005. The big news is that this year we will be bringing the second Foxtrot 4 for display and demonstration flights. The Foxtrot will be parked in the home built parking area to make it available for demos. Our display booth is # 432 in the kit manufacturer's display area. Come by and visit us for directions and see what's new.
This year we will be demonstrating our new low cost two axis autopilot from PC Flight Systems and a new 10.4 inch EFIS from Pro-Tech. The auto pilot will list for $995 and the EFIS will list for $9,995.
After we return from AirVenture we will begin final airframe assembly on the first Tango to be equipped with the new Delta Hawk diesel. The builder ordered his engine early in the program and expects to have it shipped to our build center in August. Because this is a new and different installation, we will make no forecasts on when it will be ready.
See you at the show.