Pilot September 2017

Notes

12 | Pilot September 2017 http://www.pilotweb.aero

Aircraft star in V&A

Museum’s Plywood Exhibition

Pilatus PC-24 on the way

Sonex and AeroConversions

Running in the V&A’s Porter Gallery until 12
November, Plywood: Material of the
Modern World features a number of
aircraft and aviation-related exhibits
including a Mosquito fuselage section and
plywood wing tanks, and large-scale
models of the complete aircraft and an
Airspeed Horsa assault glider. There are
also videos running on large screens,
including segments showing Mosquitos
being built and demonstrated in flight (the
low-level barrel roll on one engine caught
our attention), Amelia Earhart making a
bouncy and hairy-looking arrival in her
Lockheed Vega, and the infamous Hughes’
Spruce Goose.

Wing/fuselage mating of the first
customer Pilatus PC-24 took place on
12 July. The Swiss manufacturer intends
to deliver it to US fractional ownership

operator PlaneSense immediately after

certification, which is on schedule for the

fourth quarter of this year. PlaneSense

has six PC-24s on order.

Sonex Aircraft is now offering AeroConversions’ attach

bars for Sonex/Rotax 912-series engine mounts. They

eliminate the need for complex Rotax ring mounts and

mount rubbers, bolting directly to Rotax 912-series

engines. They are designed to use simple

AeroConversions’ AeroVee shock mount rubbers,

avoiding the complex shock mount geometry found in

other Rotax bed mount systems. The attach bars

weigh 12.9 ounces apiece, and sell for $83.50 each.

AeroConversions’ AeroVee Rubber Shock Mounts are

sold in sets of eight for $28. For more information:

sonexaircraft.com and aeroconversions.com

The Rotax attach bars are highlighted here in red

Other exhibits packed into the one large

room include furniture, cars — former de

Havilland engineer Frank Costin’s

plywood monocoque Formua 2 car sits

at the entrance — and two examples of

the Mirror dinghy, one cleverly and

revealingly shown in ‘exploded’ kit form.
The V&A and curator Christopher Wilk
are to be congratulated on assembling
such a fine celebration of art and
technology. This exhibition is well worth
Costin F2 car has a plywood monocoque a visit.

Curator Christopher Wilk wanted to include a Mosquito wing, but there wasn’t space