Time to talk about Allegro's

Talk about airplanes! At last count, there are 39 (and growing) FAA certificated S-LSA (special light sport aircraft). These are factory-built ready to fly airplanes. If you can't afford a factory-built LSA, consider buying an E-LSA kit (experimental LSA - up to 99% complete).

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theskunk
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by theskunk »

Just got some information back from Doug Hempstead from Fantasy Air,

Flight plan info:

Speed @ 115mph
Burn 3.5gph (WOW!!!)
Best Alt ~3000-4000ft DA


Appears that W&B is not available in a pdf/electronic format, however based on information from the aircraft, i've managed to put the checklist in the ipad, as well as the W&B calculations.
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by drseti »

theskunk wrote:Speed @ 115mph
That's 100 kts, which is completely credible.
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
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theskunk
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by theskunk »

Here's the other question -- Paul you might have some insight -- when planning with the ipad, depending on the length of the trip, i usually knock off an average of 2kts per hour to account for time to climb + pattern time/etc... How do you handle this?
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by drseti »

Skunk, as a general approximation, I usually add 0.2 hours to my planned time for startup, taxi, runup, takeoff, and climb, and then another 0.2 for descent, landing, taxi, and shutdown. In other words, for a three-hour leg, I flight-plan at 3.4. This is a conservative calculation, which ensures adequate fuel. (Of course, you have your planned reserve on top of that, so should land with plenty of fuel.)
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by theskunk »

Reasonable - I guess my only hesitation is that these figures are coming from what i consider to be 'the book' and aren't from 'real world accounts'... ie: normally when I get into an airplane and look for published fuel burns, the real world ends up higher by a bit; and the cruise speed ends up lower by a bit; and the climb rate ends up lower by a bit...

I guess I don't fully be 3.5gph @ 100kts until I see it, since the sport cruiser did 105 @ 5.0gph...
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by drseti »

Skunk, I would fully expect the Allegro to be more fuel efficient than the CRUZ, since its composite airframe is more sleek (i.e., less draggy). But, you're right, book values may or not bear out in actual practice. The only way to know for sure is to go for a trip!
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
Prof H Paul Shuch
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by ka7eej »

Skunk,

I flew my Allegro 2000 from NC to Mesa, AZ over two days and averaged 3.5 GPH at 102 miles per hour. Lots of fuel stops because of the 14 Gallon fuel tank. Longest leg 3.0 hours, most were 2.2 to 2.6 hours..Also most of the time between 600 to 1500 agl... Lots of fun... XM Radio and Weather helped..Most of the time my missions now are no longer that a 2.5 hour flight , then back home.. All in all a fun, sorta cheap airplane to fly and maintain..

Brian
Owner of N3081X (Cover Girl) A Beautiful Allegro 2000 as seen on the cover and inside of several magazines!!
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by gmohr »

When I flew my Lightning back from Arizona, I got 120kts at 3.8gph at 9500'. Now the Jabiru 3300 with the single Bing
doesn't lean out properly at altitude so I have the Hackman mixture control to manually lean it out. 4 turns on the
control and my EGTs and CHTs were all right where they should be. Often times at altitude you have to throttle back
to keep the temps in the right range, at least on the Jabs that is.

While I know this is not an SLSA or ELSA it is built to LSA standards and meets speed, stall and weight limitations.
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by Jack Tyler »

Skunk, along with Brian I'd like to add just a bit of real-world caution to a few of the fuel burn/flight planning comments I'm reading. Especially with slower a/c, variables like *real* winds aloft (vs. the blanket f'cast winds) have a significant impact on one's actual vs. planned flight distances. And in most cases, since we tend to fly to specific destinations (interim or final) - perhaps for a fuel price, for the scenery enroute, for a better runway in a higher f'cast wind - it's the distance flown that is meaningful. Whether it's tweaking the flight plan by .2 hrs for departure & arrival or it's adjusting book speeds by 2 kts, those theoretical adjustments won't have the impact on your flight plan that variables like an ATC deviation, finding a MOA has become active, and winds aloft will. While it's fine (even fun) to try and do as thorough a job of flight planning as possible, doing so is also a bit like reading a Tom Clancy novel. Be careful what you choose to believe.

Re: book values for your a/c's speed, consider those as the max speeds demonstrated at a given point in time by the manufacturer, with a clean airframe, quite possibly absent some avionics, certainly absent the various bits we all pile into our planes (flashlight, oil & rag, digital device, the passenger's purse and on the list goes...), and with a fresh engine that, you can be sure, the mfgr. made sure was running optimally. Just for fun, you might find it useful to fly the four cardinal points, for an extended period of some minutes each, on a relatively mild day and at several different, likely power settings, to average out the a/c's real world performance (both in speed and fuel burn). Ideally, you'd do this with the a/c payload (passenger? luggage?) representing the typical kind of flight you plan to make when the a/c's performance really matters - e.g. for a typical longer flight you anticipate making. Those real-world numbers, for that aircraft, will then form a firmer baseline for you, to which you can factor in winds aloft and the other expected & unanticipated variables.
Jack
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by theskunk »

Next allegro question:

Where in the world do i put the ipad?!
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by FrankR »

My tablet has a cover that opens like a book.

I fold it back and clip the cover to my kneeboard.

Perfect place, really.
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by deckofficer »

Since this thread is now 3 years dormant, I would like to hear from the Allegro owners and their more recent experiences. It appears to be the ever elusive "good bang for the buck" type of a/c. I found a 2005 with only 105 hours with asking price of $40K. It has the extra wing tanks.

There doesn't seem to be any updates on the AllegroLSA web site and has me wondering if it is another orphaned a/c like the recent demise of Flight Design?

Bob
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by MrMorden »

deckofficer wrote:Since this thread is now 3 years dormant, I would like to hear from the Allegro owners and their more recent experiences. It appears to be the ever elusive "good bang for the buck" type of a/c. I found a 2005 with only 105 hours with asking price of $40K. It has the extra wing tanks.

There doesn't seem to be any updates on the AllegroLSA web site and has me wondering if it is another orphaned a/c like the recent demise of Flight Design?
First, FD airplanes are not orphans! FD USA is still in full operation and delivering airplanes. I ordered and received parts from them a week ago. Their European operation is going through a cash squeeze created by some of their creditors not paying them, but that is hopefully about to be resolved.

As for the Allegro, I don't know for sure if they are "orphaned" or not. Their website is minimal, but still up. You could contact them through the www.fantasyairusa.com website. An allegro for $40k could make a fun airplane. You could always convert it to E-LSA and then factory support becomes much less of an issue.
Andy Walker
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deckofficer
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by deckofficer »

MrMorden wrote:
deckofficer wrote:Since this thread is now 3 years dormant, I would like to hear from the Allegro owners and their more recent experiences. It appears to be the ever elusive "good bang for the buck" type of a/c. I found a 2005 with only 105 hours with asking price of $40K. It has the extra wing tanks.

There doesn't seem to be any updates on the AllegroLSA web site and has me wondering if it is another orphaned a/c like the recent demise of Flight Design?
First, FD airplanes are not orphans! FD USA is still in full operation and delivering airplanes. I ordered and received parts from them a week ago. Their European operation is going through a cash squeeze created by some of their creditors not paying them, but that is hopefully about to be resolved.

As for the Allegro, I don't know for sure if they are "orphaned" or not. Their website is minimal, but still up. You could contact them through the http://www.fantasyairusa.com website. An allegro for $40k could make a fun airplane. You could always convert it to E-LSA and then factory support becomes much less of an issue.
The Allegro in question is home built so already is experimental. The builder is now in his 70's and had only kept the plane in hopes one of his kids wanted to learn to fly, but they didn't. He moved it from his own grass strip to a local airport to have a friend sell it for him. After talking with this friend it appears he has really babied this plane, more so than what Rotax needs. Such as take offs at 4800 rpm and cruise at 3800 rpm. Didn't even know that was even possible on the 81 hp Rotax. Looking at the pictures (I'll be getting more that are higher resolution) it looks factory built with the exception of "Expermental" placards and lettering on the fuselage. Normal going prices are in the mid $50K range so it appears a $15K reduction for being a homebuilt. As a E-LSA it will be nice to be able to add an ifly 740 without jumping through the hoops of a certified a/c.
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Re: Time to talk about Allegro's

Post by 3Dreaming »

I had an Allegro once. I took it in on trade for a used CTSW. Sold it for $25,000. It had a little damage, but could have been fixed and flying for $40,000. It had been damaged more than once, and the people I talked to who had flown it didn't think much of it. Some were even a little afraid of it. I never flew the airplane , so I can't say. They said the CT was a much better flying airplane.
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