The Millennium Project

[Admin]

Hi All

 

Please let me introduce you to a project of bringing to Australia a new aircraft. This forum will take you through the development of the aircraft which is currently at Prototype 2 which is going through its advanced testing and should be released after certification next year. Top speed is 210kts and a cruise at 75% is 173kts although at this stage I will safely say 160 to 170 knots - will have to wait to get her home and do my own testing.

 

Powered by a Rotax 912ULS and a constant speed prop, has retracts for the 544kg type certificate or without retracts for LSA at 600kg. Weighs in at around 290kg with a ballistic chute.

 

The company that makes them makes all the carbon fiber prototypes of the high performance cars like Ferrari etc.

 

At this stage they will only be in a fast build kit - complete except for the engine, panel and wiring but will end up being factory built.

 

This has been a 5 year project to date and the objective of this forum is to, if you wish, be a part of the process in the final development of the aircraft.

 

I will be interested to hear any comments in this forum that you may have so you can participate in putting your thoughts into this new aircraft that will have the Recreational flying name associated with it.

 

It may well be not your type of aircraft but you can still put your thoughts into its development. It will be an aircraft that we can call "our own" - if you wish to!

 

Imported and distributed by Recreational Flying :smiley4: :smiley4: :smiley4:

 

 

 

[BigPete]

I'll say one thing for you Ian ;) - you don't do anything by halves! :big_grin:

 

regards

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Che bellezza, quanto costera?

 

 

[Admin]

I will post some more pictures of Prototype 2 going through some of her tests when I can get time to upload them.

 

The Millennium Master has a stall speed of 36 and 42kts and flaps of 0, 10, 30 and 40deg however final testing should confirm those flap settings.

 

 

[Admin]

Che bellezza, quanto costera?

huh :confused:

 

 

[Guest High Plains Drifter]

Is it a single seater ?

 

 

[Admin]

HPD - twin seater, one behind the other although there are plans for a 4 seater that can be used as a twin seater side by side

 

 

[rodknee]

ozzie probably means "how muchy"

 

 

[Admin]

Not confirmed yet but indicators are when completely finished about the $120k

 

 

[Guest High Plains Drifter]

Tandem, now yer talkin.

 

That isnt a JATO nozel poking out of the tail is it - or perhaps it is a spin test chute.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

huh :confused:

 

It's fantastic!! $$$?

 

what region are you in?

 

Sta attento

 

(take care)

 

 

[Guest Flyer40]

Ian

 

That's a hot looking aircraft with very impressive numbers. The lines remind me of the Tucano.

 

Since you asked for opinions, I'd have to say my wife wouldn't let me make her sit in the back, and I probably wouldn't go with a 912. But it sounds like there are more options in the pipeline. I'm very keen to hear more and if a heavier side-by-side 2 seater or a 4 seater became an option for the right price I'd have no qualms about going VH experimental.

 

Good to see the BRS box already ticked. And personally I like the gear down and welded.

 

Perhaps I should write the specification for my dream aircraft so I can line up future iterations of the Millennium Project for comparison?

 

Regards

 

Mal

 

 

[Galpin]

Well Ian, I kept it to myself. On my desktop sits a large photo of this aircraft. Been there for a long time. It was one of the aircraft I considered. However, I knew the price would be over 100k, so that disqualified me from further consideration.

 

 

[Galpin]

For those interested, the Millennium aircraft site is: http://www.millennium-aircraft.com/

 

 

[Ben Longden]

With the speed being 150+ and all thats up front is a 100 horse Rotax, what do other manufacturers say about the design of their craft in terms of drag?

 

Ian, you swore me to secrecy weeks ago.... now all I want to know is can it come in Silver with Black trim?

 

Ben

 

 

[Guest Decca]

So right Big Pete. Ian’s full of surprises. He’s right on one count - not my kind of aircraft, however no-one’s immune to growing into it.

 

Ian I know this forum believes there’s no such thing as stupid questions; are “cruise†(negative) flaps being considered? If so what would be the margin between max cruise speed & Vne? Also since your thumbnail sports the RFF logo, what’s the chances of renaming the a/c the Millenium MASTERS? (The highest ranking, most prolific poster on the forums)?

 

Regards, Decca.

 

 

[Guest disperse]

Well the indicative price is about 50k cheaper then I thought.

 

But what I really want to know is DID YOU GET A FLY.

 

 

[Matt]

First impression - wow! If a factory built one of those been on offer about 3 years ago we would've bought one, exactly what I would put on paper for my ultimate sport / recreational aircraft...effectively a scale version of some of the advanced military trainers in use today i.e. Tucano, PC9. The tailplane looks very BAE Hawk, especially in the rear 3/4 view: http://www.millennium-aircraft.com/photogallery.php?id=2&img=images/multimedia/photo/2/DSC_9800T.jpg

 

Only thing I would change is the prop, really needs a 3 or 4 blade prop...nothing to do with performance, just looks better :)

 

Ian - any idea how long before factory build is an option and what the cost would be?

 

 

[Mick]

Only thing I would change is the prop, really needs a 3 or 4 blade prop...nothing to do with performance, just looks better :)

Right there with ya Matt, how cool would it look with the Kiev 5 blade prop ;)

 

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Wondering how hard it is to slow up for the circuit and can you get a reasonable decent profile that doesn't have to start 50+ miles away from your destination. looks like a lot of fun, but definitly need to stay way in front of it with these speeds.

 

slap a little alison turbine in it and you could definitly compare it to a PC9. i expect with a little imagination the 'poorer' air forces could have some cheap defence like what was done with the machetti.

 

ozzie

 

 

[Yenn]

Stall speed may be a problem for RRAus. Havn.t looked at the site yet but a high ctuise usually goes with a high stall speed.

 

 

[Admin]

Hi Ian

 

The stall speed is only 33 knots - with flaps and 39 knots without

 

The flaps are VERY good - I was watching it come around base extremely fast, nose up, flaps deployed at 80kts and she slowed right down very quickly - I was impressed considering my experience with the CT.

 

But remember, speed is proportional to your hand on the throttle - you can fly this thing at only 100kts if you like and get fantastic fuel economy out of the 912 - you can fly the circuit at 70kts and then cruise cross country at 170kts - it's all up to you, your confidence, traffic and your needs.

 

 

[Galpin]

Ian you mention the 912 engine. That seems to be the engine of choice in Europe and other places as well. However, will a Jabiru 3300 be a possible engine candidate too? I ask this, not to get a faster aircraft, but thinking of our local Australian engine, it's ready availability, reliability (usually) and smaller cost of purchase and maintenance.

 

 

[Admin]

Galpin - I had a good chat with them about the Jab engine. They have built a 230 for the experience and they said that the quality wasn't very good - remember this company (20 strong) build all the prototypes for the top car makers in Europe plus they also make all the carbon fibre parts for european aircraft - looking through the factory there was 20 Savannah bonnets on a pellet ready for shipping. They were really interested in the 6cyl then the 4 cyl - imagine the Master with a 6cyl Jab in it - it is a possibility. They were telling me about a local engine that they are looking into but they said it has promise but still a while to go to beat a Rotax.

 

Disperse - I forgot to add my part in the price - I will probably be loading it about 3 to 5k for all my work importing/support etc for forum members and about 7 to 10k for non-forum members - just my idle thoughts at the moment but be rest assured that forum members with posts will always get better deals on all this new gear that I am sourcing over here

 

Mick - I spoke to them at length about the prop and the constant speed one they are using for the testing only costs about 2,000 Euro but what a great idea - a 3 or even 4 blader would really make her look the part although you know the saying - 2 for go, 3 for show

 

Matt - the factory build is at least a year away - subject to our ideas here in Aus over the next month or two they are building 5 Beta kits (completed except for engine, panel, wiring/cables and paint) for quality control, i.e. build instructions, support, backup, ease of assembly etc before full production of the kit - these guys are real professionals and have similia ideals as my own - quality and safety!!!

 

 

[IanR]

Ian, looking at the specs on their website it has a MTOW of only 450KG - hardly even a 1 seater ? From your first post I gather it will be built to cope with higher MTOW ?