Piper PAT-1 experimental prototype

[Stargazer]

While browsing through a book on aviation design (The Design Of The Aeroplane, BSP Professional Books 1993) I stumbled upon this Piper prototype which I had never heard about. It is called the PAT-1 and though typical of Piper's single-engined general aircraft such as the Cherokee or Archer, it features what is almost a second wing at the front, making it a sesquiplane of sorts.

Does anyone have any additional information on this rare bird?

 

[Bailey]

From Popular Mechanics 1981.

And a link to Flight http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1981/1981 - 2807.html

Cheers Bailey.

 

[walter]

The info posted by Bailey already sums up much of this aircraft. It was first flown in July 1981, but sadly lost in a fatal crash a couple of months later. Costructon was largely composite and some details: wingspan 25.25ft, length 23.396ft and height 9.167ft. Nicknamed Pugmobile.
No relationship with the Piper company, except that Howard (Pug) was son of William T.

 

[AeroFranz]

Sadly one more failed effort to get us flying on something better than the 50 year-old 172... :'(

 

[Stargazer]

Never took time to thank you, Bailey, for solving the mystery... Thanks!
Further investigation reveals that the Piper PAT-1 (Piper Advanced Technology) which was meant to be the first all-composite canard commercially produced. Unfortunately, the main push behind it, Howard Piper, died just before the maiden flight in June 1981. Then the only prototype crashed in a demonstration flight in Nov 1981 when the engine separated from the fuselage following a blade separation. 3 people aboard were killed, including designer George Meade & 2 NASA employees. That was the beginning and the end of this forgotten bird.

Main source: RCuniverse.com

I'm enclosing a view of a nice peanut-scale model that was done, and the plan that was used, all from the selfsame page.

 

[robunos]

Just a correction.....
Stargazer, the plan you posted is a 'peanut scale'; free-flight, rubber powered, max. 13" span, quoted from the linked page,

"Both are free flight rubber designs...the PAT-1 is a peanut,...
I'm considering enlarging them for powered flight,"

see also :- http://www.samsmodels.com/site/peanut.html


cheers,
Robin.

 

[Stargazer]

Just a correction.....
Stargazer, the plan you posted is a 'peanut scale'; free-flight, rubber powered, max. 13" span, quoted from the linked page,

"Both are free flight rubber designs...the PAT-1 is a peanut,...
I'm considering enlarging them for powered flight,"

Thanks Robin! Of course you're right! Silly me... My dad used to build these rubber-band-powered balsa wood aircraft and fly them on the beach when I was a kid (lots of them looked pretty much like Piper Cubs, from what I can remember...). I didn't know they were called "peanut scale" in English though... :-[

 

[tgris]

While browsing through a book on aviation design (The Design Of The Aeroplane, BSP Professional Books 1993) I stumbled upon this Piper prototype which I had never heard about. It is called the PAT-1 and though typical of Piper's single-engined general aircraft such as the Cherokee or Archer, it features what is almost a second wing at the front, making it a sesquiplane of sorts.

Does anyone have any additional information on this rare bird?

My grandfather and father were designers for the aircraft as well. We have a stack of newspapers on a bookcase from the crash.

 

[riggerrob]

While browsing through a book on aviation design (The Design Of The Aeroplane, BSP Professional Books 1993) I stumbled upon this Piper prototype which I had never heard about. It is called the PAT-1 and though typical of Piper's single-engined general aircraft such as the Cherokee or Archer, it features what is almost a second wing at the front, making it a sesquiplane of sorts.

Does anyone have any additional information on this rare bird?

My grandfather and father were designers for the aircraft as well. We have a stack of newspapers on a bookcase from the crash.

Was that the same George Meade who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1949? ... the engineer who briefly served in the USAF, then worked for Jim Bede, Burt Rutan and Cessna ... designed the Meade Model 100 Adventure amateur-built single-seater, etc.?

 

[Ted Koch]

While browsing through a book on aviation design (The Design Of The Aeroplane, BSP Professional Books 1993) I stumbled upon this Piper prototype which I had never heard about. It is called the PAT-1 and though typical of Piper's single-engined general aircraft such as the Cherokee or Archer, it features what is almost a second wing at the front, making it a sesquiplane of sorts.

Does anyone have any additional information on this rare bird?

 

[jkoskan]

My grandfather and father were designers for the aircraft as well. We have a stack of newspapers on a bookcase from the crash.

I worked on the PAT1 at the Riverside airport north of Wichita. Flew my Varieze back and forth from South Dakota. I lived inside the hangar in a camper during the build. Would love to see the articles on the plane.

[personal details removed - best not to put them in public]

 

[PF Mary]

While doing some clean-up, I came across a paper clip from Flight Int'l of 8/29/1981, with a picture of the plane parked along a taxiway in Oshkosh, same spot as on Stargazer's one. The report shows also a view inside the cockpit with lateral sidesticks.
Aviation-safety.net speaks of unrecoverable flat spin as probable cause of crash, while NTSB sum-up just mentions "poor/inadequate design", remarking that "...1/3-scale tests had indicated undesirable stall/post stall characteristics, in aft cg conditions", A/S adding "[it] had not been previously observed during full scale wind tunnel testing". Neiter A/S nor NTSB mentions blade separation...