Falco Facts
Description
Performance
Specifications
Engineering
Construction
Handling
1999 10th Annual West Coast Falco Fly-In
Falco Construction
A Masterpiece in Sitka Spruce
The Falco is made of wood. The ribs, spars and fuselage frames are made of fine-grained Sitka spruce then faced with aircraft grade birch plywood. The entire airplane is skinned with birch plywood. The interior surfaces are coated with epoxy, and the outside is covered with a very thin layer of fiberglass and epoxy for moisture protection.
In many ways, the Falco is like building a balsa-wood model, only this one is full-size. Wood is a pleasure to work with, and anyone can do it. No special skills or equipment are needed. With wood you can build an aircraft of unequaled beauty, and a well-designed wood structure, like the Falco, is very light. Wood even smells nice.
The technology of wood is well-understood and proven over time. Using any of the traditional aircraft materials – aluminum, wood, steel tubing, dope and fabric – a homebuilder can produce a structure of high quality and consistency. As good as any factory.
This is not true of all aircraft construction methods. Metal-to-metal bonding requires sophisticated surface preparation. Composites require heat and pressure during fabrication and bonding, or the variation in strength is unacceptably high. That’s why Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Sikorsky, and all the other leaders in composite construction go to such expense in manufacturing and testing. In fact, you won’t find structural parts in FAA-certified aircraft built any other way.
So, we sticking with Sitka spruce and birch plywood, and it suits us just fine, thank you. Wood is still one of the very best materials for aircraft construction, and it’s the material of choice for competition aerobatic planes, which need wood’s strength and freedom from fatigue.
Woodwork cannot be rushed and still be done well. The Falco takes time to build, but it certainly isn’t difficult. With our kits, the hard work is done for you. There’s no machining or welding. The Falco plans are easily the most complete drawings available for any aircraft. And there’s an illustrated construction manual with step-by-step instructions.
With our kits, construction manual and drawings, we’ve dramatically reduced the building time of the Falco. But most people like to take their time. They approach the Falco as a journey, not simply a destination. The road less traveled. Summer evenings making an aileron. Sanding a rib. Gluing a skin. Fitting a hinge. Checking a dimension. Late for dinner
Build a Falco, and you join a select group of individualists working in common pursuit of perfection. They cut wood, sand, drill, file, glue, and paint to get a Falco, of course, but there’s more to it than that. For most it’s the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to build an airplane with their own hands. Hands that normally hold a telephone, scalpel or pencil, peck at a keyboard, knead bread, or deliver babies.
You’ll get to know them through our quarterly Falco Builders Letter. You’ll find, as we have, that each one is different, but all are very special. They go well with the Falco.
