I got to fly (from the front seat) an Acroduster Too at the Starduster fly-in Saturday. Yippee! There were two examples of the Acroduster Too there.
The one I flew in sported a simple 180hp Lycoming and fixed pitch McCauley prop. So it was a pretty light example. The owner and builder, Glen Olsen of Utah, had fabricated a really neat double canopy for it, which opened sidesaddle like a Cristen Eagle's, but could be removed so the plane could be converted to a standard two-holer. This plane had the aluminum landing gear.
The other Acroduster Two was built to the more traditional Stolp standard, with bungee landing gear, Starduster-spats, and was a two-holer. It was a newly-completed airplane and really quite beautiful detail-wise. For example, the cockpit was covered with an interior skin, making for a really neat and modern appearance quite unlike most biplanes. But the owner had not yet added various fairings to cover up fittings and trunnions etc. on the wings -- this plane had a higher stall speed than might have otherwise been expected due to this lack of clean-up. It had the 200hp AEIO-360. A really good looking airplane, but looked like it may have come out on the heavy side with all those details.
Anyway, back to plane #1...
A bit nervous on the aluminum gear, but not too bad really. While it was WAY more sensitive and ornery than a Citabria (what ain't?) the plane was really quite OK and secure-feeling, given what it is (small).
I did the take off. You leave the tail down a bit for prop clearance. Twitchy! Zoom! Even with 180 hp our deck angle is very steep. We climb out at 90 mph aproximately.
Up and down like an elevator! This thing is very pitch-sensitive, and I get the sensation that we are skimming along on those symmetrical wings; just the slightest push can get you light in the seat VERY quickly, with a good view of the ground... :^)
I get the feel of it dutch-rolling and S-turning on the way out of the Class D. We level out at 3,000 and throttle way back for a cruise at 140mph indicated. I think the big canopy causes a lot of drag around the trailing edge of the center section...
Aileron rolls require only to think them, with maybe one INCH of stick movement. Very nice!
"Let's fly inverted for a bit...", Glen opines...
OK. We roll inverted, and only have to move the stick forward about an inch again to hold altitude. This is the really interesting part. The Acroduster Too FLIES BETTER INVERTED THAN IT FLIES RIGHTSIDE UP!! The angle of incidence is more level inverted, and the airspeed is better by 5-10 knots! And of course the view is terrific that way!
I am quite impressed by this aspect of the Acroduster.
Knife-edge. Snick! Requires not much rudder at all to hold 'er there for a moment.
Shit. Time to head back to the field (fuel). Oh well, now I've flown the Acroduster a bit, and I do think I am going to want to keep building her.
I have to watch the damned RPM to keep her out of that McCauley prop AD red line 2000-2200. Remind me to try to find a Hartzell for my bird...
We fly downwind at 110-120, and really slow her up on base to get to an 82 mph (!!) approach speed on final. At least that's what the airspeed in my front cockpit said, and I'd believe it since the cruise seemed about right. And this with the usual forward slip for biplane visibility on landing. So this airplane doesn't require a 100mph approach speed at all, and is quite a bit more docile. I don't remember what speed we landed at, but must have been < 70 as the rollout was reasonably short.
It made a lot of banging and mechanical noise on landing. Yes, I want the bungee gear.