|
The Storch's landing gear held and Slepcev brought it
to a stop with room to spare. Unlike the wartime attempt, however, his
lightly loaded takeoff was quite normal.
According to Slepcev's
research, in 1943, with Mussolini aboard, Skorzeny's heavily laden craft
failed to clear an outcropping of rock and the gear was damaged as the
Storch plunged over the edge and struck the mountainside in a controlled
crash.
Somehow, the Storch rebounded into the air and picked up
flying speed, and the airplane limped to safety in northern
Italy.
|
|
Flying Latecomer
 With under 3,000 of the aircraft manufactured, and
quite a few lost in wartime, the Storch design seemed destined to be
relegated to antique status, to be displayed in museums or held in private
collections.
There have been other attempts to build a scale Storch
but perhaps none with the commercial approach of Nestor
Slepcev.
Having come somewhat late to flying, Slepcev's background
adds to the mystique of his airplane.
Born in the Yugoslavian town
of Verbis, near the Hungarian border, Slepcev lived there until the age of
17, when his family moved to the east coast of Australia.
His
unrealized boyhood dream of flight wasn't only of learning to fly; he also
wanted to build airplanes. Unable to afford lessons, Slepcev contented
himself with models and subsequently, radio-controlled models.
In
the late 1980s, Slepcev was approaching the age of 40, when a sense of
urgency moved him from building models to his first real
airplane.
|
|
The dramatic World War II Storch story told by a
Luftwaffe veteran intrigued Slepcev and a seed was planted that wouldgrow
into what is now the Slepcev Storch.
Without a set of Fieseler
Storch drawings, and without ever having seen a full-scale Storch, Slepcev
nonetheless convinced himself that he could build a faithful replica of
the airplane.
|
|
Beginning with a one-quarter scale flying model, he
determined that a three-quarter aircraft would have the look and many of
the flying qualities of the original-but it was all an educated
guess.
By 1991, with a little over a year of work behind him,
Slepcev flew his first Storch, a single-seat version. He had guessed
right.
With a modified Clark Y airfoil (he still hasn't seen the
plans for the original), and powered by a Rotax 912 engine, the new scale
Storch exceeded his expectations.
In 1993, he began work on the
two-seat tandem version, which flew in 1994. This is the airplane now
offered as a kit.
|
|
Plain and Simple
 A recent test flight proved the Slepcev Storch to be
a nimble and responsive design with great inherent stability. It will
cruise at nearly 90 mph, but it seems to do so with some
effort.
This airplane with a wing created for the slow end of the
speed envelope seems to finds its harmony in flight below 60 mph, but
especially between 30 and 50 mph.
It is a rudder airplane. Plain
and simple.
You can force your way through yawing turns with your
feet on the floor, but not if you're really flying the airplane. Firm and
decisive rudder input yields a well-coordinated turn that can beautifully
track an incredibly tight circle.
|
|
If you've trimmed the airplane properly, and once
you've achieved balance between hands and feet, the Slepcev Storch stays
where you put it. Put in 20 degrees of flaps and set power well below
cruise, and the circumference of the circle you inscribe over the Earth
below is astounding.
With a wingtip seemingly pointed straight at
the ground, the Storch feels just as stable as in level flight.
For
observation and surveillance purposes, the Storch is almost
helicopter-like in performance.
One of Slepcev's more remarkable
demonstrations is the flat turn.
Following through on the control
inputs, it is apparent that the amount of aileron used is almost
nonexistent. In a wings-level attitude, the Storch rotates around in an
extremely tight circle.
There is the slightest sensation of being
pushed to the outside of the circle, but more of the feeling that the
inside wing has been pinned to a point in the sky; around that point, we
rotate.
Slepcev demonstrates the flat turn to make the point that
control stability and responsiveness is powerful in any flight
regime.
|
|
During his early flight testing, Slepcev wondered how
well the Storch would respond to damaged, or even missing, control
surfaces. "I've pushed it to the limits and I haven't found any
bad habits at all. I tried flying it with one aileron only...and it flew
perfectly, though it was a little slower in the turns. Then, I took half
the elevator off and it still flew. Then, I took the flaps off, and it
still flew. This was just to prove that it has flight characteristics
beyond what a pilot can imagine."
With its fixed full-span
leading edge slats, the Storch just doesn't seem to run out of lift.
Stalls are nominal, with a predictable and well-announced straight-ahead
mush, instead of a full break.
With the Storch, you'll know well in
advance that you're approaching a stall either power-on or power-off,
since the only thing you'll see out front is sky, while the wingtips
quickly approach a perpendicular relationship with the horizon.
|
|
The kit version airplane comes with a powerful
electric trim system that originated as an automotive power window
control.
Slepcev is aware that some potential buyers are a bit put
off by the seemingly unorthodox use of such an automotive part, but he
points out the longevity of such components, as well as the reduced
cost.
The certified aircraft will be delivered with a traditional
manual trim system to meet certification requirements. Slepcev claims
either system is capable of providing true hands-off flight, once
mastered.
|
|
Storch Features
 With its greenhouse side glass (too multifaceted to be
called bubble windows) and generous windshield and overhead glass, the
Storch provides copious viewing possibilities.
But as the
accompanying photos attest, it will be necessary to pick up or lower a
wing for a glance upward on either side. No matter how much glass is
available, it's still a high-wing airplane with typical blindspots when
flying the pattern.
The Slepcev Storch airframe is constructed of
4130 chromemoly steel tubing throughout the fuselage, rudder and
elevator.The all-aluminum wings are made up of 6061-T6.
Slepcev is
considering a stressed-skin aluminum wing made of Kaiser 2024-T3, in order
to eliminate some parts on the certified version.
Load testing to +
6 and -3 Gs has been performed on the fuselage and wing structures by
Slepcev.
Sydney University of Science, in Australia, has conducted
wind tunnel testing on the modified Clark-Y airfoil, and Slepcev's airfoil
is now designated as an SS-4.
Both the fuselage and tail are
covered with Ceconite 102 fabric, but builders can choose to use Poly
Fiber for covering. Windows are polycarbonate throughout.
|
|
Favoring pushrods over cables, Slepcev feels that
both builders of kits and those who maintain the certified Storch will
appreciate not having cable tension adjustments to worry
about.
Presently, the only cables in the Storch are for rudder
control, although the manual trim required for certification will most
likely be cable-activated.
That stretched main landing gear is also
made of 4130 tubing covered with an aluminum fairing.
The gear legs
have a vertical travel of up to 10 inches providing both shock absorption
and the capability of operations over uneven ground.
Maingear
wheels are standard 15 x 6 inches on alloy rims and bearings, while the
tailwheel is an 8-inch alloy.
|
|
Powerplant options are numerous, but Slepcev strongly
suggests a Rotax unit of no less than 80 hp. The performance figures that
accompany this article are based on the installation of an 80-hp Rotax
912, but many builders are opting for the 115-hp Rotax 914 turbo-equipped
model. Significant speed and rate-of-climb increases are realized with the
914.
Two 10-gallon wing tanks provide for a total 20 gallons,
allowing the 912-equipped Storch an endurance of between 3 and 3.5 hours
at 70 knots.
With the 912, the Storch cruises at 70 knots, with a
maximum of 80 knots. Stall occurs at 23 knots clean and at 19 knots with
full flaps and power on.
|
|
Storch Kits
 As of this writing, there are nearly 70 Storch kits
either completed and flying or in various stages of construction. Slepcev
estimates that over 30 are now flying, with 12 kits in the United States
and four of those flying.
The kit is delivered with the fuselage
fully welded and primed. The builder will be responsible for
covering.
Control sticks are premounted, as is the electric trim
system. All pushrods are installed and, as with the trim and stick, they
await connection to the control surfaces as the builder completes the wing
and tail installation.
Wing ribs and spars are preformed and
lightening holes are cut at the factory. Ribs and spars are also
pre-flanged, leaving to the builder the tasks of assembly and skinning the
wings.
Slepcev estimates that a somewhat experienced builder can
complete the kit in 400 to 600 hours, while a first-time builder may
require approximately 1,000 hours.
|
|
The kit does not include engine, engine mount, prop,
instruments, cover or paint. Delivery time is estimated at eight weeks
from the time your order is confirmed (when a deposit is given) until the
kit is shipped from the factory.
Current kit price is $17,500, plus
shipping and insurance to cover shipping from Australia.
Contact
the factory for shipping costs.
|
|
In the Future
 According to Slepcev, the future of his design is that
of a certified aircraft.
JAR-VLA (certification of very light
aircraft) will make it possible for the Storch to be used for commercial
purposes in a number of countries that honor that standard. In fact, he is
considering no longer producing a kit version once production of the
certified airplane is under way.
Not being able to control the
quality of a builder's work worries Slepcev and his financial backers.
They are concerned that media coverage of an accident or incident
involving a kit-built Slepcev Storch would not be presented as such, but
possibly reported as the crash of a factory aircraft.
Mark Tipori,
a U.S. based consultant to Slepcev and a potential distributor of the
certified Storch, is adamant on the issue. "You can't put millions
of dollars into a facility and try to build a reputation and then have
somebody go out there, build one of your kit airplanes and decide they can
put a motorcycle engine on it or cut their own propeller. Then, they go
out and kill themselves and destroy your reputation."
|
|
To prepare for certification, the aircraft has been
extensively test flown, with several recommendations as a
result.
Dual doors for emergency access will be incorporated into
the certified model, along with full disk brakes for extra stopping
power.
As mentioned earlier, the certified version will also have
the manual trim system. Much of the preliminary certification work has now
been completed in Australia, and Slepcev looks toward late 1998/early 1999
for Australian certification.
|
|
Under the reciprocal JAR-VLA agreement, U.S.
certification typically consists of a review of engineering technical
data, but Slepcev is realistic that it can be a time-consuming process,
requiring a manufacturer to be prepared for a long and detailed
process.
There has also been considerable discussion as to
relocating the manufacturing facility from its home in New South Wales,
Australia, to the United States. Slepcev and his backers are considering
several locations.
|
|
With his interest in aircraft of the World War II
era, Nestor Slepcev had hundreds of out-of-production aircraft designs to
choose from when making the giant leap from recreational builder to
manufacturer.
Why the Storch, with its ungainly, almost mantis-like
appearance, when he could have chosen a sleeker, low-wing strutless
aircraft to build? For Nestor, the reasoning was simple: This would be
both a visit to the past and a commercially viable undertaking.
|
|
He sees his Storch as more than a tribute to an
earlier design. It is to be a working aircraft.
Whether the task is
herding cattle in the hinterlands of Australia or the western United
States, light agricultural spraying, pipeline and powerline patrol, or
surveillance of illegal foresting, the Slepcev Storch has the ability to
maneuver at incredibly slow speeds and to make airports of inhospitable
terrain.
For Nestor Slepcev, these are qualities that make his
airplane the pearl within the oyster, the beauty beneath the
skin.
|
|
| Top of
page | Return to
Articles | |
Fieseler created the original Storch as a
reconnaissance, liaison and air ambulance aircraft.