We flew a pair of new Facet 1200s over the weekend - what a HOOT! These planes are keepers - Kerry Sterner has a great design for a great little jet. While not "beaters" by any means, these definitely are a great little jet you can all but throw in the back of your vehicle and go-fly. We've got guys standing in line for "dual time" ...

(Pikes Peak IS pretty big - even at 30 miles off!)

Mike

lets see video

Video? John, YGBSM - I can't fly the jet and do the camcorder at the same time ... (anyway, most everybody in these parts is too poor to own of them trick digital camcorders anyway - takes away jet $$).

Mike

Which turbine?

i just bought my first facet2300........

i bought kerry's facet, the one with the bright green stripes and the blue canopy, cant wait to get that in the air......
i'll have my jetcat p80 in it........

mark

Good to hear Mike. You will definitely enjoy it. Let us know when you've had a chance to "wring" it out.

Here's the new HP version which should be featured on the FJ 04 video from SKS.

George

Thanks, but that is not exactly what I wanted to know. The -1200 sounds like a weekend bird and your -2300 requires a bigger field, which means more driving. Not that driving ever stopped me from flying - I drive 26 miles each way to play with OFB's and 40 miles each way to the larger field when there is an adequate site about 16 miles away.

I wonder if the -1200 would work with a SimJet 1200 or -700.

The Facet 1200 was designed for the SimJet 1200 and the Facet 2300 was designed for a SimJet 2300.

Hi Jim

As Gary said, the Facet 1200 was designed around the SimJet 1200 and the Facet 2300 was designed around the SimJet 2300.

Ed

The web site claims the Facet 1200 ramp weight is 12 to 14 pounds and the SimJet 1200 puts out 13.5 pounds thrust. Seems a bit much for a TRAINER. Now I SEE why Mike says this is NOT a beater.

I was hunting around for something inexpensive to operate and acquire in the Wren 44 class engine and the SlimJet 700 seems to be competitive.

Thanks for the comments. To my myopic way of looking at things appeared to be a reasonable way to go. No point in having a turbine bird if all it does is collect man hours of maintenance. That was the problem I saw with helicopters and why I bailed out of them. I worked through undergraduate school as a mechanic and do not desire to repeat that activity for a hobby. I build to fly, not to work on and I am unwilling to spend more than 1:1 work on to fly time once built.

Our Facets have 12-pounders in them (RAM500 in mine, a homebuilt [Wren 54] in the other). The ramp weight is just shy of 12#. I pulled the '500' out of my TopCat which I'm going to sell as that airframe was not that friendly at our short/high altitude flying site. Summertime density altitudes in these parts can approach 10,000 feet. (Fwiw, I would think the 2300 is certainly "short field capable" - it's just a bigger airframe designed for a larger thrust class turbine.)

The little Facets definitely attract a crown - as do most jets - my secondary purpose in building one was to give club members some stick time on something that would not intimidate them. It will certainly fill that bill.

Mike

Mike,
Thanks for the follow up.

Actually Mike, all things considered, the limiting field factor for the Facet 2300 is the landing approach, but not for why you may think- It's so lightly loaded that it can be tough to get it down in a short field if you're not right on the money. Accepting that, I'd certainly say that it fits my definition of "short field capable".

Wow, And the numbers match too, What are the chances ??

LOL

I wish you were in my club. I would love to try one out.
I'm thinking of switching over to turbines. The Facet 1200 looks like a good match for my local field.

Hi,
Kevin is right about the short field performance of the FACET 2300. If you go to Great Northern's web site, in the gallery you can see a shot of my 2300 taking off. That was at the Delaware Water Gap field in PA and it hasn't passed the end of the field yet!
BRG,
Jon

OK, I will Jon. Have you tried or seen the 1200 ?

Hey, I used to work in Clifton. ITT Avionics and Defense Communications Divisions.

Hi,
I saw Kerry's 1200 fly many times. It flies really nice, it's just that I wanted something I could take to the IMMA fun flys.
For all you FACET owners, there's a modification to the flaps, Kerry is using Yellow aircraft flap hinges to create a slotted flap.
I worked for ITT Marlow in Midland Park for 19 years until we "went away" just like DCD and Avionics.
Hope spring gets here soon, I want to fly!
BRG,
Jon

YA flap hinges on my Facet 2300

[sm=thumbup.gif]Nice work on the flaps with the YA hinges. Wish I'd seen those before I did my 1200 flaps with Robarts []. Nothing wrong with the hinge points; just a PITA to get all of them lined up...

I'm to the point of stuffing everything into the 1200. Got some great ideas and pictures from Greg Moore and Todd Witkoff.[sm=sunsmiley.gif] Any more pictures out there of the crowded interior?

Lotta stuff--minimum space.[:'(]

Bill

Yes the FACET designations where born out of the SIMJET Turbine model no. the airframes where designed for. It was a very simple way of designating thurst to airframe matches.

i.e.- 1200 = 12# thrust, 2300 = 23 # thrust.

One other note, the FACET-1200 will most certainly be a favorable match for the upcoming SIMJET-700. (and NO, I won't be re-designating the FACET-1200 to 700.

Mike: A very nice job on your 1200's. Thank you for you thoughts here as well.

Best Regards:

Hey Kerry

How are you. I was really nice meet with you at, Florida Jets.
I dident get the time to look over the price for the Vampire that you gave me. But I will get back to you on that.

The flaps with the YA hinges is really nice. But you have to tell the guys, that they are to make up the flaps like an airfoile. To get the best performance. Just like the fullsize...

How much fuel can you carry in the 1200? It will have real good short field performance with a P-80.

Mitchell

The standard fuels tanks are 40 oz. + 16 oz. You could get a bit more in with conformal tanks.

I don't think a P-80 would be that easy to install. It's OD is almost one inch larger than the intended engines.

A P-70 will fit, and gives almost the same thrust as the 80. Engines of the intended size, such as the Simjet 1200 SP and Wren 54 SS (when it arrives), are not far behind either. All three engines will give greater than 1:1 thrust to weight with a reasonable build.