The Ericksons’ highly modified Pacer

and one of them, Cody, is really into airplanes, and I thought we’d build an airplane that would let both of us carry lots of camping gear but not compromise the per- formance of the airplane.” By this time Mark was working Dependable power and performance... Julie Clarke relies on Concorde RG-25XC sealed lead acid batteries. Concorde Battery Corporation 2009 San Bernardino Road • West Covina, CA 91790 USA (626) 813-1234 • Fax (626) 813-1235 • www.concordebattery.com photo: P.A. Lawrence, LLC For more information, visit SPORT AVIATION on the Web at www.eaa.org “I thought we’d build an airplane that would let both of us carry lots of camping gear but not compromise the performance of the airplane.” with a partner in Alaska, Frank Henrikson, who handles Dakota Cub work there. Frank had a PA-20 Pacer, and he and Mark started talk- ing about what changes should be made to use it as a basis for a home- built bush baby. “Frank shipped the fuselage down to me, and I started whittling away on it,” Mark says. “I was going to extend the fuselage for the longer wings, so I cut it off one bay in back of the rear wing fittings. From that point on back, it’s all new tubing.” Since he was basically building his own fuselage and didn’t have to worry about obtaining an STC, he could do anything he wanted. This included reshaping the tubing struc- ture right at the back of the cargo area to allow a big open space right at floor level. Besides allowing them to load long cargo, someone can sleep on the floor and have a place 50 MAY 2003 Cody and Mark Erickson LEEANN ABRAMS for his or her feet. Mark tried it on their last night in Oshkosh, and reports that it was very comfortable. The tail surfaces are from a Super Cub, as evidenced by the aerody- namic balance areas. Mark says that because the tail has been moved back from the stock position, the larger PA-18 surfaces are much more effective. “We modified the lower part of the fuselage to mount what is essen- tially a PA-18 bungee system, but the gear legs are hand built. The tub- ing is bigger than stock to handle the loads for the big 26-inch tires. When the aircraft finally reaches Alaska, the legs will be shortened to keep the deck angle under control even when larger 31-inch tundra tires are mounted.” When looking in the airplane, which is obviously a bushplane, the control yokes look vaguely out of place. “I thought about going to sticks, but it would have meant a complete redesign of the control system, and I’m not sure I would have gained anything. In all honesty, you don’t even notice you’re flying with a wheel.” Some folks are a little surprised to find a 150-hp Lycoming ahead of the firewall rather than a 180-hp engine, but Mark has one of the best answers possible when asked why he used the smaller engine. “I already had it,” he grins. “The 180 would make this an even more perfect airplane, and someday I’ll probably do it, but right now I don’t need it. I do wish I had used a Maule motor mount, however. The Piper mount is too short.” Winging It Looking at the airplane and its huge wings, it’s easy to forget that the Super Pacer started life as a short- wing Piper. The Dakota Cub wings on the Super P benefited from a very extensive research program con- ducted for a slotted wing certifica- tion project on a stock Super Cub that included some interesting tuft testing to verify that the mods are working. “Rather than shooting photos from a chase airplane, which makes it hard to see the tufts, we mounted cameras on both the top and bot- tom of the wings so we could get bigger images that were really use- ful. We also used wide-angle lenses so we could see what was happening all the way from the tail up to the throttle position all at the same time. This way we know exactly what the parameters were when the shot was taken.” Mark says the real advantage of the slotted wings is increased safety, and they have proven to be popular. Even so, of the dozen and a half sets of wings he builds a year, he says fully a third of them are for cus- tomers who still like the good old stock wing. “One of the things we found out from our research is that not only do For more information, visit SPORT AVIATION on the Web at www.eaa.org Sport Aviation 51 52 MAY 2003 our slot mods work, but vortex gen- erators on stock leading edge wings are well worth the investment. Once you use the slotted wings along with all the other stuff we’ve done to this airplane, you can actually make it fly at over 45 degrees angle of attack. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. Granted you aren’t likely to be flying around at 45 degrees nose up, but it’s nice to know the airplane doesn’t like to stall.” “The gross weight of the airplane is 2,300 pounds, and the empty weight is just under 1,200 pounds. The actual useful load when fitted with the big tires is a solid 1,124 pounds, so we can fill the tanks and with only two of us on board still carry more than 450 pounds worth of stuff. In reality, we don’t need all of that carrying capacity because most camping gear just doesn’t weigh that much. On top of that, the bigger fuel tanks give us six and a half hours of endurance,” he says. “Truth is, it’s hard to sit in an air- plane for that long.” When the airplane was finally fly- ing, they pointed the nose east toward the Piper “Sentimental Journey” fly-in in Lockhaven, Pennsylvania. There they received an almost predictable award. “We were selected as the ‘most modified short wing,’” Mark says. The obvious question is, “How does it fly?” but the perpetual smile on Mark’s face while talking about the airplane answers that question. “You’ll find it hard to believe, but it’s the absolute truth that the air- plane flies almost exactly like a Super Cub, but it’s a wee bit faster in cruise. On top of that, it’ll go almost anywhere you would take a stock Super Cub. It lands at 30 miles per hour, so there are very few runways that’ll be too short for it. Cody and I are really looking forward to taking the airplane to Alaska and doing some real bush flying.” The first time you see the Super Pacer the airplane is somewhat intimidating. It stands up high on its huge tires and stares down at everyone beneath it. The wings, which seem perfectly in proportion with the elongated fuselage, are long and reach out over your head. Curiously, even though the shape of the tail is vintage Piper, the air- plane’s lines make it difficult to identify exactly what it is. It wasn’t until we spied the left-side rear door and uniquely Tri-Pacer/Pacer rear window that we knew what we were looking at. But, then, when we were looking at it, Mark and Cody Erickson were still referring to it as a “modified Pacer.” But now we know better. We now know what a Super Pacer looks like. According to Mark and Cody, their “Super Pacer” flies almost exactly like a Super Cub...with a little more cruise performance. LEEANN ABRAMS