quit flying 20yrs ago due to cost, Trents videos lit a passion to fly again but still unaffordable this video gives me hope of flying again. Thanks

This is awesome. We need more people on KZfaq (and other platforms) exhibiting affordable bushplanes and affordable airplanes in general. That's how we get more people into general aviation. I'll be following along, cheers!

Good job Ian! :-) Entry level.

These are the exact modifications I have been imaging for this plane! I am excited to see you progress, sir!

Good video, I look forward to this series. Doing things on a budget is always more interesting than an open check book. Keep up the good content.

This is awesome!! Just watched all Dan Reynolds videos of his Chinook....Impressive plane..

very encouraging video... thanks for sharing all this.

Thank you for your time and great videos.

Looks like a really good series coming up, I went from a Kitfox to a C150 to a C172 and now miss the flexibility of ultralights 👍

This is going to be a fun series to follow.

Awesome! After watching your Yamaha Phazer wiring video I thought that it would make a perfect match for the Chinook. I look forward to watching your progress.

I am so glad to see that you’ve gone for the Chinook! I’ve been prepping for a chinook build and researching the Yamaha phazer engine. I’m happy I’m not the only one out there who can see the potential for a little backcountry beast!

Chinook has lots of potential. Great project.

thats what exactly happened to me, I started my dream of flying after watching trent videos, now it is coming to reality after watching your video

Kudos to you for taking on this project. Cost is the biggest reason I see people not venturing into aircraft ownership or flying in general. But it's totally possible to do it right for not a lot of cash. Big part of why I took on the Sonex project instead of spending more for something RTF.

I was writing off becoming a pilot due to the expense of the airplane, this video has me rethinking my options! Great idea and I am really looking forward to what you do with this!

Nice one Ian. Good to seem some 'worldly realism' but still ending up with a very capable machine. Looking fwd to future episodes, cheers.

loading it up with that new engine, a passenger, more fuel and baggage is going to be interesting

Hello Ian, Looks like a great project , and I'll be following!

Wow it's like you read my mind, I've gone through the same process of figuring out an affordable back country option. I've been looking in the direction of a 4 stroke DR version of the Chinook. Can't wait for future videos!

I was looking into the Chinook a couple weeks ago. I have been chasing the aviation dream for 3 years now. With the Chinook all you need is a sport licence.

I'm interested...definitely....cool project...realistic...I'm watching for the next one!

Hi Ian, Your harness on My Yamaha is working great! Thanks. I'm sure you have spoken with Dan, If not, he is very approachable. I spent so time with him at the Lone Star STOL Comp this spring. He was a wealth of information! One more item to add........Slats. Dan has them. Cheers!

Really looking forward to follow along!

Fantastic! Looking forward to more!

Very very interesting Ian!

Great video Ian. We need to join up someday for some flying. I'm not that far away in Killeen with my Kitfox.

Great! I am looking your episodes. Thanks

You have Profile Brotherhood and Nashbro all cool rc groups that I belong also. The Chinook is an awesome airplane. Fly it! Changes are getting expensive

670 Rotax in one of those is on my wish list! Add the Dan Reynolds gear and you've got a backwoods MONSTER.

Good luck with the project! I like what you said at the beginning of the video, flying is not cheap. Greetings from Romania from a glider pilot!

I'll be watching. I can't wait.

I’m so excited to watch this series.

A Chinook Plus 2 would be my first choice, Phazer also, the engine install will be an interesting journey, most of your mods too. C2 is badly under represented on YT, glad you're changing that! Subscribed.

I love that you're doing a Yamaha motor. Subscribed!

With all the added mods Heaver landing gear, bigger tires, heavier engine and mount's ,2 fuel tanks, fittings. I calculate 50 to 60 lbs heavier. Weight is not your friend in a airplane. But on the plus side. 4 strokes are better and chinook's have strong airframes. Thumbs up!

I been looking at the new DR and SJ model Chinooks with the 80hp 912. I would Love to find a used 2+2 model.. That plane is always over looked because it looks like a Ultralight. But the truth is it has a 600lb payload. Show me another LSA with that payload and performance... Great Find..

Love the plan! Hope you can keep it under 20k. You're building it almost exactly like I've been dreaming. I too have a partnership airplane,but would like to have my own chinook. Maybe someday I'll buy a phazer loom from you!

Always interested in aircraft projects...go for it!

Go ahead & beef up the lg. It's weak, take my word...bent mine 3 times. I still love that bird! Has a geo. 1.5 gph @ curse. Kinda heavy though. I flew myself, my brother & 7-8 gl of fuel. It flew!

Just found this series. Definitely gonna watch all available episodes today lol. Ian, this is honestly awesome. It's like watching Mike Patey's Scrappy videos but for normal people who aren't billionnaire and no carbon fiber lol.

I bought a Quicksilver ultralight for $3500 while at Oshkosh a few weeks ago. Soon I will be flying every weekend for peanuts!

Looks like scrappies little bro 😂😏

I am taking Light Sport Pilot Training out of Gloster Field in Sealy, Texas were the Chinook kit is manufactured. They now have a new kit called the SJ. The SJ has a tall landing gear that is good for back country landings. I am sure you have seen the test flights posted on KZfaq. Maybe you can take a drive out there and get some ideas from the SJ?

What happened to the RockHopper?

I am very interested in watching these mods, I always have liked these planes.

I'm sure you are aware of the fuel tank UV degradation issue that caused a crash in Alaska. Sounds like the strut tanks should be replaced, yours are looking a bit sunburnt. Looking forward to watching this take shape!

Looking forward to this series! Beggars can't be choosers but I've always been skeptical of pushers because of having a heavy item (i.e. engine) behind the cockpit in the event of a crash.

Man that looks like a fun airplane!

Hey thanks for this!!!

If you're going to add additional fuel tanks additional way to tail will additional storage area you better put maybe a little bit larger motor than what you're intending due to the weight restrictions

I think there is a whole class of planes like this that have potential, the Kolb MKIII, Tierra 2, Quicksilver 500, Rans S-18? They could all be fitted with ATV type tires, and similarly modifier.

Great videos, Ian! I have a Challenger II CWS I built and I love the way it flies. But I and my wife are in our 70s and my wife has stopped flying with me because of the difficulty of getting in and our of the plane. So far I don't have an issue, but I am getting older every year😀 How is ease of getting in and out of the Chinook?? If you have flown a Challenger, how found you compare the flight experiences? Thanks, Lanny

Amazing video. I'm looking to upgrade from an ultralight and I think this or a t-bird 2 is the way to go.

Under $20K....that is until this video aired.... Pretty soon there will be $50K chinooks flying around. Ha! Can't wait to see the yamaha added.

eagerly waiting for updates

Waiting to see the changes

I looked at this before. I would add a static nose wheel embedded into the nose that comes into play only when you do some heavy breaking and pivot the aircraft axis forward that can brake instead of relying on the skid pan form up front. I don’t like absolutely the look of the front and that mod with wheel half in and half out using the front as the axle would look much better and different. Might have to offset the axle back and down a bit to get the wheel nested well though.

I love what you're planning...let me see if I've got this right...you're gonna ad a bigger engine ,beefier heavier gear, double fuel carried, add hardware and such to split the flaps, add cargo...and STILL plan to carry a passenger and fly into short strips in the "backcountry"....hmmm...I'm really interested to see how this turns out...I own C2...oh...and do it all for less than 8 thou to bring it up to the goal of less than 20....man...I really hope you can pull it off...the D.R. gear is gonna set you back between 5500 and 6 thou...I've subscribed and will be cheering you on...good luck...!!!

A mod I see on a lot of chinooks up here especially with heavier 912s and floats, is moving the horizontal stab up to the midpoint of the rudder. I understand it increases the effectiveness of the elevator. Not on floats it would be up out of the weeds.

I like

You should consider an under belly cargo pod like they do on titan tornadoes

"Good Audio Makes Good Video" (Paul Bertorelli quoting professional videographers on AvWeb channel in January 2018, if memory serves me well).

Okay, ill admit it. I got a chuckle out of the closed captions around 7:50

Can you give us your weight changes that you expect regarding the engine, gear etc. Thanks

You mentioned that you would share the contact info to where I can buy a used Phazer , I like your videos , sal

Since you bought this aircraft in a completed condition will you still have to have an A&P do your annuals or will you (by doing all the mod's) be able to obtain a Repairman Certificate? I'm interested in either buying one of these or scratch building one. I'm leaning toward buying a completed one but I would love to do my own annual condition inspections ultimately. Can you get a repairman certificate on a prebuilt aircraft if you didn't do 51% of the original build? (are you an A&P?)...very cool aircraft!

Looking forward to this series!

Very cool airplane. Great airport too - where is that location?

One of the only things I don't really like about the Chinook is how close the horizontal is to the ground. It is just a little too exposed to rocks and stump in the back country.

Dude. I like your enthusiasm with your modifications but be very careful. Your adding a lot of weight and your CG is going to change if your not keeping track. Also, with this being a pusher your thrust angle is critical and please try to stay away from trim tabs on your elevator. Any plane needing trim tabs to achieve neutral flight has an issue that should be addressed. I was involved with these ultralights from the beginning in Wetaskewin, Alberta with Vladamire’s design of the first single seat wing warping model to the twin seat version with the updated wings. Then many years later I had the opportunity to retrofit the new chinook version with the 582 rotax motor when they shipped us ( Kodiac Research in Vernon, BC ) the first one with the redesigned wing ( Challenger copy ) that had the flapperon nightmare. Flaps in the down position should help for short field take offs and slow approach landings. Not at that time when I did the first test flight with the engine retrofit. Take off with flaps on and full power glued the plane to the runway and as soon as I started running out of runway and cut power the plane jumped off the runway like no tomorrow and adding power again forced the plane towards the runway just about faster than I could crank the flaperons to neutral and gain control back. It took us quite a bit of redesign where we remounted the motor and change of the thrust angle to get the plane flying correctly. So please be careful and when your going to do your first test make sure you have a lot of runway and just do short bunny hops till your familiar with any quirks you need to address before actual flight. Also, notice that you have no vibration dampening between your engine and motor mount or motor mount to the air frame. This could turn into an issue with vibration doing damage to the airframe as well as no torque dampening. The Chinook is one heck of a good design though and I’ve flown every design of them including the Monsoon version prototype that was a bullet in the air and had phenomenal flight characteristics and speed with its all aluminum mono spar designed wing. Maybe try changing one thing at a time and test to see what improvements it does or doesn’t before moving on to another change in your redesigns. Some good ideas but take small steps to be as safe as possible and maybe look at buying a BRS parachute for added security. Happy flying.

Are you planning on adding flaps?

So I have to ask. Is there anything like this in the slsa area. Considering that as far as I know, an experimental need a full GA license, not a sport pilot

Love your video's. I'm a little concerned about splitting the flaperons. This vastly differentiates from the original engineering design, changes wing stresses and control authority. Not to mention, outboard aileron effectiveness might require a change in dihedral for maximums effectiveness. I hope you are consulting the manufactures on this Major wing design change?

That comes without elevator trim? Yikes!

You know where I can buy one of these planes used?

It’s a pity AM won’t work out a deal with Dan and cut him in on a full DR edition kit. His mods are the only reason there is modern day interest in these, but currently they only offer his gear, not the wing, tail, flap, chord mods etc.

Can you log hours towards your ATP in this?

Hi, what other aircraft had you considered, besides the Chinook? What's your opinion of other aircraft like Merlin Lite? What about the Sparrow? What about the SuperStol? Have you heard of the Airbike, or the Solo?

Is there a valid reason why someone should be more worried about safety in this type of plane versus a bigger light sport?

looks like you have a trim tab?

Needing a wiring harness for my Yamaha kitfox how do I contact you

What's the weight difference of the Yamaha vs the 582, wet with all accessories?

Where the hell did you actually find one for sale???

When you first revealed i thought it was butt ugly

I can afford a kite.

Did you fly through Central Kentucky Regional (RGA) with this thing? Pretty sure I waved to you on the apron by the fuel tank.

Are you going to Reklaw this weekend

Ok but what I don't get is how you can say you don't have the money to buy even a $50,000 plane but don't you own 3 planes? A rans S, the "Frankenstein" that your piecing together to make whats suppose to be a flying airplane and now this plane. Regardless of how little a plane may cost people who have "Families" just can't apply this to there budget. I am all for the little guy but we have to be realistic here. I do love your videos and I too plan on owning my own piece of the sky one day but for now, my dream is put on hold because of lack of funds. Keep up the good work...

What is happening with the other project?

Nevermind.......

Do you have a FB page?

How is this for a big guy? 300 lbs. 6'-5"

You weren't the builder, so unless you have an FAA Airframe & Powerplant License, how are you going to do all you plan on doing affordably? I know the FAA is fairly strict on what they will and will not allow on modifications to airframe & powerplant items. Without being the builder, you're even more limited economically, needing a licensed mechanic to implement you modifications. Wiskey, Tango, Foxtrot.. this all seems kinda shectchy dude! Is there some kind of weight & size factored into FAA Regs that allows you to do all of this? What about insurance, etc, etc?

Just to be a little devils advocate here, There is a zenith 701 and a series 1 kitfox on Barnstormers right now for under $20K that you don't have to completely rebuild to get to this level. Just saying. Chinooks are kind of cool but your little upgrade list quickly spiraled into a full rebuild. New power plant, added trim, internal wing gas tanks, conventional flaps and aileron conversion and new suspension, wheels and brakes? All of that just took it out of most peoples ability level. This plane at your spec will cost most of your viewers $30K-$50k to achieve. At $30K-$50K, I'm buying a pimped out Zenith or a pretty decent rans/kitfox over a chinook. Sorry to come off like a wet blanket but I just believe that most people don't have these skills to just tear into an airplane and rebuild it like this which means hiring an A&P which means big dollars.

WHAT a WASTE . You really should of started building a Just Aircraft Highlander . Mid $20s come on man