By Jeff Granger, IAC 19907
You’ve cashed that check for your Powerball winnings and paid off all your debts. Now it's time to get the aerobatic airplane you always wanted. Maybe one of those new all composite monoplanes. But which one? The Extra NG or the GameBird GB1? Maybe it would be good to talk to some people who have recently been through the buying experience.
I first saw the Extra NG in 2019 at the rollout event at Airventure 2019. I was immediately impressed by the clean, angular lines but even more so by the clean and functional cockpit layout. So different from my 1998 Extra 300L, built with the original concept of a one-piece carbon fiber composite wing mounted to a steel tubing truss fuselage. Seated in my plane there are tubes, wires, and rods every which way. You don’t dare drop something or it will fall under the seat resulting in half a day locating it. Or worse, it will end up in the tail section where the elevator pushrod meets the horn.
I had a chance to talk to Walter Extra “engineer to engineer” about the design and development during that 2019 roll out. He had contemplated for years going to an all-composite design to meet the challenge of MX Aircraft (AKA MX) and Game Composites, LLC (AKA Gamebird). Providing adequate stiffness and durability while preserving failure modes that protected the crew compartment in the event of a crash were some of the most difficult problems he had to solve.
That same year the Game Composites GameBird GB1 was on display in front of the Aerobatic Center. I spoke to Phillip Steinbach and had a chance to compare and contrast the two designs from opposite sides of the Atlantic. The GB1 has more curving lines in the planform but more angular stance in the side view with the straight gear legs. Like the Extra it has the flat panel displays front and back with the added bonus of prop RPM and mixture control in the front seat greatly simplifying checkout of new pilots.
Read the full article attached to the bottom of the page. Includes buyer's perspectives from Dagmar Kress (Extra NG), Doug Tracy (Gamebird GB1), Richard Johnston (Extra NG) and Joe McMurray (Gambird GB1).
