| Rating the Murphy Rebel light sport aircraft on
Full Lotus Floats. |
| Rating from 1 to 10 with 10 being the best or easiest. |
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| Design - Structure, history, safety, resale value, |
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| Construction techniques, history,
safety and resale value are all excellent on this plane. |
| Kit - Construction style, complexity, knowledge requirement |
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| Very simple, and easy plane to build
with now special tools, or jigging required. |
| Factory - Years in business, kits produced, kits flying. |
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| Factory is one of the leading
manufacturers in the industry, with more than enough planes flying
to give a history on the plane. |
| Manuals - Ease of reading, completeness, drawings and diagrams |
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| Good manuals. |
| Cockpit - Comfort, noise, visibility, |
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| Cockpit could use a little more light
in it. Noise level a little high, but this plane was a base model
without the sound proofing panels. One of the things that I didn't
like was the piano hinges used to connect the upper and lower cowl
together. They were hard install and remove, and sometimes took two
people, one to pull down while the other pushed on the rod. A couple
of times they required a fair amount of pull to release them. |
| Ground handling and suspension - System, complexity, does it work
- In this case rating the float system, rather than the plane
suspension system. |
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| The Full Lotus floats proved to be
durable, but their performance compared to other floats was not as
good. The water rudders worked but in strong winds could have been
larger, or a least sat down lower in the water. |
| Flight Controls - Pressure, comfort, effectiveness, |
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| Excellent feel and response. |
| Propulsion Package - Reliability, noise, vibration, |
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| The 912 S 100 HP engine is a proven
package and works well as this plane was equipped. The problems
experienced, were maintenance related. I have not seen a suggest
maintenance schedule for the Rebel so I do not know if these areas
are covered. |
| Performance - Compared to other craft with same weight, power and style of control systems. |
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| For the size and weight of this plane
it does an excellent job on floats, as equipped and flown. Take off,
climb, glide, and cruise performance are better with aluminum
floats. |
| Overall Rating |
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| This is a great plane, built by a
good company, using tried and proven building techniques. I would
recommend it to anyone looking for a rugged, all season, backyard
flyer. |
| Video - Quality, depth, arrangement Promotional |
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N/A |
| Not supplied for evaluation |
| Video - Quality, depth, arrangement Assembly |
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N/A |
| Not supplied for evaluation |
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Lisa Volk builder, owner and pilot, beside her
award winning Murphy Rebel. |
